Ireland maintained the upper hand on day three despite the Belfast weather playing havoc with the day’s cricket. When bad light eventually stopped play for the final time, Ireland had reached 199-6 from 51 overs, with an overall lead of 278.
As in the first innings Hong Kong fought hard keeping the hosts honest after Ireland had reached 101-1 and were looking to set up a day three declaration.
The hopes for a result in what’s a pretty tight match were hindered by the loss of 45 due to the on-off showers that frustrated throughout the day.
The day’s highlight for Hong Kong were two wickets in successive overs from 18-year-old debutant Tanveer Ahmed (2-22) with two short pitched deliveries. While Tanwir Afzal (2-36) picked up two wickets, including the important scalp of in-form Gary Wilson for 25 on what proved to be the last ball of the day.
For Ireland, John Anderson batted superbly including some deft reverse sweeps in making 59.
Tanwir Afzal on Day 3
“I think we recovered well – in the first innings we leaked runs with the new ball but we executed our plans well today” Afzal said.
After not such a good start in the first innings, I’ve bowled better and I just tried to contain the runs and bowl in the right areas. It was great for Tanveer to pick up a couple of wickets as well, I’m happy for him. He’s a talented young bowler.”
“Personally, I feel our spinners have bowled well in both innings and spun the ball a lot but when the Irish spinners bowled it didn’t turn as much so hopefully it plays the same for tomorrow. There’s a bit of movement with the new ball so our openers will need to survive.”
“They will be looking for another 30 or 40 runs, but we batted well in the first innings and we have big man Babar who will be ready to fire. I think we are still in the game if we can get the last four wickets quickly.”
“It was a really tough day with the weather making the ball wet and it was quite dark and tricky for batsmen and fielders to pick up the ball. Both teams are looking to win the game and hopefully the rain stays away tomorrow to give us a chance.”
Additional reporting and scorecard: HK Cricket, Cricinfo