Cricket:Scotland has opened the door for defending champions Ireland in the ICC Intercontinental Cup by failing to beat the United Arab Emirates in Sharjah this week.
Now, if Ireland can beat the UAE in Abu Dhabi next month, it will be through to the final for the second time in succession, on a date yet to be confirmed. In the previous event in late 2005, the Irishmen beat Kenya in the final at Windhoek, Namibia, and they will be very keen to retain the trophy.
The batting star of the four-day match for the UAE was undoubtedly Saqib Ali, who scored a total of 193 runs and was dismissed just once. The 28-year-old right-hander came to the wicket on the first morning with his side in trouble on 22-2.
But he dug in and, with the help of Gayan Silva (60) and Khurram Khan (75), put together partnerships of 140 and 126 to put the UAE in a strong position. Saqib was finally dismissed for 131 after an anchoring innings that included 18 fours and lasted 309 balls. John Blain was the pick of the Scotland bowlers, ending up with figures of 22-3-77-4.
In reply, Scotland was impressive. Neil McCullum top scored with a well-crafted 109 and he was ably supported by team-mates Gavin Hamilton (81), Fraser Watts (38), Craig Wright (31) and Dougie Brown (30). The Scotland team passed UAE's total of 348 to bag the first innings points but then was all out shortly after, giving it a 25-run lead going into the second innings.
Scotland opening bowlers Blain and Paul Hoffman steamed in after that, looking for an early breakthrough but UAE openers Muhammed Iqbal and Arshad had other ideas. Iqbal made a quick-fire 43 off just 36 balls before being bowled by Hoffman but Arshad and Gayan Silva put on 161 for the second wicket to take the match away from Scotland.
Saqib later made an unbeaten 62 as UAE declared on the final day, setting Scotland an unrealistic target of 332 to win off just 46 overs.
Despite the size of the task ahead of them, the batsmen certainly went for it initially. The big-hitting Hoffman was promoted up the order and smashed 48 off 32 balls before being caught by Arshad off the bowling of Ahmed Nadeem. This sparked a collapse in the Scotland middle-order as the team lost five wickets for 26 runs before deciding to batten down the hatches and play for the draw.
Nadeem took 11-3-40-3 to go with his fine first-innings effort of 30.3-9-84-5, capping a good few days' work for the 30-year-old seamer, on a track that did not give him much assistance
So now Ireland can qualify from Group A for the final if it beats UAE outright in Abu Dhabi on 10-13 February. If UAE denies Trent Johnston's side an outright victory, it will be Scotland, the 2004 champions, who will progress to take on Canada in the decider.
Scotland currently lead Group A with 35 points and Ireland have 23, with 14 on offer for a win
Group B is made up of Bermuda, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands with all matches now having been played. Canada won the group having beaten Bermuda and Kenya and although it lost to the Netherlands, it had done enough to qualify for the final.
The new format of the ICC Intercontinental Cup means sides will play a minimum of three four-day matches in this tournament, increasing to seven four-day matches in 2007 and 2008 when it is hoped the event will be a full round-robin format.
That compares to a minimum of just two three-day matches per year under the previous structure which, until the semi-finals, was regionally based rather than global.
The ICC Intercontinental Cup began in 2004 to give the leading players from Associate sides the chance to improve by exposing them to a longer form of the game.