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)

Hong Kong Lose Despite Magnificent Babar Hayat Century

Babar Hayat - ICC

Hong Kong have been beaten in a thriller in their opening Asia Cup qualifier against Oman in Dhaka. Chasing 181 runs to win, Babar Hayat smashed the fourth fastest Twenty20 International century of all time off just 50 balls but Hong Kong still fell five runs short.

Hayat ended up on 122 off 60 balls, his innings included 9 fours and 7 sixes. “I was happy with the way I played but we should have won the game so I should be a lot happier, to end up on the losing side is never a good thing,” Hayat said “When you are chasing a big total you have to be aggressive so I just tried to do this and everything kept coming out of the middle. It’s the best innings I’ve played and my first hundred in T20 international cricket so I am happy with this.”

Hong Kong at one stage required 45 runs off the last three overs but rocketed back into contention when Hayat hit four sixes in an over that went for 27. “I’ve never done that before,” Hayat said “I did target that bowler and at that stage we had no choice but to go for it, I thought from there we deserved to win.”

However some accurate death bowling from Oman prevented Hong Kong from achieving the remaining 18 runs off 12 balls. Coach Simon Cook paid high praise for Hayat’s innings and lamented the fact it did not result in a win.

“Outstanding innings, he’s become a lot more consistent over the last few months and again proven why he’s the best batsman in Hong Kong,” Cook said “He controlled the innings perfectly and it showed that we let them get 20 runs too many because even with a fantastic innings by Babar, he still ended up on the losing side.”

While Hayat’s century was the highlight of the match, a controversial incident caused a stir when Hong Kong’s Mark Chapman fell victim to a mankad and Cook wasn’t impressed. “Yes it’s in the laws but I think it goes against the spirit of the game when you’re not at least giving a warning,” Cook said “Ultimately it’s a cowardly way out really, if you’re battling against one another, man against man, out in the middle and you choose to go down that route to get a wicket and win the game, it’s not really in the spirit of cricket.”

Oman v Hong Kong - 19 February, 2016

Oman won the toss and chose to bat, the innings got off to a solid start as Jatinder Singh (42 off 35 balls) added 34 with opening partner Zeeshan and 41 with No. 3 Vaibhav Wategaonkar to move them to 75 for 1 at the 10-over mark. Left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed dismissed both Jatinder and Wategaonkar in the 11th over, but every member of Oman’s middle order chipped in to ensure there was no loss of momentum. Adnan Ilyas (23) and Aamir Kaleem (19) were dismissed in quick succession after putting on 38 for the fourth wicket, before Mehran Khan (28* off 16) and Amir Ali (32* off 13) gave the innings an explosive finish, adding an unbroken 50 runs for the sixth wicket, off just 24 balls.

Hong Kong’s next match is against UAE on Sunday – a must win game to keep their qualification hopes alive.

Oman v Hong Kong - 19 February, 2016

Source: HK Cricket Association, Image: © ICC

Hong Kong at the Asia Cup 2016

HK Cricket team 2016

The Asian Cricket Council is holding the Asia Cup 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 24th February to 6th March 2016. The 13th edition of the Asia Cup will be the first played using the T20 format.

Hong Kong made their first appearance in the tournament in 2004 and reached the group stages in the 2004 and 2008 tournaments.

Along with hosts Bangladesh and Asia Cup 2014 winners Sri Lanka, the tournament will include Pakistan, India and a qualifier. The qualifier will be determined through a qualifying round (T20I) scheduled to be played from 19th to 22nd February 2016 in Bangladesh.

Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Oman and UAE will compete in the qualifying round. The winner of qualifier will move to main round to play against the four Asian Test playing nations.

Qualifier Match Schedule
Venue: KSOAS, Fatullah
Format: 20 overs a side

Hong Kong v Oman
Date: 19 February 2016
HK Time: 8pm

Hong Kong v UAE
Date: 21 February 2016
HK Time: 8pm

Hong Kong v Afghanistan
Date: 22 February 2016
HK Time: 8pm

Hong Kong Squad
Tanwir Afzal (Captain), Adil Mehmood, Aizaz Khan, Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, Christopher Carter, Haseeb Amjad, Kinchit Shah, Mark Chapman, Nadeem Ahmed, Ninad Shah, Nizakat Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Waqas Barkat, Waqas Khan.

Babar Hayat and Mark Chapman Smash Hong Kong to Victory

hk-v-oman

Mark Chapman bludgeoned a six to complete a consolation win, as he and Babar Hayat put on an unbeaten 127-run partnership to lead Hong Kong to an eight-wicket victory in the final T20I against Oman in Abu Dhabi on Thursday (26 November).

Chasing 150 for victory, both Babar (65*) and Chapman (63*) struck their highest ever T20I scores in a third-wicket partnership that spanned 14 overs. Their stand was the fifth-highest for the third wicket in T20I history, and the highest ever by an Associate side. It is also the highest-ever partnership in Hong Kong’s T20I and ODI history.

Both batsmen were still at the crease when Chapman struck a mighty six to take the side to 155 for the loss of only two wickets in 18.3 overs. The win also proved a consolation victory in the three-match series, after Oman won the first T20I by six wickets and the second by four runs.

Babar’s historic knock is the highest-ever T20I innings by a Hong Kong player, and came off only 45 deliveries, including four fours and three sixes. Chapman’s innings is the second-highest for Hong Kong, and came from 41 balls, including three fours and three sixes.

The side looked like it might be in trouble when it lost opener Kinchit Shah (5) in the second over, and then Anshuman Rath (20) in the fifth over. However, the two hard hitters showed no signs of pressure as they pushed the ball around for singles in between the boundaries.

Screen Shot 2015-11-26 at 21.03.37Babar brought up his half century with a boundary in the 15th over, while Chapman’s came two overs later after the pair scampered between the wickets for two runs.

Earlier, captain Tanwir Afzal won the toss and sent Oman in to bat, and the side quickly set about putting runs on the board. Khawar Ali (18) and Zeeshan Maqsood (23) put on 34 runs at a run rate of 9.71 before Haseeb Amjad struck in the fourth over to dismiss Khawar, caught at long on by Babar Hayat.

New batsman Aaqib Sulehri was helped back to the change rooms on the very next ball, with Haseeb’s delivery striking his foot and forcing him to retire hurt. After Aizaz Khan dismissed Zeeshan Maqsood four overs later, Adnan Ilyas (49) and Aamir Kaleem (46 not out) combined for a 101-run partnership, scoring at well above a run a ball until Haseeb struck on the last ball of the innings with a plumb delivery, knocking out the stumps to dismiss Adnan one run short of his half century, on 49 runs, to see Oman post a total of 149 for the loss of four wickets.

Hong Kong’s Aizaz and Haseeb each claimed two wickets.

Hong Kong captain Tanwir Afzal was thrilled with his side’s clinical performance: “I think our approach today was really good. I am so happy that throughout this long tour, we’ve had some injuries, but we still have had guys who’ve done really well with the ball and in the field. We’ve struggled a bit with the batting, but it worked in this game and hopefully it is a good sign for us looking forward to our next game against Afghanistan.”

The skipper believed that the victory will put his team in a good mindset for the final match of its tour, a one-off T20I against Afghanistan on Saturday. “I think today was a very comfortable win against Oman, I think we really worked hard and we learned a lot from the last two games, and it is good for us, going forward. We have a few changes in the batting order and different roles, so it is a really positive sign that we clicked in this game, and hopefully it will work in the future.”

Screen Shot 2015-11-26 at 21.03.26Hong Kong Head Coach Simon Cook was delighted with the record-breaking partnership: “Babar and Mark came out and were outstanding, it’s as good a run-chase as I’ve seen in T20 cricket, you don’t often get 100-partnerships in T20, and we’ve had one of the best ones here. To get an over-par score and knock it off with nine balls remaining was an outstanding effort. The two guys who got runs today really took ownership of that partnership, and ownership of the game, and they controlled it and really never let Oman into the game from probably the 10th over onwards.”

He believed that his charges would take some valuable lessons from the series loss to prepare for Saturday’s one-off T20I against Afghanistan. “The first two games, I think the word ‘frustrating’ was used, and I would probably use it again today – it is frustrating because if we’d played half as well yesterday as we did today, we would have probably taken this series 3-0. But as it is, we go down 2-1, but having learned a lot of really good lessons.”

“The win will fill the guys with a lot of confidence, certainly with a run-chase as emphatic as that. The Afghan bowlers will provide a challenging test for our guys, and also with the ball as well. So there is still a lot of work to do, but a lot of confidence can be taken from this run chase and how it was constructed, and how it was finished off in such a clinical fashion.”

T20: Hong Kong lose to Oman by 6 Wickets

T20: Hong Kong v Oman

Oman’s Sultan Ahmed won the toss against Hong Kong’s Tanwir Afzal, and his bowlers did the rest as Hong Kong were soundly beaten in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals losing by 6 wickets in a match played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

After losing the toss Hong Kong were asked to bat. Openers Anshuman Rath and Waqas Barkat could not set the same platform as they had in the second ODI against United Arab Emirates, Rath could only score 5 before being dismissed by Bilal Khan in the 1st over.

Babar Hayat joined Barkat at the crease and quickly raced to 16 with a run of boundaries before being caught in the third over. Hayat was the first of three wickets to fall for just 4 runs as Hong Kong were reduced to 31 for 4 as Barkat and Nizakat Khan quickly followed. Skipper Tanwir Afzal and Mark Chapman then put on 21 before Afzal perished caught at extra cover as he drove on the up. Chris Carter and Waqas Khan then began to rebuild the innings in a 36-run partnership, that lifted Hong Kong’s total to 92. But disaster struck in the 17th over as first Waqas Khan (19) was ran out and Chris Carter (15) was caught at long on by Adnan Ilyas. Hong Kong finally closed on 106 for 9 from their 20 overs probably 20 short of par for a wicket that was playing low and slow.

For Oman Bilal Khan (3 for 29) and Mehran Khan (2 for 20) were the pick of the bowlers

Hong Kong set about defending of the total as Haseeb Amjad and Tanwir Afzal kept things tight early which brought about the dismissal of opener Khawar Ali trapped lbw by Afzal as he looked to hit across a full ball.

Jatinder Singh (16) joined opener Aaqib Sulehri (12) at the crease and the pair took the total to 25 from 5 overs, before Sulehri was caught behind by Chris Carter to a superb diving catch to his right. Adnan Ilyas was removed by Skipper Afzal and Singh was bowled in the 10th over by Anshuman Rath after a period of pressure. This brought Zeeshan Siddiqui (33*) and Sultan Ahmed (37*) together and the pair set about building the match winning partnership of 30 for Oman, who eventually reached their target of 107 with 9 balls to spare.

Skipper Tanwir Afzal claimed two wickets while Aizaz Khan and Anshuman Rath chipped in with one wicket each for Hong Kong as Oman won the match by 6 wickets in Abu Dhabi.

T20: Hong Kong v Oman

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.

Asian Cricket Council Premier League: Hong Kong v Oman - 3 May, 2014

Scorecard courtesy of cricinfo