UAE 142 and 117-1

Bermuda 311

David Hemp shifted into top gear by lashing a boundary-filled century as Bermuda piled on the runs on day two of their Intercontinental Cup match with hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai yesterday.

With Hemp in punishing form at the crease, the Islanders found runs easy to come by despite losing early wickets in the morning session against a UAE attack that was put to the sword with the English county cricketer striking the heaviest blow with a majestic, unbeaten 174 achieved in 252 balls in a whirlwind knock that included 24 fours and four sixes into the stands.

The Glamorgan skipper added another 152 runs to his overnight tally of 21 and along with tailender Kevin Hurdle shared in a record 132-run, ninth-wicket stand that powered the Islanders to an impressive first innings total of 311 all out - their fifth highest total in the competition - in 93.1 overs in reply to UAE's modest 142.

It was a knock the stylish left handed batsman, who also shares the Intercontinental Cup seventh-wicket partnership record (219) with the retired Saleem Mukuddem, thoroughly enjoyed.

"It was obviously pleasing for me to score so many runs having lost a lot of the batters at an early stage while the partnership with Kevin (Hurdle) was excellent. His approach was very good and it enabled me to pick off the odd boundary and help put something together," Hemp told The Royal Gazette.

Hurdle provided the perfect foil while Hemp inflicted heavy damage at the opposite end after UAE enjoyed early success with the ball as skipper Irving Romaine (13), Janeiro Tucker (nought) and Jones (12) all fell in the space of 26 runs during yesterday's opening session.

"Kevin played a sort of an anchor role and played exceptionally well. We just managed to bat well together," Hemp added.

UAE stole the early thunder as Romaine could only add five runs to his overnight total (eight) before he was gloved behind by wicketkeeper Rehman Abdul while Tucker was bowled off an inside edge and young Jones rapped on the pads by a quicker delivery from left-arm spinner Silva Shadeep - whose three for 53 topped the UAE first innings bowling - in front of the stumps.

"We lost three quick wickets and so I decided to be a bit more positive and play a lot more options and it worked out," said Hemp, who smashed an unbeaten 247 against the Netherlands in the same competition nearly a year ago. "I was obviously pleased with my performance today and hopefully it's got us into a position where we can press on and try and get a win."

Despite Hemp's one-man assualt, UAE hit back with an improved batting display in the final session to position themselves at 117 for one in their second innings at close of play, 51 runs shy of Bermuda's first innings score with nine-wickets in hand heading into today's third day at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Sharjah.

Skipper Romaine used six bowlers in an effort to make early inroads in UAE's second innings. But an unbroken second-wicket stand between opener Ali Arshad (76) and number three Aslam Naeemuddin (31) saw the Arabs safely to close of play without further damage.

"Unfortunately we only got the one wicket this afternoon and so they have the ascendency at the moment. The wicket didn't do as much as we thought it would. But we have to try and hit back tomorrow morning (today) and take the initiative away from them," Hemp said.

"There's still something left in the pitch and so we now need to try and press the advantage and get them three of four down before they reach our total. It's all about taking things session by session and we still have to play very well to win the game.

"So if we can take some early wickets and put them under pressure there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to press ahead going into the last day. But we cannot take anything for granted because there's a lot of cricket still to be played."

See scoreboard on page 22