UAE 143 and 449

Bermuda 311 and 143

A cataclysmic fourth day batting collapse completely shattered Bermuda's hopes of a first Intercontinental Cup win in two-years in Abu Dhabi over the weekend.

Bermuda, chasing 282 for victory, slumped to 143 all out before tea to give hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) victory by a comfortable 138-run margin with more than a session to spare at the plush, $22 million Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

The final result proved to be a bitter a pill for the Islanders to swallow, particularly after Kevin Hurdle's haul of four for 98 had restricted UAE to 449 in their second innings and set the stage for Bermuda to mount a serious bid for victory on the final day.

But the Islanders' hopes were ruthlessly supressed as the UAE attack exploited a pitch offering variable bounce to great effect, making the breakthrough with the dismissal with the new ball of makeshift opener Azeem Pitcher (nought) before the tourists could open their second innings account to set the tone for things to come.

The loss, heart breaking in nature, left Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine looking for answers. "I really don't know what happened . . . . we just collapsed. We basically threw it away on the last day and it was a very disappointing way to end the tour," he lamented. Contributing to Bermuda's demise was their batsmen's inabilty to cope with uneven bounce and the nagging seam of opening bowler Irfan Ahmed who picked up three early wickets to place the Islanders on the rack

"We were in a good position but the ball was seaming around a lot and their seamers got the early breakthrough," Romaine said.

A deteriorating pitch only made matters worst.

"The wicket definitely changed; it became two-paced and the ball stayed low. But that's always the risk of batting second on the last day," Romaine said.

The loss also overshadowed Hurdle's 10-wicket match haul and David Hemp's first-innings century (174 not out) that had Bermuda sensing a rare win on day two.

"It's heart breaking because so many positive things happened in the match," added Romaine, who also singled out Rodney Trott's 43 in the first innings and Malachi Jones' second innings haul of four for 84.

Ahmed (three for 35), Qasim Zubair (two for 35) and Eshn Silva (two fo 48) led UAE's march to victory that was rubber stamped in the 40th over on the final day.

With hopes fading, skipper Romaine tried in vain to hit his team out of trouble after they had quickly slipped to 33 for five, with first innings centurion Hemp (two) and all rounder Janeiro Tucker (one) among the early casualties.

Romaine lashed a typically robust 32 off 40 balls and together with deputising wicketkeeper Jason Simons, who chipped in with 23 off 40 balls, added 49 runs for the sixth-wicket. But the big-hitting batsman could do little to prevent wickets from tumbling at an alarming rate at the other end as the UAE attack tightened the noose.

In a last-ditch effort to save face teenaged all rounder Jones and the swashbuckling Hurdle offered resistance with some lofty hitting lower down the order before the Islanders' imminent demise was completed.

Jones cracked five boundaries in a run-a-ball 24 while Hurdle thumped two sixes and three fours in a whirlwind 31 off 19 balls and added 36 runs for the 10th wicket with fellow tailender Kyle Hodsoll (four not out) before he was the last wicket to fall.

The result left Bermuda, who return home today, rooted at the bottom of the Intercontinental Cup standings with six-points from four matches.