The UAE’s record unbeaten run came to an end as they lost to Thailand in the first match of a the T20 Quadrangular tournament in Dubai.
The national women’s team had been on a run of 20 matches without defeat stretching back to November last year. The sequence included 18 wins, which is one short of the world record held by England’s women, as well as two matches which were washed out after starting, and thus had no result.
Coincidentally, their last defeat came against the same opposition, three and a half years ago in Bangkok. This fixture, which Thailand won by five wickets at the ICC Academy, was their first in a warm-up series ahead of the more important business of the T20 World Cup Qualifier.
That event, which takes place in Abu Dhabi from Sunday September 18 to Sunday September 25, carries with it two places for the main event in South Africa next year.