Cricket One Day International Prediction

United Arab Emirates vs West Indies - Match Preview

🏏 4 June 2023 - 12:30 GMT +0

A whirlwind nine-month period for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cricket team is about to write a new chapter with their first-ever bilateral series against the West Indies, ahead of this month’s final global qualifier for this year’s ODI World Cup. The financial clout of the nation as well as successful networking through their franchise T20 tournaments got the UAE bilateral T20I series’ against Bangladesh and Afghanistan on either side of the 2022 T20 World Cup, and this three-game series in Sharjah is another indication of their rise in world cricket.

The UAE will be heading to Zimbabwe pursuing their third ODI World Cup appearance and their first since 2015, with the reduction of the event from 14 teams to ten making it nearly impossible for teams such as theirs to reach the tournament properly. They could meet the West Indies in the ‘Super Six’ stage of that event, if good enough to get through their group, but nevertheless, this will provide three fantastic opportunities to sharpen up against some high-quality opposition.

Their playing XI should be almost identical to the one that got them to the World Cup Qualifier alongside the USA by defeating the likes of Namibia, Canada and Jersey. The team will be captained by explosive wicketkeeper-batter Muhammad Waseem, who will also get guidance from the country’s most-capped international, Rohan Mustafa, after he was controversially cut from their T20 World Cup squad last year. There was no room for 35-year-old CP Rizwan after he posted just one score of 30+ runs from nine ODIs this year.

The West Indies have taken this opportunity to help blood some fresh talent whilst giving crucial match practice to their World Cup Qualifier players who did not take part in the recent IPL. Any Sharjah locals hoping to see West Indian stars such as Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran in the flesh will be bitterly disappointed, as those with IPL contracts were given a rare chance to rest ahead of the Qualifier. ODI captain Shai Hope, Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Keemo Paul and Yannic Cariah are those who will be involved both in this series and in the upcoming Qualifier.

The comments of cricket director Jimmy Adams suggest they won’t be going into every match with the strongest team available at their disposal, even when considering their missing IPL contingency, with Adams lauding this series as a chance for “players not going to Zimbabwe to get some valuable experience at the international level in foreign conditions, which would be hugely beneficial to their growth and development”. That could include any or all of Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith, and Kevin Sinclair.

Nonetheless, the team as a whole could do with getting back into some winning habits after losing 12 of their last 14 ODIs, though they faced a similarly poor run leading into the 2018 Qualifier where they would go on to win eight out of ten matches in a successful tournament. The Windies are also on a losing streak of 14 straight ODIs in Asian nations, so any experience they can get ahead of a potential World Cup in India will be especially valuable.

⚡ Players to watch: In addition to multiple wicket hauls from six of his last seven innings in which he bowled more than five overs, UAE bowler Junaid Siddique has six wickets to his name from three ODIs in Sharjah.

Windies skipper Shai Hope joined a short but illustrious list of men to score a century in their first-ever ODI as a captain with 128* against South Africa. Half of his 14 ODI centuries have been scored in Asia, though this will be a new experience as his first ODI in the Emirates.

📋 Stat attack: The UAE have not defeated any of the ICC’s current top-ten-ranked ODI nations other than Afghanistan (L15).

• West Indies have a 21-1 all-time ODI record against current associate nations, with the sole loss coming against Kenya in the 1996 World Cup.
• Six of the eight ODIs played in Sharjah since the start of 2019 saw successful run chases.
• The average first innings score across those eight ODIs was 256.
• The 26 first innings scores of 285+ runs in Sharjah ODIs were all winning ones.
• Brandon King was dismissed for fewer than 15 runs in nine of his last 13 ODI innings.
• Roston Chase averages one wicket every 58 balls in ODIs played in Asia.