Scotland has sealed an eight-wicket victory over Hong Kong chasing a revised target of 76 runs in a rain-affected match in Nagpur on Saturday.
After Hong Kong posted 127 for seven in its 20 overs, Scotland passed the revised target to finish at 78 for two in eight overs, and also record its first victory in a global ICC tournament.
Earlier, A 49-run partnership between vice-captain Mark Chapman (40) and 18-year-old Anshuman Rath (21) formed the foundation for the Hong Kong innings.
Rain stopped play at in the final over of Hong Kong’s innings, and Kinchit Shah and Aizaz Khan came back to the crease for three balls to add seven runs and push Hong Kong to a modest total to 127 for seven.
Rain during the innings break led to the revision of the Scotland target and a reduction of its innings to nine overs. Its batsmen came out swinging, hitting boundaries to ensure that Scotland stayed about the required run rate. Matthew Cross top scored with 22, while for Hong Kong, Aizaz Khan and Nadeem Ahmed claimed a wicket apiece.
Captain Tanwir Afzal felt his side had let an opportunity slip through its fingers: “I think I am quite happy with the first two games, we fought really hard, but we lack of experience and maturity. So we can play better than we showed here. We did not take our chances tonight.”
Coach Simon Cook agreed: “To a certain extent, yes, we are an inexperienced side. You take Ryan Campbell out and our average age is 20. We don’t have a lot of grounds in Hong Kong, so our domestic structure also lends itself to infrequent cricket. It becomes tough to get the group together.”
“I am a little bit disappointed as to how we played, because we are a better side than what we’ve showed in these three games. We’ve certainly proved that in the past, with the recent World Cricket League Championship and ICup matches, that we are a competitive side. I’d like to see that we keep making progress.
“That inexperience comes in as how to play on those slower pitches, understanding that 140 to 145 is actually a really competitive total and not trying to go for the 150s or 160s. There’s a combination of things, but I certainly would have liked us to win at least one game in this tournament.”
The coach continued: “A few things that we’ve been working on haven’t quite clicked. One of our strengths in the past has been our partnerships, having batters batting through the majority of the innings, and finishing the end of the innings explosively. And the fielding, we worked really, really hard with Trevor Penney who came over and did some work with us prior to coming away. They are controllable things for us, and when we play against better teams, you want to try and do your controllables very well, and everything else hopefully fits in.”
Looking ahead, Cook said: “We’re so new to this level of cricket, this is the most cricket we’ve ever played, so we are kind of happy! Having said that, the more cricket, the better for us, and I understand that there may be frustration of how the calendar is scheduled. I think when we find our footing a little bit more in the Associate calendar, then we’ll probably want more cricket.”
Source: HK Cricket Association
Photo: ICC Cricket
