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Hong Kong Plays for World T20 Spot at India2016

Hong Kong is among the fourteen Associate teams who will attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast one another in Ireland and Scotland at the World Twenty20 Qualifier. The six surviving teams after an intense 51-match event in 18 days will earn a ticket to India for the 2016 World Twenty20 next March. With the World T20 scaling back from a biennial event to once every four years from 2016 onwards – and no guaranteed places for Associates in the 50-over World Cup – there is even greater desperation in this tournament.

The event has been trimmed from 16 to 14 teams from the last time it was held in the UAE, while two playoff berths in the knockout stage have also been slashed. Now, only the top six from each group will advance to the playoffs. The respective table-toppers during the round-robin challenge receive immunity until the semi-finals as well as the prize of a guaranteed slot for the main event in India.

Sadly Duckworth-Lewis may play a massive role at this event. Consistent rain washed out many of the official warm-up matches and this may have teams wanting to bat last, with overs reduced and all 10 wickets in hand.

The Groups
Group A: Ireland, Nepal, Hong Kong, PNG, Namibia, USA, Jersey
Group B: Afghanistan, UAE, Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Kenya, Oman

Hong Kong have had a steady build-up to the tournament, splitting a T20 series with Namibia in May before travelling to England. Irfan Ahmed who has struggled at the Associate tournaments in the past comes into this tournament in excellent touch. The squad is also boosted by the return of vice-captain Mark Chapman in the middle order. Hong Kong’s biggest asset is their pace bowling unit spearheaded by Ahmed, Aizaz Khan and captain Tanwir Afzal, who will all be a handful on seaming wickets.

Format
During the group stage each team will play each other, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw/no-result. The top six sides from the 18-day tournament during which 51 matches will be played, will join the 10 Full Members for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, which will be held from 11 March to 3 April 2016.

The sides that finish second and third in each of the two groups will play cross-over matches with the two winners joining the table-toppers for the India tournament. The losing sides of the two play-off matches will then play the fourth-placed sides from each of the two groups in cross-over matches with the winners completing the 16-team line-up for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016.

Catch up with the action at www.icc-cricket.com or www.cricinfo.com

Hong Kong Squad
Tanwir Afzal (c), Mark Chapman (vc), Aizaz Khan, Anas Khan, Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, Ehsan Nawaz, Haseeb Amjad, Irfan Ahmed, James Atkinson, Kinchit Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Waqas Barkat, Waqas Khan, Giacomo Lamplough, Charlie Burke (Coach).

Tanwir Afzal Stars as Hong Kong beat Namibia in Second ODI

Tanwir Afzal takes 5 wickets as Hong Kong thrashed Namibia in the second ICC World Cricket League Championship by 8 wickets with more than 14 overs to spare. Namibia won the toss and chose to bat, but after losing by one wicket in the first ODI Hong Kong’s bowlers were on fire and on the back of Afzal’s wonderful opening spell soon had the hosts at 30/8 after 14 overs. The last two wickets added 79 to leave Hong Kong chasing 110 to win. Small totals can be hard to chase, but Irfan Ahmed’s aggressive batting calmed Hong Kong’s nerves and paved the way for a comfortable win.

Hong Kong set Namibia 195 to Win

Nadeem Ahmed smashed 24 off 12 balls including 18 off the last 5 balls of the innings. Hong Kong took 19 from the last over reach 194/9, setting Namibia 195 to win in this the first match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship, 2015-2016/17.

Hong Kong Collapse – Namibia Win by 114 runs

Namibia’s national team cruised to a convincing win over Hong Kong during their first encounter at this year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Intercontinental Cup in Windhoek on Wednesday.

Namibia went into the final day in a commanding position, needing to prevent Hong Kong from scoring 303 runs, but Hong Kong got off to a very good start, and were 48/0, before the young and talented Christopher Coombe was able to make the break through. Shortly after Coombe took another wicket, Bernhard Scholtz stepped into action with two more quick wickets as Hong Kong’s middle order collapsed. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, as Scholtz grabbed another one, Burger snatched up two and JJ Smit one of his own.

With eight wickets down by tea time and only 139 runs on the board. It appeared that Namibia had the match done and dusted. However, there was to be a last fight from the Hong Kong, as Haseeb Amjab and Eshan Nawaz made life difficult for the Namibians.

The Namibians were throwing everything at Hong Kong, until Namibia’s captain Nikolaas Scholtz took things into his own hands. After he scored a fantastic 85 not out in the first innings, as well as a quick fire 29 not out in the second innings, Scholtz proved that he is the kind of captain that can lead from the front, as he took two wickets from his first two balls, leading Namibia to victory, and giving the team their first intercontinental victory of the season.

On Friday the two teams will be tackling each other in the first 50 over match of the World Cricket league

Hong Kong Set 302 to Win

After adding just one run to their overnight score Hong Kong were dismissed for 203 in their first innings. They then endured a long tough day in the field as Namibia built their lead with opener RAH Pitchers scoring 107 not out. Namibia declared just before the close of play on the third day to set Hong Kong 302 to win this first match in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

Match Status
Namibia 272 & 232/5d
Hong Kong 203 & 3/0 (2.0 ov)
Hong Kong require another 299 runs with 10 wickets remaining

ICC Intercontinental Cup – Hong Kong trail Namibia after Day Two

Haseeb Amjad took 5 for 49 as Hong Kong bowled out Namibia for 272 early on day two. A top order collapse saw Hong Kong in trouble but 50’s from Nizakat Khan and Tanwir Afzal saw HK finish the second day on 202 for 9, trailing by 70 runs

Namibia and Hong Kong are playing the first round of fixtures in cricket’s ICC Intercontinental Cup for eight Associate Nations. The tournament takes place over two years, with the winner getting the chance to play Test cricket

“The ICC Intercontinental Cup is now the platform for emerging nations to fulfill their ambitions of playing Test cricket,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said. “It will therefore be fantastic to see the strongest Associates face off in an exciting competition, with great context, that will showcase world cricket’s growing pool of talent.”

See the live scorecard here

Asian Cricket Council Premier League: Malaysia v Hong Kong – 7 May, 2014

Hong Kong ended what they will regard as a disappointing Asian Cricket Council Premier League 2014 with a comfortable win over hosts Malaysia by 4 wickets. JJ Atkinson finally won a toss and unsurprisingly, given the four recent losses batting first, opted to chase. Another impressive performance by Hong Kong’s bowling attack saw Malaysia all-out for 184 in the 47^th over with Nadeem Ahmed taking taking 3-28 and Nizakat Khan strangling the batters with his nine overs yielding just 17 runs and a wicket. Hong Kong’s top order all contributed in a well structured run chase that, despite a couple of nervous late wickets, saw them knock-off the required target of 185 with 8 overs to spare.

Scorecard courtesy of cricinfo

Asian Cricket Council Premier League: Hong Kong v Nepal – 5 May, 2014

Irfan Ahmed scored a wonderful century and took two wickets in Hong Kong’s Duckworth Lewis loss to Nepal in the Asian Cricket Council Premier League. Irfan’s sensational knock included 10 4’s and 3 6’s, sadly none of Hong Kong’s other batsmen could stay with him and the team were bowled out for 181 in the 42 over after again losing the toss. Nepal comfortably reached their revised target of 144 in 38 overs, winning by 7 wickets with 23 balls to spare. A fourth consecutive team loss took a little of the shine from Irfan’s individual brilliance, but it shouldn’t. Congratulations Irfan, what a great knock!

scorecard courtesy of Cricinfo