The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have qualified for their second ICC World Cup, and for the first time since 1996 when they were knocked out at the group stages in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.They won their only match against the Netherlands in Lahore, although arguably the most memorable moment came against South Africa when captain Sultan Zarawani, wearing only a wide brimmed sun hat, was hit on the head by an Allan Donald bouncer.

The current crop of UAE players qualified for the main event by finishing second in the Super Six stage of the qualifying tournament in New Zealand earlier this year.

Only a couple of months later they played in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, only their second appearance at a ICC global main event.

Experienced batsman Khurram Khan is likely to captain the side in Pool B, where they will face India, Pakistan, South Africa, Ireland, West Indies and Zimbabwe. Khan scored 270 runs, including a century, in a recent series win over Afghanistan.

Their opening match against Zimbabwe at Nelson on February 19 is likely to provide their best chance of a win. They will, however, go in with plenty of confidence having completed a 3-1 series victory over Afghanistan on home soil earlier this month.

They are coached by former Pakistan fast bowler Aqib Javed, who has to contend with his players working 9am to 5pm jobs alongside their cricket commitments. A handful of the players work for the Fly Emirates airline.

BADGER PREDICTS

Claiming any win would be viewed as a success for the UAE, whose chances of reaching the knockout stages are slim to say the least.

The matches against India and Pakistan at Perth and Napier will be the ones they look forward to most, with many of the players no doubt idolising the likes of MS Dhoni and Shahid Afridi.

PROVISIONAL SQUAD:

Mohamed Tauqir, Salman Farooq, Fahad Alhasimi, Ahmed Raza, Amjad Javed, Andri Raffaelo, Rohit Singh, Yodhin Punja, Amjad Ali, Faizan Asif, Fayyaz Ahmed, Khurram Khan, Manjula Guruge, Muhammad Naveed, Nasir Aziz, Roshan Mustafa, Shaiman Anwar, Saqib Ali, Swapnil Patil, Chirag Suri, Ahsan Suri, Irfan Sajid, Noor ul Amin, Asadullah Shareef, Usman Mustaq, Muhammad Shahzad, Saqlain Haider, Kamran Shahzad, K Karate, Umair Ali.