Brilliant Moner takes Hong Kong into ACC T20 Cup final against Afghanistan

Another brilliant batting display by Moner Ahmed has taken Hong Kong into the ACC Twenty20 Cup 2011 final against Afghanistan. Moner's superb innings allowed Hong Kong to recover from 6-74 after 12 overs against Oman to win with three balls and three wickets to spare.

A rowdy capacity crowd filled the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu to watch the two semi-final matches. They had been disappointed to see their home team Nepal humbled by Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first match, which had been reduced to 16 overs per side due to a late start caused by morning fog.

In the second semi-final, Oman won the toss and elected to bat first under now fine but hazy skies. The Omanis got off to a flying start thanks to a poor opening over by Hong Kong's Aizaz Khan that went for 22 runs, including 4 wides off the first delivery of the match. Zeeshan Siddiqui was the aggressor of the two opening batsmen and he took full advantage of Khan's wayward line and length. Hong Kong immediately switched their attack to spin and the flow of runs was stemmed from a torrent to a trickle. Nadeem Ahmed bowled Ghazanfar Iqbal from the first ball of the 5th over and which stage Vaibhav Wategaonkar joined Siddiqui at the crease. While Siddiqui was smashing the odd boundary, he was unable to rotate the strike to much effect and Hong Kong was able to keep the run-rate to around five runs per over through the middle stages of the innings.

The introduction of Irfan Ahmed had an immediate effect as Siddiqui holed out to Roy Lamsam off the last ball of the 9th over. Siddiqui had hit nine boundaries in his innings of 42, scored off 34 balls and the score now stood at 2-61. Lamsam himself got into the wickets when he had Sultan Ahmed (8) caught brilliantly by Jamie Atkinson in covers with a leaping one-handed catch. Lamsam then caught Amir Ali (6) off the bowling of Irfan but in doing so, fractured his index finger and had to leave the field. Meanwhile, the left-handed Wategaonkar was proving a difficult proposition for the Hong Kong bowlers. However he was unable to find any substantial partners as Oman wickets fell at regular intervals. Wategaonkar brought up his 50 in the 19th over and was to finish unbeaten on 56 from 46 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Irfan picked up his third wicket of the match when he had Awal Khan (9) caught by NIzakat Khan and Moner Ahmed wrapped up the innings when Rajesh Ranpura (5) was caught off the last ball of the 20th over by Jamie Atkinson with Oman's score on 6-142.

Irfan Ahmed was the pick of the Hong Kong bowlers with 3-20 from his 4 over spell. Nadeem Ahmed bowled tidily to claim 1-15 from his 4 over spell while Moner Ahmed (1-22 off 4 overs) and Roy Lamsam (1-21 off 3 overs) were the other wicket takers for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's reply got off to it's usual explosive start with Irfan Ahmed swatting 2 foours and a six off Awal Khan's opening over. After another tentative start Babar Hayat smote a straight six into the crowd but was bowled by Oman skipper Hemal Mehta for 7. When Irfan (23 off 10 balls) fell to the first ball of the fifth over, Hong Kong had slipped to 2-31. Jamie Atkinson the Moner Ahmed started to rebuild the innings but Atkinson (4) was needless run out after being sent back by Moner. Courtney Kruger (5) was next to go when he fell LBW to Amir Ali with the score on 55. Nizakat Khan, who has had a poor tournament with the bat to date, struck two good boundaries but was caught off a leading edge that lobbed to the covers off the bowling of Ajay Lacheta for 11. When off-spinner Lacheta bowled Waqas Barkat two balls later, Hong Kong were in a precarious position at 6-74 after 12 overs.

One of the strengths of the Hong Kong team at this tournament has been their ability to fight back when under pressure and whilst wickets tumbled at the other end, the elder statesman of the team, Moner Ahmed, kept his head. Cautious to begin with, Moner played the perfect innings as he eked out singles at every opportunity and smashed fours and sixes whenever the opportunity presented itself. He found an able ally in teenager Aizaz Khan and together the pair put together a match winning partnership of 67 runs off 43 balls to take Hong Kong to the verge of a famous victory. With just two runs needed for victory, Aizaz was well caught by Al Said off the first ball of the final over bowled by Mehta, having scored a very valuable 14 runs from 18 balls. Nadeem Ahmed hit the second ball for a single to tie the scores and, fittingly it was left to Moner to smash the wining runs down the ground to win it for Hong Kong. Moner finished undefeated on 76 off 46 balls with 8 fours and 3 magnificent sixes to earn him his third successive Man of the Match award. For Oman, Hemal Mehta claimed 2-16 while Ajay Lacheta took 2-27.

Scorecard: Semi-final - Hong v Oman

Hong Kong now take on the impressive Afghanistan in Sunday's final for the ACC Twenty20 Cup 2001.