"Surreal" moment as UAE reach next stage of Women's World T20 qualifying in first-ever ICC tournament

Denzil Pinto 19:16 26/11/2017
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  • UAE all-rounder Natasha Michael says it’s a surreal feeling that the team have reached the next stage of the Women’s World Twenty20 qualifiers in their first ICC tournament.

    A 34-run victory over Malaysia yesterday saw the UAE book their place in today’s final of the World Twenty20 Asian qualifiers against hosts Malaysia.

    But more significantly, having finished in the top two of the competition, the UAE will fly to the Netherlands early next year for the Global Qualifiers – the final qualifying tournament for the 2018 showpiece event in West Indies.

    The win over Malaysia in Bangkok made it four wins out of five after beating China, Nepal and Hong Kong earlier in the week and the achievement adds to an impressive list for the UAE women’s side, who only entered their first competition in 2007.

    Since then, they have won two back-to-back Gulf Cup titles as well as reaching the final of the UAE Women’s International Cup in Sharjah last December.

    They can now look forward to matches against the likes of Ireland, Scotland and Bangladesh in next year’s Global Qualifiers. For all-rounder Natasha Michael, who has been involved in the set-up since making her debut as a 12-year-old a decade ago, she ranks the qualification as the best ever.

    “I don’t actually think it’s hit me that we’ve actually qualified for the Global Qualifiers in Netherlands next year,” said the 23-year-old.

    “It feels very surreal that this is actually happening and this doesn’t compare to the other cups that we’ve won before. As much as they’re equally important to get us to this stage, this has been a dream that we’ve been chasing for the past 10 years, so for us to defeat teams like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, it’s by far the icing on the cake.”

    Against Malaysia, Nisha Ali delivered another player-of-the-match performance for the third time in the competition. The 36-year-old scored an unbeaten 36 followed by a two-wicket haul as Malaysia fell short of the UAE’s 84-run target.

    Michael insists yesterday’s result proved they are executing their game plan and hopes they can end their tournament on a high against Thailand today.

    “It just shows that hard work pays off and we went in with a plan and we executed it,” he said. “We are glad to play cricket and it comes down to what steps are being taken because you need to have a Plan A and Plan B. The key to our success has been planning and how all the girls have come up with ideas.”

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