ABU DHABI // Dougie Brown, the UAE coach, labelled the manner of defeat to Papua New Guinea in the World Cricket League unacceptable, after the national team threw away the chance of victory.
The home team appeared to be cruising to a second win in the space of three days against the side placed second in the 50-over competition.
In pursuit of 233 to win, they had reached a powerful position on 148 for two with 17 overs left, with Ghulam Shabber posting a second successive half-century.
Then Shaiman Anwar was run out at the non-striker’s end after Shabber blazed back a straight drive off John Reva’s bowling.
The dismissal sparked a collapse, with five wickets falling for 13 runs, and the hosts were unable to recover as PNG forced a 23-run win.
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“We have spoken after the game about responsibility and about how, if you are on top of the game, you have to continue to assert yourself,” Brown said.
“If you lose a passage of play as badly as we did there, the momentum of the game flips completely on its head.
“I can accept losing. What I can’t accept is losing the wrong way, because of people making poor decisions, or getting wrapped up in pressure that actually wasn’t there.
“It was perceived pressure, and the guys didn’t handle it very well at all. To lose six wickets for 20, when we had done so much good work towards winning the game, we have to do something about that.”
Brown deemed Shaiman’s dismissal “freakish”, but he said the batsmen should have responded better thereafter.
“The one thing that would have won us the game from that position would have been another partnership,” the coach said.
“We just didn’t have a partnership. It almost felt like, well, we are playing our way, we will just win the game at a canter.
“If you don’t look after Mother Cricket, the game won’t look after you. Unfortunately, that is exactly what we have done today.”
Defeat was harsh on Imran Haider, the leg-spinner who again bowled superbly, as he returned figures of two for 31 from his 10 overs.
Victory pushed PNG back to within two points of the Netherlands at the top of the table.
“We are pleased because we progressed from the last game,” said Dipak Patel, the former New Zealand spinner who coaches PNG.
“It is certainly not one of our better performances, but when you win, you take it. We had a lot more intensity, which we lacked in the first game, and that was unusual.
“We have to get more consistent, and when you get those lucky breaks, like we did in this game, you have to make them count. We capitalised on that very, very well.”
The sides will meet again tomorrow in another 50 over match at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The third one-day international will be the series decider, but it will not count towards the World Cricket League standings.
They also face each other in the four-day Intercontinental Cup, starting on Friday.
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