UAE win third ACC Trophy in a row

The United Arab Emirates completed their good run of form by winning the ACC Trophy for the third consecutive year when they beat Oman by 94 runs at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur.

It was Oman, though, who made the early running, when Hemin Desai removed the dangerous Asim Saeed, caught behind in the third over. Hemal Mehta, Oman's other opening bowler, then bowled Asghar Ali to leave UAE struggling at 17 for 2.

However, Arshad Ali and Naeemuddin rebuilt UAE's innings, with Arshad top-scoring with 77 off 105 balls. They put on 101 together, then Syed Maqsood boosted the final score to 253 for 7 by hitting a run-a-ball 67, including two sixes.

Oman's reply began well with Adnan Ilyas and Hemal Mehta forming a solid opening stand, but after they were both dismissed, the next three batsmen fell in quick succession.

Oman never recovered from that middle-order collapse, and their innings petered out to a disappointing 159 in 44 overs. Ali Assad, the UAE bowler, ended with 4 for 38, and picked up the Man of the Match award.

Meanwhile, in the Plate final, 84 from Azmat Ullah boosted Kuwait to 217 before they bowled out Qatar for 192 in 46.4 overs to take the third-place prize. The Plate final also decides which team earns the third spot allocated to Asia for the ICC World Cup Repechage event in Malaysia in Malaysia in February. As Championship semi-finalists, Qatar and Kuwait has already qualified. The winner of the repechage earns the final qualifying position for the ICC Trophy.

Final
UAE 253 for 7 (Ali 77, Maqsood 67) beat Oman 159 (Assad 4-38) by 94 runs

Plate final
Kuwait 217 (Ullah 84) beat Qatar 192 by 25 runs

Semi finals
UAE 338 (Saeed 111, Ali 118) beat Kuwait 218 (Butt 114) by 120 runs

Plate Semi finals
Nepal 73 for 4 (Mehboob 42) beat Bhutan 72 (Pradhan 4-21) by 6 wickets