UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir was confident his side can go from strength to strength after an encouraging performance in their opening match against Zimbabwe, which they eventually lost by four wickets.
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UAE were very much in the game when they removed the top half of Zimbabwe batting for 167 in the 33rd over after setting up a target of 286.
But a crucial sixth-wicket partnership of 83 runs between man of the match Sean Williams (76 in 65 balls) and Craig Ervine (42 in 32 balls) changed the complexion of the match.
Tauqir expressed concern that several batsmen threw away their wickets after getting good starts and the bowlers were wayward at times, but said it should not take anything away from a fabulous team effort.
“I think we tried our best, congratulations to Zimbabwe. They played better cricket,” said Tauqir, who turns 43 on Saturday.
“They had some good partnerships in the middle. I think if we would have taken one more wicket around the 35th over, it would have been different, but overall a decent performance.
“I think it was an even game. We’re looking forward to playing positive, good cricket, and at the same time we want to enjoy it. So, it was a good game of cricket today.
So UAE did impress cricket analysts. Got to see the highlights of the match n without a doubt Aqib Javed is doing great with the youngsters.
— Alam (@AlamKami) February 19, 2015
“There were quite a few positives from the game. All our batters batted well and the bowlers did a decent job. We will definitely see it as an opportunity missed, but it was a good game of cricket that went down to the wire.
Tauqir agreed with the view that the way most of his batsmen started, a total of 315 looked very much on the cards.
“I think at the top, our batsmen should have played some bigger innings,” he added.
“Khurram got out for 45 when he was looking very good and a couple other players got out in their 30s and 40s. If one of them would have stayed for a few more overs, I am sure we would have added another 25, 30 runs to our total, and that would have been different.”
But the one thing that pleased Tauqir the most was the way UAE fielded.
“I don’t think there was any drop or any big missed fielding. Yeah, we may have given a couple of runs here and there, but I think we were better than Zimbabwe in fielding,” he added.
Skipper does the trick! Tauqir gets rid of the dangerous Raza caught by Karate at point (46). Zim 64-1. @Sport_360 #CWC15 #UAEvZIM
— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyOfCricket) February 19, 2015
Man of the match Sean Williams said they were not surprised by the fact that UAE fought so hard. In fact, he said Zimbabwe were expecting such a performance from them.
“Well, obviously, Zimbabwe versus UAE, a lot of people thought we should have walked over UAE. That clearly wasn’t the case, and that clearly wasn’t the case in our changing room this morning when we arrived,” said Williams.
“We didn’t know what to expect from them. They put up a really, really good performance with the bat. Our fielding wasn’t that great today. It let us down in a lot of ways. But all in all I thought it was a really good game to watch, and a really good game to play.
Williams said he had made up his mind yet to stick around after his failure in the earlier match against South Africa, which Zimbabwe dominated for most part but still lost.
“From the previous game versus South Africa, I came in and I felt very flustered at the wicket. That I would get out, it was coming,” he added.
“I learned my lesson very quickly here to come in, get in, and hit the ball down on the ground. Build on the innings and go from there. To have wickets in hand in the end is always going to be the goal.”
