The United Arab Emirates go into tomorrow's final of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy against Hong Kong at Sharjah Stadium as slight favourites, however the match could go either way.

Both teams have been the best performed of the tournament and deserve their places in the final.

It is a contrast of styles as the UAE play a more instinctive brand, whereas the well drilled Hong Kong outfit keep to a srructured format.

Both have experienced captains, used to big occasion matches, with Stewart Brew of Hong Kong an analytical reader of a cricket game, while the UAE's Saeed-Al-Saffar is a confident leader.

There were doubts prior to the UAE's semi-final that their lack of quality match practice in their group games may hinder them, however, they fought back well with both bat and ball against Malaysia on Wednesday.

Former first class cricketers, Nasir Siddiqui, and Kashir Khan, were patient in guiding the UAE home against Malaysia and should handle Hong Kong's pressure tactics more adeptly than the latter's previous opponents.

Hong Kong's display against Nepal in its semi-final showed it is close to the type of clinical performance it seeks in all its games.

Its top order batsmen retrieved a parlous situation without panic at 2-11 and then began a surgical dissection of the Nepali bowling.

Brew, opener Saleem Malik and former Ranji Trophy player Rahul Sharma have performed well, and will be the wickets which the UAE should want the most. No other Hong Kong batsman has exceeded 40 in this tournament (although mainly because these three have done the job).

Such is the UAE's confidence though, that it is likely they will play their own game without thinking about 'targeting' opposition players.

Hong Kong is a bowling and fielding outfit which works as a unit to apply pressure. Their catching has been one of, if not the best in the tournament.

Brew has been taking wickets consistently, and off-spinner Jawaid Iqbal removes batsmen and is economical in the middle of the innings.

It has not bowled to a stronger batting lineup than the UAE's in the past nine days. Hong Kong is expected to use opening bowler, Mohammad Zubair, who has been experiencing difficulty controlling his inswinger. He has bowled a plethora of wides in the past two matches.

UAE medium pacer, Miraj Khaliq, bowled well to snare four Malaysian wickets yesterday, while off-spinner Mohammad Tauqeer has been a key wicket-taker bowling second change for home team.

The UAE will be under more pressure, as favourite, and home team.

© CricInfo Ltd