KUALA LUMPUR, 21 June 2004 — Defending champions United Arab Emirates cruised to the final of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy yesterday after brushing aside Kuwait in the semifinal played at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.
UAE scored a massive 338 runs at the end of the 50 overs while Kuwait fell short of the target by 120 runs, managing only 218 runs in reply.
Three players - two from UAE and one from Kuwait - scored centuries in the best match so far in the tournament.
UAE won the toss and batted first with opening batsmen A. Saeed and A. Ali putting up a 193-run partnership before Saeed fell.
Saeed’s 111 runs included 18 fours and two sixes, while Ali’s 118 runs were dotted with 10 fours and one six. S. Maqsood was also in form as he smashed 62 runs, with UAE all out for a total of 338 at the end of the 50th over.
Kuwait raced to 100 before the fall of their first wicket but once star batsmen Khalid Butt, who scored 114, was out the rest of the Kuwaiti batsmen fell to the strong bowling attack of the UAE pace bowlers. The Kuwaitis were finally out for 218 - losing by 120 runs.
In the other semifinal match played at Club Aman, Oman defeated neighbors Qatar by four wickets. Qatar won the toss and opted to bat but were in deep trouble losing two wickets with just two runs on the board. But Abbas Khan (72 not out) put some respectability into the scoreline with his total coming from eight fours after facing 93 balls in 148 minutes of batting. It was the same story for Oman as they started off by losing two wickets with just 13 runs scored.
However, Adnan Ilyas (39), Ashish Mayekar (27) and an unbeaten 33 by Syed Azhar Ali ensured that Oman surpassed the Qatar total in 33.5 overs after losing six wickets.
Qatar’s Abbas Khan was named as the man of the match for his knock of 72 runs and claiming two wickets for 31 runs.
