Given that someone just scored a century in only 36 balls in that locale, it seems odd to think that any side would head to New Zealand concerned for the well-being of their batsmen.
Corey Anderson’s world-record effort in Queenstown on Wednesday has barely eased the long-held concerns of the UAE, though.
The national team start their final attempt to qualify for the 2015 World Cup at a 10-team tournament in New Zealand this month.
Ahead of the tour, Aaqib Javed, the UAE coach, has been preoccupied with attempting to recreate batting conditions which are more or less the direct opposite of those his players are used to here.
“We have a good batting unit, but it has struggled on green, seaming tracks,” Aaqib told the ICC website.
“That’s why I am working extra hard with the batters specifically on how to counter seam and swing.
“We are practising on synthetic pitches and grassy surfaces.”
There are two places left to fill for the next 50 overs World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand next year.
The UAE should be confident of their prospects at this repechage event, having fared well in the league leading up to it, despite eventually losing out to Ireland and Afghanistan on automatic qualification.
“Our main focus early on will be on getting the better of [pool opponents] Scotland and Nepal,” said Aaqib, the former Pakistan Test player. “We haven’t faced too many problems in beating Hong Kong, and we managed a clean sweep against Canada when we toured there.
“But if you look at the other two teams, Nepal have beaten us three times in the last two years. The fact [that] even Afghanistan, who have already qualified for the World Cup, haven’t beaten the UAE recently, but Nepal have, puts things in perspective.
“The conditions in New Zealand should be similar to what Scotland’s cricketers play in. They have a fairly decent team, with four or five county players.
“So they will be fairly difficult to beat.”
Scotland have the benefit of Paul Collingwood’s years of Test experience with England, as the former Test all-rounder is again part of the coaching team for the trip.
“You just want the batsmen to be as confident as possible, so I’m working on the mental side of that, and asking them to believe in their strengths,” Collingwood told the ICC website.
pradley@thenational.ae
