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Hong Kong Beat Ireland by 5 Runs

Four wickets in 7 balls across the 18th and 19th overs sealed Hong Kong’s win over one of the tournament favourites Ireland. The win also means that Hong Kong have to win one of their two remaining games against the USA and Namibia to qualify for the knock-out stage of the ICC World T20 Qualifier.

Batting first Hong Kong scored 129/8 on a damp night in Dublin. Mark Chapman top scoring with 30 while Anshuman Rath, Nizakat Khan scored 22 and 25 respectively. Tanwir Afzal added a crucial 18 at the end. Despite starting strong with a 43 run partnership between Stirling and Porterfield, Ireland’s chase disintegrated amidst some fine tight bowling with Nizakat Khan and Irfan Ahmed outstanding. Ahmed only conceding 3 runs of the 19th over while taking two wickets to take Man of the Match with figures of 3/11.

Hong Kong Beat Nepal by 5 Wickets at World T20 Qualifier

Hong Kong finally found their groove at the ICC World T20 Qualifier to beat Nepal by 5 wickets with 5 balls remaining.

Hong Kong, who won the toss and elected to field, tore the Nepal top order apart with Haseeb Amjad taking two wickets in his first over and a third in his second to have Nepal 17/4 after 6.1 overs. Hong Kong’s bowlers kept the pressure up taking wickets regularly and bowling Nepal out off the last ball of the twentieth over.

Man of the Match Haseeb Amjad with those three early wickets was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-for-16 from his four overs. Aizaz Khan was miserly conceding just 7 runs in four overs while taking the wicket of Regmi.

In reply Hong Kong lost Irfan Ahmed early but calm batting from Anshuman Rath on debut and top scorer Nizakat Khan steadied the nerves and Hong Kong cruised to their first win after a loss in game 1 and a no-result in game 2.

Hong Kong Collapse – Namibia Win by 114 runs

Namibia’s national team cruised to a convincing win over Hong Kong during their first encounter at this year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Intercontinental Cup in Windhoek on Wednesday.

Namibia went into the final day in a commanding position, needing to prevent Hong Kong from scoring 303 runs, but Hong Kong got off to a very good start, and were 48/0, before the young and talented Christopher Coombe was able to make the break through. Shortly after Coombe took another wicket, Bernhard Scholtz stepped into action with two more quick wickets as Hong Kong’s middle order collapsed. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, as Scholtz grabbed another one, Burger snatched up two and JJ Smit one of his own.

With eight wickets down by tea time and only 139 runs on the board. It appeared that Namibia had the match done and dusted. However, there was to be a last fight from the Hong Kong, as Haseeb Amjab and Eshan Nawaz made life difficult for the Namibians.

The Namibians were throwing everything at Hong Kong, until Namibia’s captain Nikolaas Scholtz took things into his own hands. After he scored a fantastic 85 not out in the first innings, as well as a quick fire 29 not out in the second innings, Scholtz proved that he is the kind of captain that can lead from the front, as he took two wickets from his first two balls, leading Namibia to victory, and giving the team their first intercontinental victory of the season.

On Friday the two teams will be tackling each other in the first 50 over match of the World Cricket league

Hong Kong Set 302 to Win

After adding just one run to their overnight score Hong Kong were dismissed for 203 in their first innings. They then endured a long tough day in the field as Namibia built their lead with opener RAH Pitchers scoring 107 not out. Namibia declared just before the close of play on the third day to set Hong Kong 302 to win this first match in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

Match Status
Namibia 272 & 232/5d
Hong Kong 203 & 3/0 (2.0 ov)
Hong Kong require another 299 runs with 10 wickets remaining

ICC Intercontinental Cup – Hong Kong trail Namibia after Day Two

Haseeb Amjad took 5 for 49 as Hong Kong bowled out Namibia for 272 early on day two. A top order collapse saw Hong Kong in trouble but 50’s from Nizakat Khan and Tanwir Afzal saw HK finish the second day on 202 for 9, trailing by 70 runs

Namibia and Hong Kong are playing the first round of fixtures in cricket’s ICC Intercontinental Cup for eight Associate Nations. The tournament takes place over two years, with the winner getting the chance to play Test cricket

“The ICC Intercontinental Cup is now the platform for emerging nations to fulfill their ambitions of playing Test cricket,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said. “It will therefore be fantastic to see the strongest Associates face off in an exciting competition, with great context, that will showcase world cricket’s growing pool of talent.”

See the live scorecard here

Asian Cricket Council Premier League: Malaysia v Hong Kong – 7 May, 2014

Hong Kong ended what they will regard as a disappointing Asian Cricket Council Premier League 2014 with a comfortable win over hosts Malaysia by 4 wickets. JJ Atkinson finally won a toss and unsurprisingly, given the four recent losses batting first, opted to chase. Another impressive performance by Hong Kong’s bowling attack saw Malaysia all-out for 184 in the 47^th over with Nadeem Ahmed taking taking 3-28 and Nizakat Khan strangling the batters with his nine overs yielding just 17 runs and a wicket. Hong Kong’s top order all contributed in a well structured run chase that, despite a couple of nervous late wickets, saw them knock-off the required target of 185 with 8 overs to spare.

Scorecard courtesy of cricinfo