The Netherlands go top of their ICC Intercontinental Cup group after defeating the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by four wickets with a day to spare at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The match finished inside three days, but there were some encouraging performances from either side in what was at times an exciting match.

On day one Netherlands’ left-arm spinner Michael Rippon took four wickets for 45 runs while Vivian Kingma took three for 37 as the UAE was skittled out for a paltry 164.

The Netherlands scored a massive 315 in response with Peter Borren (96), Stephan Myburgh (62), van der Merwe (48) and Wesley Barresi (43) the star performers. UAE captain Ahmed Raza meanwhile was the pick of the bowlers with a career-best of six for 112, while Farhan Ahmed also deserves special mention for his four for 78 on debut.

UAE began day three on the back foot and the only real resistance came from Shaiman Anwar, who smashed a superb 103. Together with Saqlain Haider (49), Shaiman put on 144 runs for the sixth wicket. However, after Saqlain departed at the score of 224 and Shaiman returned a run later, the UAE’s innings folded at 276.

This gave the Netherlands a 126-run target, which they achieved for the loss of six wickets in 42.5 overs.

UAE coach Aqib Javed was upbeat despite defeat in three days. “Considering that we had six debutants and a couple of guys were playing their second matches, I think we played decently. We were up against an experienced Dutch side, whose players are used to playing the longer version of cricket, both at home and abroad.

“We are patient and understand that we’re a team in the making. The more we’ll play four-day cricket, the better the players will get. At the moment they are struggling to adjust from Twenty20 format to the demands and rigours of four-day cricket.

Next up for the UAE are two 50-ver matches against the Netherlands in Abu Dhabi as part of the ICC Intercontinental Cup on 27 and 29 January.

The Emiratis are now sit in seventh position on two points with one win and three loses.