Bermuda lost their opening match of a five-game friendly series by 46 runs against a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Development Select under sunny skies at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Dubai yesterday.

After winning the toss and sending UAE in to bat on a grassy pitch that offered the bowlers movement off the seam and then restricting the home side to under 200 runs, Bermuda?s batsmen failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The visitors did overcome an early order batting collapse to place themselves in a fairly comfortable position at 104 for the loss of five.

But questionable shot selection and some poor running between the wickets saw Bermuda lose their remaining wickets for the addition of only 48 runs and ultimately fall well short of their target.

The Island team?s much documented batting woes at the top of the order continued as opener Stephen Outerbridge went cheaply (four) along with Saleem Mukuddem (four) and vice-captain Irving Romaine (four), the latter to a superb catch in the covers, while Bermuda?s tail never wagged.

?I thought we let ourselves down and didn?t bat as well as we can,? coach Gus Logie lamented from his hotel room last night. ?That was a score we felt we could achieve because the pitch had flattened a bit by the afternoon period barring one or two balls with the new ball that moved around a bit.?

Bermuda?s deputising skipper Janeiro Tucker, in charge in place of the injured Clay Smith, concurred.

?Everybody tried to apply themselves but things just didn?t go our way. I wouldn?t say we got out because of poor shot selection, they were just unfortunate shots,? he said.

Promoted to opening batsman, Dean Minors patented a defiant knock of 30 runs off 75 balls before he was trapped leg before shuffling across the stumps while skipper Tucker stroked a fluent 34 off 54 balls.

Lionel Cann made a useful 14 and tailender Kevin Hurdle 13.

?I thought Janeiro (Tucker) played it safe until he got out while Dean (Minors) looked reasonably okay. But we just didn?t carry on from there,? Logie said.

Yet no other Bermuda batsman could manage double figures against a UAE attack spearheaded by Rameez Shazad who returned figures of three for 18 from 7.1 overs.

Javed Ismail, Zahid Shah, Khurram Saeed, Kaizad Jehangir and Marlon Fernando each took one wicket apiece.

?The fields here are pretty big and many of the shots we did hit would have been sixes back home. But unfortunately many of our guys got caught on the boundary,? Logie added.

It was an ending to a day which had otherwise begun full of promise for Bermuda who found themselves firmly in the driver?s seat.

The UAE were in all sorts of trouble at 67 for five after Abdul Rehman (16) and Shahzad (28) had made useful contributions at the top of the order.

Milking ideal conditions with lethal effect, Hurdle and Mukuddem accounted for the first four UAE wickets to tumble before first and second change bowlers Ryan Steede and Jacobi Robinson kept applying the pressure to the home team?s middle order.

?Hurdle bowled pretty well and has really been putting in the work,? Logie said. ?He and Mukuddem really started things off before young Ryan Steede came into his own as well even though his figures don?t really tell the truth. But certainly they all bowled well.?

Reeling at 87 for seven, however, UAE found saviours in Jehangir (45 not out) and Zahid Shah (36) who largely contributed to their team ultimately posting a challenging total aided by some costly mistakes in the field on Bermuda?s part.

?At that point we obviously felt we had the game in the bag but I think we took our feet off the peddle a bit and they clawed their way back aided and abetted by a few missed fields and dropped catches,? Logie added.

?I thought our bowlers bowled well enough up to that stage and then we got a little bit loose and gave up a few extras and they (UAE) made 198 in the end.

?The pitch itself had a bit of grass on it from overnight preparation and so obviously there was going to be some assistance for the seam bowlers.

?For a time we were doing pretty well but I still think we should have dismissed them for 100 or 140 because we had the opportunities to do so, we just didn?t take them.

?But that?s cricket and we have to learn from the experience and move on from here.?

Hurdle, whose opening spell lasted six overs, was the pick of the local bowling with figures of two for 13, Mukuddem and Tucker both returned two for 33, Robinson grabbed two for 45 while Hasan Durham had one for 39.

Debuting wicketkeeper Jekon Edness gloved three catches while regular ?keeper Minors? afternoon took a turn for the worse when he was struck in the mouth attempting to take a catch in the slips.

Chief spinner Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock was rested yesterday. But coach Logie intends to include youngsters Steffan Kelly and Jim West in his squad for today?s second match against the UAE, also in Sharjah.

?We felt the two important matches coming will be the night games and so we want to rest Leverock for those matches,? the former West Indies vice-captain explained. ?So chances are that young Kelly (Steffan) and Jim West will get an opportunity tomorrow (today).?

Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association president George Francis officiated in yesterday?s match.