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Hong Kong Dominate Day 2 Against The Netherlands

Hong Kong continued their dominance on day two of their Intercontinental Cup clash against The Netherlands at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground. Resuming on 366-3, Hong Kong posted their highest ever First Class score of 527 – before reducing the visitors to 216-5 at stumps.

Babar Hayat picked up from where he left off on day one, surpassing 150 as he and Anshuman Rath took their partnership past 100. Hayat was eventually given LBW for 173, his innings off 265 balls, including 22 fours and 2 sixes.

Attention then turn to Anshuman Rath and whether he could reach a maiden First Class century. He moved into the 90s with three wickets still in hand, but the Dutch denied him by polishing off the tail (with Ehsan Nawaz not able to bat), leaving the 19-year-old stranded on 98 not out.

In response, The Netherlands innings began full of action with the first two deliveries struck firmly to the boundary by Stephan Myburgh, before Tanwir Afzal knocked over his middle stump.

In the fifth over, Tanwir struck again as he lured Max O’Dowd to edge to wicket-keeper Chris Carter to have the Netherlands in huge trouble at 23-2.

Ben Cooper and Roelef Van Der Merwe combined to finally get the Dutch innings going. They put on 102 before left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed drew the edge of Cooper for 52. And then two balls later he struck again to send Wesley Barresi back for a duck.

Skipper Peter Borren came in and took to the spinners with his reverse sweep, hitting three boundaries with it until the pace of Aizaz Khan took his edge.

However, Van Der Merwe was in a ruthless mood, he reached his century with a towering six off 108 balls and took the Dutch score past 200.

Speaking after play, Anshuman Rath was pleased with his side’s position.

“We started off strong with the bat and got the total we wanted to, we are happy having five wickets, but maybe we just let them get a few too many. Roelof batted really well but if we kept them to 50 or 60 less we’d really be in the driving seat.”

“I’m sure I’ll get over it (being left on 98*), I’m a bit disappointed but that’s cricket. While I was batting in the 90s I thought it’s time to convert one of these into a 100.”

“I’ve focused a lot of time in the gym getting fitter and also my boundary options which was lacking compared to others in the team. It’s been a good couple of months for me and I just want to keep it going.”

“It’s a good batting wicket but there is enough in it for the bowlers and it’s starting to turn a little bit which is a good sign for us. It’s a case of us bowling well and bowling to our plans.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket, Panda Man

Captain Babar Hayat Scores Magnificent 141 Not Out

ICC sanctioned First Class cricket finally made it’s long awaited debut in Hong Kong and captain Babar Hayat ensured it would be a milestone day for his side with a magnificent unbeaten century.

Hayat the owner of the first, First Class and T20 International hundreds by a Hong Kong player, added another feather to his cap with an unbeaten 141 as Hong Kong amassed 366-3 on day one of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against The Netherlands.

Sent in to bat after losing the toss, debutant Matt Stiller and Chris Carter got Hong Kong off to a spritely start, scoring 50 runs in the first 10 overs with crisp drives a feature of their play. Stiller eventually nicked a good delivery from Vivian Kingma for 42, but the 90-run partnership had laid a strong platform.

Carter and Hayat continued to score freely, guiding Hong Kong to 121-1 at lunch. Although The Netherlands’ bowling attack was hampered by an injury to opening bowler Timm Van Der Gugten, who suffered a shoulder injury while diving in the outfield.

After the break, the spin of Roelof Van De Merwe slowed progress somewhat but Hong Kong again only lost one wicket in the session, that of Chris Carter for 84 – his highest First Class score.

Resuming at 227-2 after tea, Hayat and Nizakat Khan played with freedom. Babar’s century, courtesy of an ungainly dive, came from 162 balls, while Nizakat raised his 50 in 89 balls.

The partnership was worth 117 when Nizakat fended a ball to second slip following the introduction of the second new ball. The day was already Hong Kong’s at that point and the Hayat and Anshuman Rath (23*) partnership added 53 before the close. The home side are in a strong position to accelerate further on day two.

“The boys got off to a really good start and then when I came in they kept supporting me,” Hayat said. “I’ve never batted for this long before so I’m really pleased with this, we were thinking 230 or 240 would be a good score at the end of the day so we are looking forward to hopefully putting 500 on the board tomorrow.”

“The guys have been working really hard on our batting and everyone was feeling good coming into today so pleasing to put a good performance on the board.” Hayat continued “We lost the toss but thankfully they chose to bowl first, hopefully the wicket can spin on day three and four.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

Oman Humiliate Hong Kong in the Desert

Hong Kong’s Desert T20 adventure went from bad, conceding 185 against Scotland in their opening match, to humiliating in their second against Oman where their batting and hopes of progressing in the tournament imploded.

The Zayed Cricket Stadium will hold no fond memories, hopefully a change of venue for the final game will see Hong Kong at least competitive. Losing is part of the game, getting thrashed twice is not the best start for an important year for local cricket.

After wining the toss and choosing to bat, Hong Kong were bowled out for 87 with Aizaz Khan (19) top scorer and only two other players Ehsan Khan (10) and Chris Carter (17) reaching double figures.

In response, despite an early wicket to Nadeem Ahmed, Oman reach the target in the 11 overs for the loss of just three wickets.

“It is one of those things that happens every so often,” Simon Cook, the Hong Kong coach, said of the batting implosion.

“We paid the price for playing across the line too much. It was a cascade effect, and 88 is just not defendable.”

Hong Kong Desert T20 Fixtures
18 January: Netherlands v Hong Kong (Dubai International Stadium)

Scotland Thrash Hong Kong in Desert T20 Opener

Scotland produced a dominant performance to defeat Hong Kong by 24 runs in the opening match of the Desert T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi.

The Scots powered to 189-3 from their 20 overs, before early wickets torpedoed Hong Kong’s chase before it could get into gear and despite strong resistance from the middle and lower order were restricted to 165-6.

After winning the toss, Scotland raced to 60-0 in seven overs, before Ehsan Khan removed both openers George Munsey (22) and Kyle Coetzer (31). Hong Kong though failed to capitalise on the breakthroughs as a record breaking 127-run partnership from Callum MacLeod (60 off 34 balls) and Richie Berrington (60 off 39 balls) saw Scotland post an imposing target.

A feature of the partnership, Scotland highest ever in T20 internationals was the reverse-sweeping skills and switch hits of MacLeod who hit 4 fours and 3 sixes.

In response, Aizaz Khan was run out without facing a ball and when Babar Hayat (10) picked out the man on the deep mid-wicket boundary Hong Kong were 32-2 in the fifth over.

Nizakat Khan, who hit a monstrous six over cover tried to repeat the effort but was caught at third man for 22 off as many balls.

Hong Kong’s two 19-year-olds Anshuman Rath (29 off 25) and Shahid Wasif (40 off 25 balls) added 41 in four overs, but with the run-rate creeping above 14 it was too big a mountain to climb.

Ehsan Khan’s crisp 42 off 22 balls at the end of the innings restricted the damage to Hong Kong’s net run rate, which could prove crucial in keeping hopes alive of progressing to the finals.

Hong Kong coach Simon Cook said his side were always up against it from the halfway mark.

“We were probably disappointed to be chasing 190 which wasn’t really a par score, it was more a 175 wicket and a very windy day with a big outfield,” Cook said.

“A few lapses with our fielding meant we were chasing too many, although I was pleased with our execution in their power play.” Cook continued “Again with the bat we had two run outs through basic errors and its those sort of things that cost you games.”

“Anshuman continued his good form, Shahid was again impressive and is really consolidating his place in the team and Ehsan Khan at the end hit the ball nicely so there were some positives. We did well in the end to get as close as we did.”

Hong Kong Desert T20 Fixtures
16 January: Oman v Hong Kong (Zayed Cricket Stadium)
18 January: Netherlands v Hong Kong (Dubai International Stadium)

Additional reporting and photos: HK Cricket, Cricinfo

Hong Kong’s Bowlers Shine in Win Over Kenya

Hong Kong squared their two match tour of Kenya with a 39-run victory in the second ICC World Cricket League Championship match in Nairobi. A blistering 78 off 68 balls from captain Babar Hayat paved the way for the visitors in a rain-reduced limited-overs match.

After a delayed start – Hong Kong were 25.1 overs into their 31-over innings when the rain cut them short on 148-4. Chris Carter supported Hayat with 41 in a 119-run stand for the second wicket.

The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method adjusted Kenya’s target to 173 to win off 25 overs and they appeared well on track after a flying start from openers Alex Obanda (39) and Irfan Karim (33) who raced to 70-0 after 10 overs, but the introduction of spin turned the game for Hong Kong.

Nadeem Ahmed (3-23) struck first with the score on 79 and three further scalps to Ehsan Khan (3-12) saw Kenya wobble to 89-5. There was a brief fightback, but Tanveer Ahmed’s accuracy with his yorkers at the death netted him three wickets as Hong Kong dismissed Kenya for 133.

Coach Simon Cook was a relieved man, but was still hurting from Friday’s loss.

“We’ve not got the result we wanted from the tour but pleasing to get the win today and still keep ourselves in the mix for the ICC World Cricket League Championship,” Cook said. “Kenya got off to a very good start in their innings so it was pleasing to see the energy of the guys remain high and to come back and win was a good effort. We need to be more consistent going forward if we want to challenge the top of the table in this competition.”

Captain Babar Hayat, whose contribution with the bat was vital once again, was still searching for improvement in his own game. “I’m pleased that as captain I led from the front today and that’s what I need to do,” Babar said. “I don’t think I am playing my best yet, there is still more improvement to come from me – I’d have liked to have made a hundred today and I want to set the bar higher for myself. I’m really pleased that we won this game and proud we could get this win for Hong Kong.”

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket

Kenya Beat Hong Kong in First ODI

Hong Kong missed a golden opportunity to push their claims for top spot in the ICC World Cricket League Championship losing by three wickets to Kenya in Nairobi in the first of two ODI’s.

The key point in the match came when Hong Kong on 214-5 with nine overs remaining were looking to post a really challenging target instead suffered a dramatic batting collapse to be all out for 222. Kenya’s captain Rakeb Patel did the damage during that period taking 5-16 off 6 overs.

Kenya too almost lost their cool, collapsing from 140-1 to 171-6 before a rain delay saw them collect their thoughts and pass the reduced target of 200 with 13 balls and three wickets to spare.

For Hong Kong, Anshuman Rath starred with the bat, scoring 90 off 92 balls, which included a century partnership with fellow 19-year-old Shahid Wasif (44 off 61). This partnership helped the innings recover from the cheap losses of Babar Hayat (24) and Nizakat Khan (4), while Kinchit Shah played a cameo at the top of the order, scoring 34 off 17 balls.

With the ball, wickets were shared, with Ehsan Khan 2-44 returning the best figures.

Coach Simon Cook was left fuming with his side’s inability to finish the match from a strong position.

“It’s frustrating because you get to a point in a game where we could have accelerated and taken the game away from Kenya but unfortunately we’ve been guilty of losing critical moments in games and we lost that critical moment today,” Cook said.

“We didn’t capitalise on the good work done by Anshuman and Shahid, which is very disappointing. We have a lower order that can be explosive, which we saw in the 1st ODI against PNG, but it’s just getting them to do it more consistently.”

“We had opportunities to win this in the field as well – we dropped a couple of chances and took a wicket off a no ball,” Cook added. “It’s hard to make changes when it’s your lower that didn’t get the runs and that’s not their job. So you can’t drop a bowler because they’ve not got runs. So we will need to reflect on the performance and look at options who we can bring in.”

Cook continued “This was a perfect opportunity to come here and get to the top of the World Cricket League Championship and take the pressure off ourselves but this loss puts us right in the thick of the pack. Sunday is now a must win game – we need to treat it as such. The positive from today is that we didn’t play well and nearly pulled off a win.”

Sunday’s match will be the second and final match of the tour before Hong Kong return home on Monday.

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket

Babar Hayat and Anshuman Rath Steer Hong Kong to Series Victory

Babar Hayat and Anshuman Rath stared in a rain-affected match as Hong Kong triumphed in the third and final One Day International against Papua New Guinea to seal a 2-1 series win at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

After being set an intimidating 245 on a slow surface, captain Babar Hayat (82*) and Anshuman Rath (52*) produced an unbeaten 120-run partnership to guide the home side to victory. The target was adjusted to 178 runs in 38 overs after rain shortened the match while Hong Kong were 170-3 after 31 overs.

In the PNG innings a brilliant unbeaten 76 off 62 balls from Mahuru Dai, smashed in the final overs, saw the visitors recover from 144-6 to 244-7 from their 50 overs.

The chase was far from comfortable for Hong Kong, especially after Nizakat Khan was dismissed for 9 with the score reading 61-3. But Hayat and Rath both scored at near a run-a-ball to quickly shift the pressure back on to the Barramundis. Rath was named man-of-the-match after also taking 3-25 with the ball.

Hayat was named man of the series and was understandably delighted after the match. “I’m really proud of how we played and came back after losing the last game to win here,” Hayat said.

“It means a lot to us to win at home in front of our family, friends and fans and really pleased that our senior players stepped up. Obviously it gives us a lot of confidence for the Kenya series in a couple of week’s time.” Hayat added “I thought we improved on our fielding and rotating the strike today which is what we wanted to do.”

PNG coach Dipak Patel said the experience for his side had been a worthwhile one despite the loss. “We don’t handle the Asian conditions all that well and to lose the series was disappointing but from what we have learned it will be valuable for us,” Patel said.

“We’ve loved it here in Hong Kong and been looked after really well and we take away a huge positive of having come back to win that second game after going behind. It’s the last game for us this year so I was really pleased with their attitude.”

Hong Kong will travel to Nairobi next week to play two ICC World Cricket League fixtures against Kenya.

Match Summary
Hong Kong 181-3 in 33.3 overs
(Babar Hayat 82* Anshuman Rath 52*) def
Papua New Guinea 244/7 (Target revised to 178 off 38 overs due to rain)
(Mahuru Dai 76* Anshuma Rath 3-25)

Additional reporting: HK Cricket
Photo: Phoebe Leung

PNG Beat Hong Kong by 14 Runs

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Hong-Kong-v-PNG-2nd-ODI-Tin/i-sJS449r

Nadeem spins through Papua New Guinea top order, but Chad Soper’s six turns tide as PNG square the One Day International series against Hong Kong at 1-1 after producing a late fight back to win by 14 runs.

The six wicket haul to PNG opening bowler Chad Soper swung the game the way of the visitors as they successfully defended a score of 201 by dismissing Hong Kong for 186 in the penultimate over.

Hong Kong did look set for victory at 176-6 but lost their last four wickets for 11 runs. Earlier, it was spinner Nadeem Ahmed who starred for Hong Kong taking 4-50 from his 10 overs including the first three scalps.

PNG skipper Assad Vala made 70, which held the innings together in the middle overs on a wicket that turned sharply. Anshuman Rath backed up his impressive performance with the ball in the first game, taking 3-28 from his 10 overs.

In reply, Hong Kong were reduced to 31-3 in the chase, losing both Kinchit Shah and captain Babar Hayat without scoring. Starts were made by Jamie Atkinson (23), Nizakat Khan (33) and Anshuman Rath (21) but ultimately they did not capitalise.

19-year-old Shahid Wasif made an impressive 45 to take the score to 5-154. But the return of Soper brought his end as he became the first PNG player to take a five wicket haul in an ODI.

The late collapse was a major disappointment to coach Simon Cook who lamented his side’s missed chance at taking the series.

“We made the same mistakes as in the first time but this time it cost us,” Cook said. “We didn’t rotate the strike with the bat, which we spoke a lot about, and in the end we put ourselves under pressure because of it. It was a tough pitch and credit to PNG for how they bowled but I’m very disappointed we weren’t able to see it through.”

One Day International Series: Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea
Date: 4, 6, 8 November, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: $500, $30 from Ticketflap

Additional reporting: HKcricket