ABU DHABI: D’Arcy Short smacked an unbeaten half-century as Australia cruised to a seven-wicket victory over United Arab Emirates in a lone Twenty20 International here on Monday.
Short struck eight boundaries as he finished 68 not out off 53 balls to help Australia chase down a modest 118-run target in 16.1 overs after UAE were restricted to 117-6.Short overcame the loss of skipper Aaron Finch (one) and Chris Lynn (20) as Australia tuned up for their three-match T20 series against Pakistan starting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The other two matches will be played in Dubai on Friday and Sunday.Nathan Coulter-Nile and Billy Stanlake finished with identical bowling figures of two for 20 as UAE lost wickets at regular intervals before Shaiman Anwar top-scored with 41 and Mohammad Naveed made 27 not out.
Anwar hit three boundaries and two sixes during his 44-ball knock while Naveed also smashed two sixes and two boundaries in his 13-ball innings.
UAE won toss
UAE
Ashfaq Ahmed c Short b Coulter-Nile 0
Chirag Suri c McDermott b Stanlake 13
*Rohan Mustafa b Stanlake 0
Rameez Shahzad c Finch b Coulter-Nile 22
Shaiman Anwar b Tye 41
†Ghulam Shabber run out 8
Mohammad Naveed not out 27
Extras (lb 1, nb 1, w 4) 6
Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 117
Did not bat: Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Imran Haider, Ahmed Raza
Fall: 1-0, 2-0, 3-17, 4-70, 5-82, 6-117
Bowling: Coulter-Nile 4-1-20-2 (w 1); Stanlake 4-1-20-2 (w 1); Tye 4-0-39-1 (nb 1);
Zampa 4-0-22-0; Agar 3-0-10-0 (w 2); Short 1-0-5-0
Australia
D J M Short not out 68
*A J Finch c Shaiman b Amir 1
C A Lynn c Ghulam b Amir 20
G J Maxwell c Ahmed b Imran 18
B R McDermott not out 10
Extras (nb 1, w 1) 2
Total (3 wickets, 16.1 overs) 119
Did not bat: †A T Carey , A C Agar, N M Coulter-Nile, A J Tye, A Zampa, B Stanlake
Fall: 1-6, 2-32, 3-75
Bowling: Naveed 3-0-20-0; Amir 4-0-26-2; Rohan 3.1-0-23-0 (w 1); Zahoor 2-0-20-0; Ahmed 2-0-14-0; Imran 2-0-16-1 (nb 1)
Result: Australia won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: D’Arcy Short (Australia)
Umpires: Akbar Ali and Iftikhar Ali (UAE). Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
