Hong Kong capped their maiden ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) campaign with a major exclamation point, hammering Papua New Guinea by 94 runs to finish third in the league.
Anshuman Rath and Babar Hayat – as they have done throughout the WCLC – starred with a 142-run partnership that formed the basis of Hong Kong’s mammoth total of 323-4.
Although a maiden One Day International century again narrowly avoided Hayat, who fell for 89, Rath batted all 50 overs in registering an unbeaten 143 off 137 balls – his second ton in the WCLC campaign.
Rath, who only recently turned 20, finished as the leading run-scorer in the league with 678 runs at an average of 75.33.
From the time Hayat was dismissed for an innings that came off just 80 balls and included 5 sixes, Hong Kong launched 98 runs off the last eight overs – atoning for Wednesday’s encounter where PNG restricted HK to just 60 from the last 10.
In reply, PNG lost early wickets for the second game in a row, falling to 20-3 in the first 6 overs. Nadeem Ahmed again caused problems, taking 2-36 from his 9 overs to finish as the tournament’s equal leading wicket taker with 24.
PNG did recover from 90-6 to post 229 but the result was always firmly in control for Hong Kong.
Although Scotland’s win over Kenya meant Hong Kong could only move up one place into third on the ladder, coach Simon Cook was delighted with the consistency and development his side showed over the two and half year league.
“It was a very good sign of where we are – we posted 300 plus in three games which shows we are getting more consistent in our batting areas, although I thought we left a few runs out there but that score was always going to be tough to chase. Our bowlers stood up again and were counted taking three wickets early,” Cook said.
“The journey you look at with our players a lot of them have come on a lot. The standouts are Anshy and Babar. Babar went up to number three two years ago and has started to take charge since then and for Anshuman to come on the way he has and Nadeem and don’t forget Mark Chapman who has gone onto better things in Auckland so there are a lot of success stories.”
“Very happy with the finishing position – we targeted second but the margins were very small and we were only a few runs away from winning it. It’s a very encouraging time – if you look at the other Associates around us now their age is a lot older than us so it’s a very exciting time for Hong Kong cricket.”
Captain Babar Hayat echoed the thoughts of the coach and was immensely proud of his team.
“Very happy with the way we finished – we could have won this league with the way we lost against the Netherlands. The way we trained and prepared we were right up for it and everything came together.”
“We didn’t know when we started how we would go but after five or six games we realised that we were good enough to contend and at least finish in the top four.”
“The way Anshy has developed in the World Cricket League has been incredible. The way he played today was amazing he just rotated the strike and then lifted the rate at the end. It was great to watch.”
“I’m really proud of the way I played I knew that if I scored runs it would be important our team and it started in the four day game where I took my time and then I got in and scored and got confidence coming into these games. It’s always nice to do well as captain.”
Hong Kong beat Papua New Guinea by 93 runs
Hong Kong 323-4, 50 overs (Anshy Rath 143 not out, Babar Hayat 89; John Reva 2-46)
Papua New Guinea 230 all out, 42.2 overs (Kiplin Doriga 89, Alei Nao 46; Ehsan Nawaz 4-54)
Additional reporting/images: hkcricket