Senior NAT Team - General Discussion

[GA-PowerBug]

S53 EOS Wrap
Well here we are, another season wrapped up. And if I'm honest, it was a disappointing one

Announcement
Firstly, I'd like to welcome radar on board as an assistant! An enthusiastic manager who will no doubt bring a fresh pair of eyes over the way things are run inside the camp as we continue to build on our goal of global domination

Tours
It's safe to say that the OD tour was an appalling one. We finished the tour with a 1-4 record and relegation to Div 2. The less said about it the better I think. Congrats to Ireland for winning the tour. We go into next season in Div 2 with an expectation to try bounce straight back, we've banked some ranking points and will attempt to win the hosting rights to go straight back up.

Current Squad
There's been some changes lately to the squad of 30. We say goodbye to the following players: Daoud Kalil, Hamas Mahfuz, Abu Reda. And we say hello to: Asif Mahmoud and Salman Kardal! Currently running with 29, after we see EOS updates run in and the WC is done we will take stock of where we want to be for S54.

Friendlies
After the OD tour we played 6 T20 friendlies in preparation for the T20 World Cup. We ran some squad changes and gave fringe players runouts. We beat Pakistan in the first of the matches, then lost the next 4 which was a little disheartening, but in the final match we decided to ring in all the best players for one big hitout before the big stuff, and they delivered with a crushing 75 run win over Zimbabwe. It also saw us rate 278,613 which is a UAE record in any format! Positive signs ahead

We also got to see Gadil Murat, Fadil Jahid and Salman Kardal make their UAE friendly debuts in this time Congrats to all 3

T20 World Cup
We have a World Cup to play! Our 18 is locked and have all travelled to Pakistan ahead of the first match tomorrow against Australia. As Moose has posted above you can see the players who will be attempting to bring home the silverware for us, with 3 players yet to make their T20 debut, two of those will be making their UAE competitive debut.

Go the UAE!

PowerBug

[MOD-MrMoose]

Great first off win! Lots of work to be done yet.

Home UAE
Away Australia
Ground Shahzaday11 CG
League Nat T20 World Cup
Date 20 Feb. 23 05:00
Crowd 19,000
Weather Sunny
Pitch Hard

UAE Australia
Batting - Top Order 15,519 15,825
Batting - Middle Order 13,992 14,375
Batting - Tail 5,559 7,211
Bowling - Seam 15,319 (20) 16,030 (20)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 19,636 19,253
Overall 270,228 280,347

Result: UAE won by 23 runs
Toss: Australia won the toss and elected to bowl.
Man of the match: Ubaid Mahmood (3 points), Shaquille Muttalib (2), John Gotti (1)

Contributions from Kedar, Al Capone, Muttalib and the Q Stick saw us set the Aussies 200!

Our seamers then took it to task - Mahmoud with 3, Hussain and Imran 2 each. From 3/33 we still weren’t confident and Aussies middle order looked like they could save the day.

It’s a great win to start but the work is all ahead of us yet.

Around the Grounds:
West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets.
New Zealand beat Netherlands by 47 runs.

Canada beat India by 9 runs.
England beat USA by 57 runs.
Kenya beat South Africa by 1 wicket.

The U20s get their campaign underway at 1300!
Let’s keep the wins rolling!

[GA-PowerBug]

Positive start for sure. Still lots of work to do. West Indies up next, a nation we haven't competitively played in the last 3 seasons since I became manager :O

[MOD-MrMoose]

Home UAE
Away West Indies
Ground DISHKYOMMM!!! CG
League Nat T20 World Cup
Date 21 Feb 23 05:00
Crowd 21,829
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Crumbling

UAE West Indies
Batting - Top Order 15,315 15,554
Batting - Middle Order 14,413 13,641
Batting - Tail 5,283 7,955
Bowling - Seam 14,491 (12) 15,711 (8)
Bowling - Spin 15,121 (8) 15,362 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 18,634 18,408
Overall 264,379 273,377

Result: West Indies won by 4 runs
Toss: UAE won the toss and elected to bowl.
Man of the match: Colin Oscopy (3 points), Hud Sam (2), Cecil Griffith (1)

Colin Oscopy OWNED BY UAE'S U20 MANAGER takes 4/8 and wipes out UAE's hope of winning.
is probably how I would headline the article if I was a real sport journo.

In reality, a hard to swallow loss by the smallest of margins. To be 6 down needing 12 to win from 3 overs. You would back the batting team in that scenario more times than not. (Mind you South Africa were 5 down needing 11 from 4 overs and lost to India...)

Our bowlers lead by the HUD SAM and helped with two runouts did relativily well to restrict West Indies to 110 off the 20 overs.

Once again none of our batters could turn a start into a 40 or 50 and that's possibly what cost us the win in the end.

Around the Grounds
New Zealand Beat Sri Lanka by 23 runs
Australia beat the Netherlands 3 wickets

England beat Kenya by 20 runs
USA beat Canada by 6 wickets
India beat South Africa by 4 runs

So after two matches
Group 1 has New Zealand and West Indies on top with two wins, then us and Australia with a win each and then Sri Lanka and the Netherlands winless. Winning the rest of the games seems critical to me, with the winner of Thursday's West Indies vs New Zealand almost booking their own ticket to the finals.

Group 2 has England on top with 2 wins, then Canada, Kenya, India, USA all with 1 win and South Africa winless.

Definitely a long way to go in the group stages, stay tuned!

Youth are up next as they take on Sri Lanka at 1300.

[MOD-quirkilyalive]

Colin Oscopy OWNED BY UAE'S U20 MANAGER takes 4/8 and wipes out UAE's hope of winning.

the windies nat manager has also displayed displeasure about the UAE U20's manager choices concerning stealing Colin Oscopy from these true windies hands with the evil plans to use Oscopy against the nat manager being cooked up

[MOD-MrMoose]

I’ll leave that coverage to the West Indies media.

[MOD-MrMoose]

Home New Zealand
Away UAE
Ground Salaf-us-Saliheen CG
League Nat T20 World Cup
Date 22 Feb. 23 05:00
Crowd 20,000
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Hard

New Zealand UAE
Batting - Top Order 15,980 15,051
Batting - Middle Order 14,183 13,278
Batting - Tail 5,798 5,182
Bowling - Seam 15,923 (20) 14,778 (20)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 19,302 19,065
Overall 275,570 259,953

Result: New Zealand won by 3 wickets
Toss: UAE won the toss and elected to bat.
Man of the match: Wilfred Sa'u (3 points), Darrell Langton (2), Bryce Gard (1)

Batting first, our innings was built on a quick 33 from Al Capone and a 49 from Mukthar. 151 was set as we were bowled out with a ball to spare.

Unfortunately New Zealand got off to a flyer in the chase and despite a flurry of wickets cruised home pretty comfortably.

Around the Grounds
Sri Lanka beat Netherlands by 19 runs
West Indies beat Australia by 7 wickets

South Africa beat England by 8 runs
India beat USA by 1 run
Kenya beat Canada by 6 wickets

In Group 1, The winner of tomorrows match between New Zealand and West Indies will book their ticket to the finals. The loser will still be in the box seat to go through but will need to win on Friday to make sure of it. We will need to win both remaining games (and win well) and then rely on other results. Not over by any stretch of the imagination.

In group 2, it’s much more interesting. England, Kenya and India all have 2 wins. The rest all have 1 win. I’m no mathematician but I think that means teams will need to win both remaining games to finish top 2. For India this means beating both England and Kenya.

U20s up next at 1300.

[MOD-MrMoose]

Home UAE
Away Netherlands
Ground Aisle 52, Bay 5, Bunnings
League Nat T20 World Cup
Date 23 Feb. 23 05:00
Crowd 16,016
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Sticky

UAE Netherlands
Batting - Top Order 15,295 15,084
Batting - Middle Order 14,167 12,195
Batting - Tail 5,352 5,018
Bowling - Seam 14,481 (12) 15,191 (16)
Bowling - Spin 14,833 (8) 13,242 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 18,575 17,361
Overall 262,741 250,262

Result: Match tied
Toss: Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat.
Man of the match: Akil Dhul (3 points), Travis Cloke (2), Ruud Schep (1)

The home of brooms hosted an absolute thriller that in the end could not be won by one side.

Todays draw means we can not make the finals but we can still have a huge impact in who does. A win tomorrow denies Sri Lanka access to the finals. New Zealand are through and West Indies can win and guarantee their finals spot.

Over in group 2 - England and Kenya have 3 wins. USA and India have 2 wins. South Africa and Canada will play off to avoid finishing bottom of the group tomorrow.
England have a nice NRR lead and could lose to India and still be safe. The Kenya USA match up is more interesting with the USA needing to win and make up a 0.5 NRR.

Let’s turn our full support behind the youths who go again at 1300.

[MOD-MrMoose]

Home Sri Lanka
Away UAE
Ground Beiram's 11 CG
League Nat T20 World Cup
Date 24 Feb. 23 05:00
Crowd 21,050
Weather Sunny
Pitch Uneven

Sri Lanka UAE
Batting - Top Order 14,187 14,580
Batting - Middle Order 12,709 13,222
Batting - Tail 5,745 5,046
Bowling - Seam 15,537 (20) 14,665 (20)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 17,108 18,281
Overall 253,833 254,520

Result: Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets
Toss: UAE won the toss and elected to bat.
Man of the match: Ariyapala Pulukkody (3 points), Romesh Indrajith (2), Ubaid Mahmood (1)

New Zealand and the West Indies meet Kenya and England in the finals.
India Vs England was another draw (not sure if there’s been two in a World Cup before? Probably has)

Last time England drew a match they were handed a World Cup. So expect England to win the trophy on Sunday.

The youth go into game 5 at 1300 searching for a win to top the group!

[MOD-MrMoose]

Also I sort of brushed over my write up today but I wanted to give the Senior managers a big shout out for the time and work they’ve put into preparing for this World Cup. Particular the bug and speedy have spent hours getting ready to give this cup a red hot crack. Obviously not the result we were hoping for, but I (and I’m sure everyone else in the uae ftp family) really appreciates your effort!

Oh and a shout to Radar - it’s always full on coming into a national set up and seeing the inner workings of tour prep for the first time.

Thanks for letting the youth lads win the first world cup for uae

[radar]

Last time England drew a match they were handed a World Cup

Wish I got world cups for drawing matches. Although last time I drew a match was years ago, now I just take photos

[GA-PowerBug]

S54 Week 1
New season = new beginnings

T20 World Cup
Thanks Moose for all the above write-ups during the World Cup. It wasn't our week sadly, finishing with a 1-1-3 record. In three of our matches we were very close to taking the win, most notably with the tie but two of the losses were single digit runs away from being wins for us. It was only really Day 5 which was painful. Add in that we had the tougher of the two groups and I think our World Cup wasn't as bad as what the overall record suggested. We want to be winning World Cups though, we are not content with participation awards and everything we do continues to work towards making sure we put ourselves in the best position possible to do that.

The Future
It's a new season, that means we will have a new watchlist prepared! Anyone who was aged 27.00 or under at the start of the season is eligible, and we will be putting together a squad of ~24 players we think are going to be right in the mix for the OD WC in 3 seasons. Expect messages to hit inboxes in the next 3 weeks or so

Friendlies
We took Week 1 off, but now we will go back into setting friendlies at each slot and preparing ourselves for the tours and World Cup ahead. Canada (Cloudy/Green) on Wednesday is currently scheduled.

Week 2
- Update the current squad as it hasn't been touched since the World Cup.
- Prepare for the OD tour and decide if a bid is required
- Continue compiling the S57 Future Watchlist

PowerBug

[MOD-MrMoose]

Congrats on the promotion
Now go get a Div 1 win

[GA-PowerBug]

S54 Week 5
It's been a few weeks, let's check in on how things have gone...

OD Tour 1 - Div 2
This was played over Week 5 in Pakistan. We put in a bid to host the tour but it wasn't enough, and we got handed Dry, Slow, Crumbling as the pitches, not ideal but not terrible. The week went pretty well in the end, we were in the contest in all 5 matches, unfortunately England and Kenya got the better of us but by keeping those margins tight and winning the other 3 matches we found ourselves 2nd on the table and promoting straight back to Div 1! Who performed for us you may ask? Well Ubaid Kedar did, he scored 159 from his 3 innings. And with the ball it was obviously Hud Sam who did well with the ball, he took 10 from 3 matches and is now up to 6th in the all time UAE bowling leader board (88 wickets). 1 more for 5th! Jabir Shakur also had a great bowling performance with 10 wickets of his own on what was his debut tour.

Pre-tenure I outlined winning a Div 1 tour as one of the goals I wanted to achieve on matchdays. Ultimately we're going to only have one more crack at doing so next time and it will be very tough so I think we will fall short there. However the positive is that as soon as we relegated we promoted straight back first time of asking, which proves that we are at the very least worthy of being in and around the Div 1 space. We even had a couple of days where we were one of the highest rating sides across all divisions! There's definitely players to be excited about moving forward

T20 Tour - Div 2
We put in a bid to host the T20 tour, as we look to put the UAE back into Div 1 and make sure we are best placed to qualify for the next T20 WC. We won the hosting rights and will be playing the games in Scotland on Green, Slow and Uneven pitches. In case you haven't realised from that, we have a good list of medium bowlers.

Friendlies
Yeah look, we have been slack in this department. We've played 3 friendlies since the last update, won two lost 1. Have sent out friendly requests for the next 4 slots though This time I mean it when I say we will start scheduling friendlies, 4 challenges are sent out and awaiting responses as we speak.

The Future
This group is now finalised and messages will begin hitting inboxes this week

Week 7
- Play friendlies
- Make any relevant changes to the 30 on Thursday (after plops/pops on Wednesday)
- Finalise tour squad over the weekend

[MOD-MrMoose]

- support and follow along the Youth's on their tour

missed a to do item but I got you boo