DUBAI SPORT CITY (UAE won toss) UAE 251-9, beat Bermuda, 243-8, by eight runs.Unrecognisable from the team that was heavily beaten by both Namibia and UAE last year, Bermuda came within a whisker of beating the latter in their first warm-up game ahead of the World Cricket League Division Two qualifiers yesterday.It was the third time this year that Bermuda and the senior UAE national side have clashed in Dubai, the host nation have now won twice, but it could so easily have gone the other way.Half centuries from Lionel Cann (73) and Chris Foggo (56) got Bermuda agonisingly close to chasing down the 251 for nine that the home side made, and only some tactical naivety, and a couple of poor decisions during the innings prevented Bermuda from winning.In the end Bermuda finished on 243 for eight, just nine runs shy of winning, and the decision to take the power play in the 44th over, when Cann and Rodney Trott (14 not out) were at the wicket was possibly the wrong one. By that time, Delyone Borden (10) and Malachi Jones (one) had come and gone, and having the field in when they were at the wicket may well have made a difference.Head coach David Moore certainly believes his side should have won yesterday, and said the change in the team from 12 months ago was that they now believed they could win.“I believe we should have won, and we should be expecting to win every game that we play,” said Moore.“We gave ourselves a chance in the power play, but tactically there were a couple of things that we didn’t do well. From the batting point of view, we lost a couple of wickets at vital times, didn’t play the power play at the right time probably.”In the absence of David Hemp, who only arrived in Dubai last night, Trott captained the side, and Moore said he’d done a good job taking charge of the side.“Rodney did a very good job as captain I thought,” said Moore. “There were plenty of positives, but obviously.....the good thing about the side at the moment is that we are expecting to win. We effectively played their full team, bar their captain, and we lost by eight runs, and this is the team that stitched us up so easily in five games in Bermuda.“You can see the improvements that we are making. Tactically we still need to improve, but physically, fitness wise, our technique, and our mental skills are improving, but tactically we are still a little naive.”With Stefan Kelly not due to meet up with the squad until next Monday, Jones led the bowling attack with another impressive display taking three wickets for 35 from nine overs as Bermuda kept their opponents on a tight leash. Dion Stovell (2-26) and Irving Romaine (2-46) meanwhile did their selection chances no harm picking up two wickets each. Once again UAE batsman Arshad Ali, who has enjoyed batting against the Island in recent times, led the way for the home team with 76, while Shamnin scored 46 and Saqib Ali 34.Chasing 252 to win, Bermuda got off to a strong start with Foggo and Jason Anderson (28) building a strong foundation at the top of the order. A slight wobble in the middle however, when Fiqre Crockwell (12) and Romaine (18) couldn’t build on good starts, left the Island struggling.Cann, who is enjoying life at number six, rescued the innings, with a brutal 73 off just 45 balls and for a time it seemed as if Bermuda might win. In the end though Trott and Jim West just couldn’t get Bermuda over the line as they ran out of time.While disappointed to lose, Moore was pleased with the way the team performed, and said that the result had shown the team could compete at the qualifiers in 11 days time.“It was great to play this game and do well,” he said. “The team that we’ve got now certainly knows that we can beat UAE if we put our game together. It’s all about decision making, and today our decision making let us down, and it probably cost us.“General decision making, batting, bowling, not taking options we should have taken, we are improving, and I think those people who came to watch us against UAE (last year) wouldn’t recognise the way the team is playing, which is great.”