England beat United Arab Emirates by four wickets and qualified for the Semi Final of the Cathay Pacific/Standard Chartered Cricket Sixes 2001, being played at the Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong Kong, on Sunday.

England won the toss and put United Arab Emirates to bat first. Kaif Gaury struck three consecutive boundaries in the first over bowled by Douglas Brown (1-0-17-0). Paul Collingwood dismissed UAE skipper Saeed-al-Saffar (3), caught by Brown at square leg. Gaury helped himself to a couple of boundaries of the Collingwood over (1-0-12-0). Khuram Khan hit four consecutive fours off Ben Hollioake and then holed out to Andrew Flintoff at long on.

The new batsman Ahmed Nadeem blasted a six off the last ball of the Hollioake over (1-0-22-1). Gaury kept the momentum going by smacking a couple of boundaries off the Mark Ealham over (1-0-15-0) and had to retire not out 31* off 10 balls with seven fours. UAE took 17 runs off the final over bowled by Flintoff to finish at 81/2.

Chasing the modest target, England skipper Matthew Maynard blasted 36* off just 11 balls with the help of five boundaries and a couple of sixes. Andrew Flintoff made 17 off just five balls, striking a four and two sixes. Ben Hollioake hit a massive six off Khuram Khan and was caught and bowled of the following delivery. Collingwood 14* and Brown 9* took England past the target with five balls to spare.

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