Dhaniram puts UAE to the sword

UAE 112 for 40 for 1 (Ali 17*, E Silva 17*) trail Canada 450 (Dhaniram 141*, Mulla 87, Bastiampillai 71, Sandher 64, Zahid Shah 4-108) by 298 runs
Scorecard

Sunil Dhaniram celebrates his century as Canada piled up a huge lead against UAE © Eddie Norfolk

A career-best 141 from Sunil Dhaniram put Canada on course for a crushing victory against UAE in Toronto. He added 180 for the ninth wicket with Kevin Sandher after an earlier stand of 141 between Trevin Bastiampillai and Ashif Mulla laid a solid foundation.

Canada were already ahead overnight and built on the advantage through Bastiampillai and Mulla. Their fifth-wicket stand was broken by Mohammad Tauqir, having Mulla caught behind for his first-class best of 87, and the innings threatened to fall away as four wickets fell for 47.

However, Dhaniram then set about UAE's attack and struck 25 fours in his 171-ball innings. It continued a rich run of form for Dhaniram who struck 73 against Netherlands last month, while Sandher followed his 57 in the same match with another composed innings in the lower order. He batted more than two-and-half hours before eventually falling for Zahid Shah.

Dhaniram was left unbeaten with his maiden first-class century and Canada had a huge lead of 338. There was time for Henry Osinde to strike an early blow against a demoralised UAE line-up, when he had Gayan Silva caught behind second ball.