A battling fifty from young debutant Ali Naseer helped UAE reach 202 against West Indies in the first of three one-day internationals in Sharjah. Keemo Paul took three wickets in his first ODI appearance in almost a year.
UAE lost both openers inside the first three overs after winning the toss and electing to bat on a pitch with turn and variable bounce. Paul struck with his first delivery, bowling UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem for a duck. Dominic Drakes, who made his West Indies debut with spin allrounder Kavem Hodge, then took his maiden ODI wicket after breaking through Aryansh Sharma’s defence in his second over.
Vriitya Aravind took his time but steadied the innings with a 70-ball 40 and a third-wicket stand of 31 off 54 with Rameez Shahzad. Rameez had to retire injured in the 12th over after being struck on the helmet by Odean Smith’s bowling. Aravind struck a couple brilliant cover drives and put on 44 runs for the fourth wicket with Asif Khan before being caught by legspinner Yannic Cariah when he nicked the ball to the wicketkeeper.
UAE collapsed from 100 for 2 after losing four wickets for 29 runs. This featured Rameez, who returned to bat after retiring injured. Cariah was difficult to score on in the middle overs, allowing just 26 runs in his seven overs. Naseer, though, helped UAE recover in the closing half of the innings.
Coming in at No. 7, the left-handed hitter gave the late push required to reach the 200-point barrier and keep the scoreboard ticking. Naseer, 19, shown tenacity by going after left-arm spinner Hodge, hammering two sixes in the 41st over, one over midwicket and another a slog sweep over wide long-on. After that, Smith, Drakes, and Hodge kept him quiet for a few overs until Naseer holed away to long-off. Paul’s slow off-cutter from outside the off stump worked against him. His 58-ball total included five fours and two sixes.
Drakes, Smith, and Cariah each grabbed two scalps for West Indies, while Chase took one.
