Composed, confident Hong Kong despatch Canada by four wickets

A composed and confident Hong Kong wrapped up their preparations for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2010 with a comfortable four wicket victory over Canada in a warm-up match played at the Mainpower Oval in Rangiora, North Canterbury.

Overnight rain had threatened to wash out the day's play but a fortuitous change in the weather saw conditions improve in the late morning and play got underway at 1PM with the match reduced to 40 overs per side.

Canada won the toss and batted first. Ruvindu Gunasekara and Hiral Patel opened for Canada while Aizaz Khan and Aditya Kanthan shared the new ball for Hong Kong. Aditya grabbed an early wicket when he induced an edge from Gunasekara (6) which was taken by Hong Kong skipper James Atkinson who had donned the wicket-keeping gloves for this match. Canada's skipper Rustam Bhatti joined Patel at the crease and the pair combined well for a partnership worth 46 runs before Patel was trapped LBW by Asif Khan with his score on 28. Asif grabbed another wicket three balls later as Canada reached 61-3 after 16 overs. Bhatti and Nitish Kumar then put together a 100-run partnership as they mixed good running between the wickets with the occasional shot to the boundary. Bhatti was next to fall when he mistimed a drive from Alex Smith and was caught at mid-off by Waqas Barkat having scored 64 from 87 balls including 3 boundaries. Darius D'Souza was next to fall when he was trapped LBW by Irfan Ahmed for 1. As the number of overs ran down, the Canadian batsmen attempted to increase the run-rate but in doing so they lost wickets at regular intervals. Alex Smith was the benefactor as he grabbed two more wickets with his slow leg-spinners. Nitish Kumar eventually fell for a well-struck 52, scored off 63 balls with 6 boundaries, while some big hitting by the tail-enders lifted Canada to 189-8 at the end of their 40 overs. Alex Smith claimed the best figures for Hong Kong with 4-0-20-3 while Asif Khan picked up 2-29 in a very good eight over spell.

In reply, Hong Kong lost Harmeet Singh in the second over but a solid second wicket partnership between Shakeel Haq and James Atkinson moved the score along to 52 in the 9th before Shakeel was caught out for 20. Irfan Ahmed and Atkinson continued to bat confidently but Atkinson failed to control a short ball from Manny Aulakh and he was caught at mid-wicket with his score on 27 and Hong Kong's total on 88. After hitting a massive straight six, Irfan Ahmed then tried to clear the inner ring again but he was taken by another good catch at mid-wicket for 25. When Waqas Barkat (11) fell in the next over, Hong Kong looked to be in a spot of bother at 98-5 after 20 overs but the situation did not faze the new pairing of Mark Chapman and Ashish Gadhia, who combined for a match winning partnership of 86 runs. The Canadians tried everything to unsettle the Hong Kong pairing but the composure and confidence with which both batsmen played was a testament to their natural talent and abilities. Gadhia (43 scored from 50 balls including 5 boundaries) fell with the final score in sight but Chapman (43* from 51 balls including 5 boundaries) and Alex Smith (1*) saw Hong Kong home to a very good victory in 37.2 overs. Manny Aulkah was the best of the Canadian bowlers, claiming 2-28 from seven overs.

Scorecard: Hong Kong Under-19 v. Canada Under-19

The manner of Hong Kong's victory will see them go into their next match against England U19 at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval on 16th January 2010 with a renewed confidence that they can play and win at this level of cricket.

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