Bangladesh outclass Hong Kong

Nearly. Oh-so-nearly. Hong Kong could have won this, their first game in international cricket. They lost by 116 runs in the end, but for a while they played as if they were favourites, until Bangladesh got their act together in the second half and cut them down to size. The target of 222 was just too much, and though batsman stayed for long periods, no one scored enough to make a difference. Bangladesh's bowling, nippy, accurate and incisive, never let anyone settle. But in the end, it wasn't the bowling or the pitch, but inexperience that did Hong Kong in. They began the day well enough.

Rarely has a team with as little cricketing history as Hong Kong come out with the kind of confidence they did this morning. Bangladesh were put in to bat, and were alarmed by the swing and bounce the bowlers achieved. The opening bowlers, Afzaal Haider and Khalid Khan, made the batsmen sometimes play hesitantly, at other times too eagerly, and always with very little footwork.

Haider, in particular, came off a fluent run and swung the ball away late, and added to the batsmen's hesitation by throwing in a few offcutters. Mohammad Ashraful, the first to go, nervously swished at a lifter before smashing the next one to mid-off (10 for 1). Habibul Bashar - aggressively - and Javed Omar - doggedly - then stuck together for 85 runs, as Hong Kong's bowling began to falter. Bashar used the cut and the sweep well, until he swept Najeeb Aamer to square leg (95 for 2). Meanwhile, Omar played like he was under siege. Several times clean shots were halted by the live-wire fielders, but in truth, he was content to stick around and not do anything silly. His 68 came off 113 balls, but it gave Bangladesh support, for there were no easy runs.

The silliness was left to a few of his team-mates; three of the next four batsmen fatally attempted to glide the ball to third man. One was bowled, and the others were caught by the wicketkeeper. It was undignified and unjustified batting. Towards the end, they had to scamper to make 221 for 9.

Bangladesh returned to the ground determined to make amends. Mushfiqur Rahman and Tapash Baisya bowled with hostility. Baisya hurried the batsmen into awkward-looking shots, but Mushfiqur swung one that straightened and clattered into Manoj Cheruparambil's stumps (1 for 2). Alex French then attempted to turn a Mushfiqur delivery to leg, but the found the ball arriving later than he anticipated, and the bowler took a simple return-catch (2 for 15).

The bespectacled Tim Smart maintained a limpet-like presence for 17 overs and scored 9 runs while his team-mates did their best to break free. A number of them stayed for long, but not one of them made a difference. Tabarak Dar (20) thumped one to the cover boundary, but for the eleven debutants, joys like this were in short supply. The other player making his debut, Abdur Razzaq, enjoyed a good day as he picked up three for 17.

Hong Kong, try as they did, were out of the game after the half-way mark of their batting. But, for the 50 overs they bowled, they made a match of it, which was a lot more than they were expected to do.