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Sharjah: The UAE cricket team will leave for Malaysia on Wednesday to defend the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy after training under extremely hot conditions during the camp at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
"It is not the most comfortable environment to train, especially when the temperature is 40 plus degrees. They boys are aware of the fact that the heat is something out of their control so they have tried to make the best of the situation and go for the competition confidently," Vasbert Drakes, UAE team coach, said after a long training session.
"They are a bunch of great guys. They have problems like being unable to be on time for training due to their work commitments. Though it is an obstacle, we have accepted it as part of the game and worked toward our objective," added Drakes.
Elaborating on the team's effort, Drakes said: "We have a combination in which the players are aware that they will have to perform at a very high standard if they want to do well."
Though Drakes hails from West Indies he has done his home work on UAE's opponents in the ACC Trophy.
"My research on some of the opponents revealed that some of them have been playing good cricket. We find that Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, who are in our group, have been working hard and performing very well," he said.
Repeat experience
Drakes feels that the experience of having repeatedly won the ACC Trophy will pay off for the team.
"We have the experience of playing in the ACC Trophy and we know that we need to improve in certain aspects of the game if we are to perform consistently. We have been spending a lot of time trying to rectify these defects," said Drakes.
However, Drakes refused to predict the performance of the team. "Once the competition starts we will know where we stand. The guys are confident that they can do well. We have to just go in and put in the hard work," said Drakes, who along with physiotherapist Chitrala Sudhaker has been working on the fitness of the players.
"Fitness comes over a period of time and this is an area, which probably after this competition, we will have to sit down and decide on. These guys can really hit a cricket ball and also bowl, but I think if their fitness level is good they can be a lot more consistent. I believe they can get fitter," he said.
Drakes also talked about the UAE's Asia Cup experience.
"Experiencewise they realised that to play cricket at the highest level there are certain aspects of the game which they will have to fine tune. We need to sit down and analyse those areas. Once you reach a higher level there is a lot to do with temperament," he said.
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