The British Army men’s development cricket team have started their tour of the United Arab Emirates with back-to-back defeats in T20 matches.

It’s the first time that a team from UK Armed Forces cricket have visited the country on an overseas tour.

They started with two fixtures against a UAE XI at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium, with their opposition featuring a number of current international players.

Despite Captain Charlie Bevan’s decent score of 35 runs, the Army were restricted to 96/6 and UAE hunted it down with ease to win by four wickets.

The second match had the same winners, but the Army will take positives from a strong run chase that saw them lose by 62 runs.