After making his comeback to the national set-up, wicketkeeper-batsman Saqlain Haider has challenged himself to score a half-century when the UAE meet England Lions in their 50-over practice game on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, a member of last year’s World Cup squad, donned the UAE shirt for the first time in 10 months during the hosts’ fivewicket loss to the Lions on Thursday at the ICC Academy. He was one of coach Aaqib Javed’s more impressive players, scoring an unbeaten 30 off 29 deliveries which included five boundaries.

Having been overlooked for the World Twenty20 qualifiers last June and the World Cricket League encounters against Hong Kong in November, Haider was pleased to add to his international caps and encouraged by his performance.

“To score 30 runs against a very good England Lions side is very pleasing, especially when playing for the UAE after a long time (out),” he said. “I take a lot of confidence from this and I want to continue this form when we play.

“I want to score a big total and hopefully I can score 50 or 60 runs. To score a 50 against England Lions would be something amazing.

“It’s very nice to be back playing for the UAE because it’s a great honour to represent your country. It was a long time to be out of the set-up and was frustrating but I worked hard on my batting and wicket-keeping and I impressed in the training camps.”

With the Lions boasting a strong squad, including captain James Vince and Sam Billings, both of whom played in England’s ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE last year, Haider is expecting another stern test.

“It’s not going tobe easy but if we remain focused and play to the best of our abilities, we can push them close. They put us under a lot of pressure during our last game and although we worked hard, we were still disappointed after scoring 210 runs.”