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Bemuda slump to first defeat

Dubai Sports City - UAE, 205-5, beat Bermuda, 204 all out, by five wickets.Bermuda slumped to their first defeat in Dubai yesterday as they suffered a five wicket loss at the hands of UAE.The home side easily knocked off the 205 runs they needed to win with nine overs to spare, and the fact that the winning run came from a wide rather summed up Bermuda's day.David Moore's side sent down a total of 32 extras, 23 of which were wides, and that lack of discipline was largely reflected in their sloppiest performance since their arrival in the Middle East.Only very briefly did the touring side look like they might win today, when Malachi Jones took two wickets in one over to reduce UAE to 35 for two.However, with Stefan Kelly and Damali Bell both being rested, there was little support for Jones, and Arshad Ali (62) and Saqib Ali (43) put on 97 for the third wicket to take the game away from Bermuda.The game may well have been closer as a contest if Bermuda had built on the solid foundations of Kamau Leverock's first international half century, and an opening stand of 49 between Jason Anderson and Chris Foggo.However, as has so often been the case in the past, there was a lack of depth in the batting that was further emphasized by David Moore's decision to also rest Dion Stovell and Lionel Cann.In their absence, the Australian re-jigged the batting order, opening with Anderson and Foggo, and promoting Leverock to three.Anderson (25) should have made the most of his opportunity, but having got himself in, then got himself out playing across the line to a ball from Shoaib Sarwan that nipped back and clipped the top of his middle stump.Leverock got off the mark with a boundary, pulling Sarwan through mid-wicket, and never looked back. His innings was more composed than a lot of his more senior team-mates, and the only criticism that could be made was that his running between the wickets needs work.When he was finally out for 52, caught by wicketkeeper Abdul Rehman off the bowling of Arshad Ali after getting a leading edge to an attempted sweep shot, Bermuda were 154 for four, and should have been set for a total around the 260 mark.The lower order though, under pressure from some tight bowling by the UAE spinners, cracked, and Bermuda lost their last six wickets for 50 runs.Arshad Ali, who took three for 32, and skipper Ahmed Raza, two for 32, were the pick of the UAE bowlers.A score of 204 was never likely to be enough, but Bermuda might have been able to make a better fight of it if their bowling hadn't been so undisciplined.Even when Arshad Ali and Saqib Ali had departed, Arfan Haider (37) and Virkant Shetty (19) carried on in their stead, largely untroubled by a Bermuda display in the field that did not live up to the high standards set on the tour so far.West's final wide of the day, which ended the innings, was almost as inevitable as the result, which had been a given for at least an hour prior to its arrival.