UAE face mighty Sri Lanka for place at Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh

Chamari Athapaththu and Sri Lanka now stand between the UAE and a place at the Women’s T20 World Cup after a dramatic final day of pool play in Abu Dhabi.

The national team vaulted above the Netherlands on Friday to earn a second-place finish in their group in the global qualifier, and so a place in Sunday’s semi-finals.

They had started the day in third place, knowing they needed to claim a win over Vanuatu in their final game, and try to bridge a substantial net run-rate gap in doing so.

The Dutch had a run-rate buffer of +1.117 ahead of their own match against table-topping Ireland, which followed the UAE’s game.

Once the UAE had made 133-7 it meant they needed to restrict Vanuatu to 53 to ensure they would pass the Netherlands’ net run-rate.

They did not manage quite that, but they did everything they could in the field to make it happen.

The Pacific Island side were limited to 63-8 from their 20 overs. It meant the UAE needed favours from Ireland. First, by beating the Netherlands in the second game of the evening, then by doing so by more than 10 runs.

The Irish made good on that, as they thrashed the Dutch by 54 runs, to finish the group unbeaten, and take the UAE through with them to the last four.

Reaching the seminal stage of the competition is a fine achievement by the host nation, not least because of the fact they lost their opening two matches to Ireland and Zimbabwe.

“It is great character shown by the girls,” Esha Oza, the UAE captain, said.

UAE MAKE HISTORY!!
Congratulations to our women's team on reaching the semi-finals!
You make us PROUD