An attritional second days play means Hong Kong will have to overcome a first innings deficit of 79 after being dismissed for 237 on day two of their Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland.
After losing two wickets in the first over of the day, two quality innings from Anshuman Rath (73*) and Nizakat Khan (69) were the highlight for Hong Kong who grafted all day long but lost wickets in bunches.
A partnership of 101 between Nizakat and debutant Ninad Shah (38) repaired the initial damage, while Waqas Khan (27) was the only other player to reach double figures.
Rath was left unbeaten at the other end when Tanveer Ahmed was the last man dismissed with just 8 balls left in the day.
The Ireland bowlers were relentless all day with spinner George Dockrell (3-46) and Peter Chase (3-50) the pick of the bowlers.
Play will resume at 6pm HKT with some rain forecast for the final two days in Belfast.
Interview with Nizakat Khan
“Yeh we fought hard and just tried to hang in there after losing the two early wickets. When I was out there with Ninad we were just talking to each other a lot out there to urge each other to hang in there.”
“Their bowling was very disciplined and we got no loose balls, so we had to work really hard to score runs and they have bowled to their plans, which have succeeded most of time.”
“I think we are still short of runs and we wanted to get closer to them so tomorrow is crucial for us. We have to take early wickets so can give ourselves a score to chase down.”
“I’m pretty happy with myself – although I was looking for a big score. I was playing really well which was pleasing after I’ve worked really hard with the batting coaches in Hong Kong on a few things. And I felt really good so hopefully I will get a big score in the second innings.”
“Anshy played really well – his innings was what we really needed but unfortunately no one stuck with him. He played to the conditions and looked solid. His innings at the end there has kept us in the game.”
Additional reporting HK Cricket Association, scorecard Cricinfo