Stunning run chase sees Hong Kong beat PNG by 3 wickets but World Cup dreams dashed

Hong Kong did all they could possibly do to reach the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup by beating PNG by three wickets at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln, New Zealand, today, but their efforts were in vain as UAE and Scotland completed victories to claim the two qualification places.

In blustery conditions, PNG elected to bat first after winning the toss but they were set back early with Haseeb Amjad grabbing a wicket in each of his first two overs, clean bowling both openers Vani Morea and the in-form Lega Siaka. When Irfan Ahmed had Chris Kent caught in his first over, PNG's innings was tottering at 3-35 after 10 overs. Former England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones combined with Assad Vala (57) for a 70-run fourth wicket partnership and followed that with a 96-run partnership with Jake Vare (38) for the fifth wicket to lift PNG to 201 in the 43rd over. Jones eventually fell for 82 off 91 balls and some later order hitting allowed PNG to reach a final total of 8-255 from their 50 overs.

Haseeb Amjad was again the most successful of the Hong Kong bowlers but his three wickets came at a cost of 70 runs. Tanwir Afzal and Irfan Ahmed picked up two wickets each in economical spells while player/coach Mark Wright was the other successful bowler.

Waqas Barkat came back into the side after missing the game against Namibia and he and Irfan Ahmed got the Hong Kong reply off to a positive start with 44 runs coming off the first 7 overs, before Barkat was caught for 24. Skipper Jamie Atkinson and Irfan added another 56 runs but immediately after reaching 100, Atkinson holed out in the deep for 36. Ahmed, meanwhile was blazing away and he and Mark Chapman combined in a brilliant 93-run partnership off just 77 balls before Ahmed was bowled for 90. His runs came off just 82 balls and included five fours and four sixes. Shortly afterwards Chapman brought up his half-century from just 42 balls, including four fours and a six. Hong Kong then suffered a mini collapse as they tried to finish things off quickly in an effort to increase their run-rate over that of Scotland and UAE. Nizakat Khan (11), Tanwir Afzal (1) and Babar Hayat (7) all fell in the pursuit of quick runs and when Chapman (64) was run-out by a direct hit from the deep, Hong Kong looked a little shaky at 7-245. But Mark Wright (12*) and Haseeb Amjad (3*) brought Hong Kong home for a stunning victory in 36.1 overs to keep alive any chance of grabbing one of two qualification places at the next World Cup.

Irfan Ahmed grabbed his third Man of the Match medal of the tournament for his fine innings of 90 which took his tally of runs to 363 at an average of 72.6 runs per innings. Haseeb Amjad's three wickets took his personal tally to 20 wickets for the tournament - still the leading wicket-taker.

Match Summary: PNG 8-255-8 from 50 overs (Assad Vala 57, Geraint Jones 82, Jake Vare 38; Haseeb Amjad 3-70) lost to Hong Kong 7-259 from 36.1 overs (Irfan Ahmed 90, Jamie Atkinson 36, Mark Chapman 64; Willie Gavera 3-53) by 3 wkts [Full Scorecard]

Hong Kong's efforts were in vain however as the outcome of the other two matches ultimately determined their fate. Scotland got up in a nail-biter against Kenya to win by 3 wickets with 3 balls to spare while UAE proved too good for Namibia winning by 36 runs. UAE and Scotland therefore claim the last two places at the next ICC Cricket World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.