Black day on and off pitch for Hong Kong

A day which began on a sombre note ended disastrously as Hong Kong slipped to a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the United States in their opening encounter at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament.

Hong Kong took the field with their players sporting black armbands as a mark of respect to the death of Hussain Butt's father in Gujranwala, Pakistan. It was a sign of what was to come as the US, led by skipper Steve Massiah, comfortably overhauled a total of 256 for nine.

'My father never liked me playing cricket,' Butt reminisced. 'He always wanted me to study. It was only later in life that he supported me.'

Top-order batsman Butt had rushed back home to be by his dad's side - he was taken ill with a heart attack - but failed to make it in time. He stayed for the funeral and returned post-haste to join his teammates in their quest to qualify for Division Two. He arrived only the day before the opening encounter.

Perhaps the long journey and his state of mind didn't help the collective cause as Hong Kong, put into bat, were struggling at 59 for four, Butt being one of the early victims, dismissed for five.

'I could use all this as an excuse, but in the end it was a bad shot. I cut the ball and the fielder took a good catch at point,' Butt said dejectedly. Later in the day, while fielding, a beefy cut from the bat of US opener Carl Wright went high over Butt's head, slipping through his outstretched hands.

It was that sort of a day for Hong Kong who saw three run-outs ruin their hopes of reaching a formidable total at the pint-sized Kowloon Cricket Club ground.

'A total of 270 or 280 would have been par for this ground and those three run-outs certainly didn't help us. In the end we were very fortunate to reach 250,' said a disappointed Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke.

The three run-outs were all suicidal. In-form batsman Mark Chapman (10), Nizakat Khan (67) and top-scorer Roy Lamsam (83) all sacrificed their wickets on the altar of poor calling. As Burke pointed out, 'losing three guys who could have scored hundreds was a disaster'. Equally disastrous was the decision to leave out Munir Dar from the starting line-up.

A Hong Kong Sixes veteran, the scene was tailor-made for Dar as the home team went desperately in search of runs towards the end of the innings. He can murder any bowling on his day.

If skipper Najeeb Amar had not fired with a blitzkrieg 63 from 37 balls including six sixes, Hong Kong would have been in even more dire straits. But it was Dar's left-arm spin which was missed as Hong Kong's bowling was treated with disdain by the Americans.

Massiah, who bats like fellow-Guyanese and West Indian test ace Shivnarine Chanderpaul - he sports eye patches to cut the glare and takes guard by hammering a bail into the ground - led the chase superbly with 97 and Wright scoring 82.

'Our batting is our strength and we always knew we could chase this total down. This is just the start we wanted,' Massiah said.

Sadly it was not the case for Hong Kong. It was a total black day.