Manager all praise for Ali and Raza after 167-run win

Both continued their dream tour to Bermuda with a starring role in UAE's comprehensive victory over the home side in their one-day game.

Arshad Ali, of the UAE, was in a league of his own against Bermuda.
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Arshad Ali and Ahmed Raza continued their dream tour to Bermuda with a starring role in UAE's comprehensive, 167-run victory over the home side in their one-day game on Saturday night. Ali, who scored an invaluable 126 in the nine-wicket win in the four-day game over Bermuda on Wednesday - which gave UAE a spot in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Shield - smashed 66 on a testing wicket to put 258 for nine on the board for the visitors.

Raza, the left-arm spinner who took six wickets in the first match, wrecked Bermuda with figures of five for 29 as the hosts were bowled out for 91 in 27 overs. "A huge win and a major confidence boost," Mohammed Lokhandwala, the team manager, said by phone from Bermuda. "The wicket was a little difficult to bat on. "Some balls stopped and the ball was variable. Sometimes it would keep low and at times it would just fly past you.

"That is why in the start, we got out trying to hook the ball and taking it on the ice. "Despite that, we got 258, which I believe was a huge score on that wicket. "Arshad batted very well, like a champion. Where others were scratching around for runs, he made a big score. "Unfortunately he had played a paddle-sweep and the umpire gave him lbw. "I believe he could have gone on to score a 100. "When their time came, surprisingly they just folded like a pack of cards."

Lokhandwala said Raza "bowled fantastically" in both the games. In the four-day game, he picked up six wickets and then five in the one-dayer. "All in all, [Ali and Raza] have outshone all the others. "Of course, the others have also contributed, not just these two guys. "Khurram Khan has bowled well, Abdul Rehman batted well in the four-day game, making a brilliant 60. So we had good contributions from other members of the team as well and that is why we have got these wins.

"Everyone was chipping in with 20s and 30s, and we needed one big score, which we got from Arshad," he also said. @Email:arizvi@thenational.ae