Abject Hong Kong U19 lose to Afghanistan U19 by 8 wickets

The Hong Kong Under-19 cricket team has slumped to an eight wicket loss to Afghanistan Under-19 in their final Group A match at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2010, played at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Neither team could qualify for the Super League but it was expected that this would be a close and hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams vying for the 3rd and 4th place positions in the Group A after India U19 and England U19 had already qualified as the two top teams in the group. But a poor effort by Hong Kong U19 saw them capitulate meekly in a forgettable display in all facets of the game.

For the third match in a row, Hong Kong U19 skipper James Atkinson lost the toss and found his team being asked to bat. The pitch was the same one used for Hong Kong U19's previous match against India U19, so the Hong Kong boys should have been familiar with the conditions. Hong Kong U19 tried a new opening pairing with Shakeel Haq matched with Ashish Gadhia. The two batsmen weathered the early movement offered by the new ball but when they had reached 16 from 5.2 overs, Shakeel played back to a ball that kept low and he was bowled by Yamin Ahmadzai. Atkinson came to the crease but his stay lasted just 4 balls as he was also bowled, this time by Aftab Allam. Ahmadzai then grabbed the prize wicket of Irfan Ahmed with another ball that beat his defenses and rattled the stumps. Hong Kong was now teetering at 27-3 from 9.1 overs and another rescue mission was needed. This was partially achieved when Nizakat Khan joined Gadhia at the crease and the pair played well to progress the score to 87 by the 22nd over. Nizakat had been lucky to survive a top edged pull shot that was dropped at mid wicket, but after hitting Zakiullah Zaki for a lofted boundary, he had a wild swing at the next ball and was bowled. Meanwhile, Gadhia was looking the most composed of the Hong Kong U19 batsmen and he struck five delightful boundaries in an excellent innings worth 46 runs. Unfortunately, after looking set to post a good score, he was deceived by Afghanistan U19 skipper Noor-ul-Haq Malekzai's third delivery and he spooned a simple catch to Zakiullah Zaki at cover-point to leave Hong Kong reeling at 99-5.

Mark Chapman, who had come in at the fall of Nizakat's wicket, played a couple of lovely shots, including a powerful six over mid wicket off Zakiullah, but the bowler got his revenge in the following over when he induced Chapman to hit a soft return catch with his score on 15 and the total on 117. Zakiullah grabbed two more wickets as Waqas Barkat (5) spooned a catch to Ayoub Khan and Alex Smith (3) was trapped LBW. There were no fireworks from Aizaz Khan today as Noor-ul-Haq pegged back his off stump for 0. By now, Hong Kong U19 had plunged to 121-9 with more than 18 overs still to bat. Niaz Ali and Max Tucker tried to salvage the position but Ali (11) holed out to long-off to give Zakiullah his fifth wicket of the match. Hong Kong U19 was dismissed for a total of 137 off 35.1 overs.

With the exception of Ashish Gadhia, it was an abject batting performance by the Hong Kong U19 batsmen with many showing poor judgement and poor technique on the low bouncing wicket against the least threatening attack faced in the tournament so far.

With the scheduled lunch break still an hour away, the teams were back on the ground after 15 minutes with Afghanistan U19 openers Javed Ahmadi and MS Aminzai at the crease. Hong Kong U19 needed an early breakthrough but no less than three straight-forward catches were dropped in the first seven overs and Ahmadi and Aminzai survived until lunch with Afghanistan U19 on 53-0 after 14 overs.

Atkinson tried a number of bowlers but he was unable to get a breakthrough as further chances were grassed. Javed Ahmadi was particularly severe on any loose bowling and he raced to his 50 off just 62 balls. The tall Aminzai, who had looked scratchy in the opening overs, eventually fell LBW to the off-spin of first innings hero Ashish Gadhia for 21. Gadhia claimed Noor-ul-Haq (1) in the same manner in his next over but any hopes of a Hong Kong U19 fightback were soon snuffed out by Hashmatullah Shaidi who smote 18 runs off 12 balls, including 4 boundaries, to bring the match to a swift conclusion. Javed Ahmadi had batted well throughout to finish undefeated on 90 from 98 balls, including 9 fours and 3 sixes.

Zakiullah Zaki was named Man of the Match for his 5-34 from 7.1 overs.

Scorecard: Hong Kong U19 v. Afghanistan U19

Teams:

Hong Kong U19: James Atkinson (Captain), Irfan Ahmed, Shakeel Haq, Ashish Gadhia, Nizakat Khan, Mark Chapman, Waqas Barkat (w), Alex Smith, Aizaz Khan, Max Tucker, Niaz Ali

Afghanistan U19: Noor ul-Haq (Captain), Jawid Ahmadi, Ayan Aminzai, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Khushal Rasuli, Murad Ali (w), Zakiullah Zaki, Ayoub Khan, Mohammad Yamin, Azatullah Khan, Aftab

Both Hong Kong U19 and Afghanistan U19 will now travel to the North Island city of Napier to contest the Plate Championship along with the bottom two placed teams from the other three groups. Each team will play three more matches in the Plate Championship. Hong Kong U19's first match will be against Bangladesh at McLean Park on 24th January 2010.