Saqib battles hard for UAE

UAE 147 for 6 (Saqib 72*, Raza 28*) trail Namibia 164 (Burger 58, Raza 3-20) by 17 runs
Scorecard

UAE made an excellent start to their Intercontinental Cup clash against Namibia, dismissing them for a mediocre 164 on the opening day in Sharjah. At stumps, UAE had almost closed the gap on Namibia's poor total and trailed by 17.

Namibia chose to bat and began solidly enough, with Jan-Berrie Burger and Dawid Botha putting on 29 for the opening wicket. But Botha's demise - he was caught by Amjad Ali off Fahad Alhashmi for 9 - prompted a dramatic mid-order collapse in which Namibia lost 5 for 52. Burger eventually found much-needed support from Tobias Verwey, the wicketkeeper, with whom he put on 69 for the sixth wicket.

After bringing up his fifty, Burger was bowled by Arshad Ali and Ahmed Raza cleaned up the tail with 3 for 20. Namibia were all out for 164 - but not down and out by any means. UAE got off to a dreadful start when they lost both their openers and Gayan Silva, the No. 3, with 16 on the board. Louis Klazinga then gave Namibia genuine hope of dismissing UAE for a paltry total by taking two further quick wickets, but UAE recovered well with Saqib Ali smacking 10 fours and a six in his combative 72.

With Saqib unbeaten at stumps and four wickets remaining, UAE are still well placed to take a significant first-innings lead going into the second day.