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Hong Kong’s Bowlers Rout UAE to Secure Historic Win

Hong Kong’s bowlers routed the UAE to secure an historic first ICC Intercontinental Cup victory with Babar Hayat declared Man of the Match for his two match winning innings. The win earns Hong Kong maximum points and moves the team up to third in the competition.

Hong Kong secured their magnificent 276 run victory when opening bowlers Haseeb Amjad and Aizaz Khan ripped through the UAE top order, claiming five wickets in the first 15 balls of the day while conceding only one run to leave the host reeling on five for six in under six overs.

With the UAE needing 377 runs for victory on the fourth and final day, the day could not have started worse for the host. Haseeb was on a hat trick with the first three balls, stunning the hosts to dismiss dangermen Amjad Ali lbw (1) and Usman Mushtaq (0), before narrowly missing the key wicket of Swapnil Patil. However, Patil fell the following over to 22-year-old Aizaz, who struck twice to dismiss Swapnil (0) and opener Asif Iqbal (3).

When Haseeb‘s medium-fast pace struck again in the following over, the UAE were at risk of being humiliated, but the lower-order mounted a disciplined defence, until Nadeem Ahmed broke through in the 21st over to send Qais Farooq (26) back to the pavilion. Nadeem took the last four wickets of the day, including the only UAE player to hit a half century (Laxman Sreekumar (61) to finish with figures of four for 40 alongside Haseeb’s superb figures of four for 10. Aizaz finished with a tidy two for twenty.

The four-day, first class clash saw Hong Kong showcase its all-round talents, with centurions Babar Hayat and captain Tanwir Azal the second and fourth-highest run-scorers in the competition to date. Haseeb is now Hong Kong’s leading wicket taker in the tournament, with 10 wickets in two matches, and he is second only to Ireland’s George Dockrell overall.

Hong Kong coach Simon Cook was delighted with the convincing victory. “The game has pretty much gone to script as far as we are concerned. This was the icing on the cake, to do it so convincingly in the first session. We had discussed about how important the first hour was today, and that would really set up the day, and it proved so, with the UAE losing five wickets for one run in the space of about 15 balls. That really set us up.”

Captain Tanwir Afzal could not contain his happiness with the result. “It was an amazing victory, our fist ever win in a first class game. I am so happy that the guys all showed up and did really well.”

“It was an amazing start from the first ball, and then the second ball, and then the next over was also an amazing start. The guys stuck with the plan, so I don’t think we needed more than three bowlers after that.”

He said that his side had not felt pressure on the final day of the clash. “The bowlers were very relaxed. They didn’t have pressure because we know that it was a big total, that UAE couldn’t chase that. We had our plans in place but we stuck with the basic things, and the guys did a really good job.”

Man of the Match Babar Hayat said the historic victory has an unforgettable one. “It’s a great day for Hong Kong, beating the UAE in a first class game – it is a special day for Hong Kong and for the whole team. It’s a really special day for us.”

“I am really happy with my batting performance. I used to bat number five or six, but I talked to Simon Cook and he said you are going to move up. I’m really happy batting at this position and am really looking forward to the next few games here on the same pitch, and hopefully get some more runs.”

The sides now turn their minds to their upcoming World Cricket League Championship matches, with the two One-Day Internationals to be played on 16 and 18 November in Dubai.

Hong Kong won by 276 runs
Man of the Match: Babar Hayat
Hong Kong first innings 378 all out, 125.2 overs
Babar Hayat 113, Tanwir Afszal 104, Kinshit Shah 62;
Asif Iqbal 3-38, Raja Adeel 2-104, Ahmed Raza 2-103

UAE first innings 181 all out, 92.3 overs
Swapnil Patil 75, Usman Mushtaq 45;
Anshuman Rath 4-34, Tanwir Afzal 2-21, Nadeem Ahmed 2-47, Ehsan Nawaz 1-19, Aizaz Khan 1-30

Hong Kong second innings 184 all out, 51.3 overs
(Babar Hayat 73, Anshuman Rath 32, Jaimie Atkinson 30;
Ahmed Raza 5-61Nasir Aziz 4-90

UAE second innings 105 all out, 29.2 overs
L Sreekumar 61;
Haseeb Amjad 4-10, Nadeem Ahmed 4-40, Aizaz Khan 2-20

Hong Kong Beat Nepal by 5 Wickets at World T20 Qualifier

Hong Kong finally found their groove at the ICC World T20 Qualifier to beat Nepal by 5 wickets with 5 balls remaining.

Hong Kong, who won the toss and elected to field, tore the Nepal top order apart with Haseeb Amjad taking two wickets in his first over and a third in his second to have Nepal 17/4 after 6.1 overs. Hong Kong’s bowlers kept the pressure up taking wickets regularly and bowling Nepal out off the last ball of the twentieth over.

Man of the Match Haseeb Amjad with those three early wickets was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-for-16 from his four overs. Aizaz Khan was miserly conceding just 7 runs in four overs while taking the wicket of Regmi.

In reply Hong Kong lost Irfan Ahmed early but calm batting from Anshuman Rath on debut and top scorer Nizakat Khan steadied the nerves and Hong Kong cruised to their first win after a loss in game 1 and a no-result in game 2.

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: Hong Kong v Oman – 3 May, 2014

A quick-fire 38 from Haseeb Amjad was not quite enough as Hong Kong slumped to their second defeat at this year’s Asian Cricket Council Premier League falling 9 runs short of Oman’s 143. A steady bowling performance saw Hong Kong bowl out Oman in the 46 over with Tanwir Afzal and Irfan Ahmed both taking three wickets. An energetic start by Irfan Ahmed who smashed 20 from 10 balls looked to have set Hong Kong on the path to an easy win, but the rest of top order went cheaply and the Omanis picked up wickets at regular intervals to derail the run chase.

Scorecard courtesy of cricinfo