In the third and final T20 of the series, the visiting New Zealand won the series by defeating the UAE by 32 runs on fifties by Will Young and Mark Chapman. At the start of the match, the Kiwis scored 166 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. In response, Emirates innings stopped at 134 runs.
New Zealand lost the toss and got the opportunity to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The visitors lost 2 wickets for 35 runs due to the failure of the openers. Chad Bowes scored 9 and Tim Seifert scored 13. Young and Chapman managed the third wicket partnership. Young, who tasted his second century in T20 in 40 balls, could not increase his innings. He got out with 56 runs off 46 balls with 7 fours and 1 six.
After Young’s return, Chapman turned the wheels of New Zealand’s runs. Chapman stopped by completing the seventh half-century in T20 in 30 balls. He scored 51 runs in 32 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Young-Chapman were both victims of Emirates pacer Junaid Siddiqui. In the end he scored an unbeaten 20 off 10 balls by Dean Foxcroft and 11 balls by Mitchell Santner.
In response, the failure of the top-order batsmen lost 5 wickets for 53 runs and the United Arab Emirates fell to the brink of the abyss in the beginning. In this situation, Basil Hamid and Ayan Afzal Khan took the lead of the team. They made a half-century pair by resisting the New Zealand bowlers.
But Basil and Afzal couldn’t keep the UAE in the fight despite scoring 68 runs off 57 balls in the sixth wicket. Afzal scored 42 runs off 36 balls with 4 fours and 1 six. Basil remained unbeaten with 24 runs off 28 balls. New Zealand’s Ben Lister took 3 wickets. Young was man of the match. Chapman was the best of the series.
(21 August/MM)