Hong Kong back in contention after second day's play

A dogged lower order batting effort and tight bowling display allowed Hong Kong to claw their way back into contention after the second day's play at the ACC Premier League 2006 match against Singapore at the Kallang ground.

A solid batting performance by the lower order, lead by 16 year-old James Atkinson lifted Hong Kong's first innings total to 191, a first innings deficit of 33 runs. Their position could have been much worse after Hong Kong had slumped to 116-7 in the morning session. But Atkinson, playing in his first three-day match for the senior side, top-scored with a tenacious 29 runs in a mature 113-ball innings that belied his young age. During his stay at the crease, he shared in three important partnerships with Jawaid Iqbal (11), Sher Lama (11) and Jamshaid Khan (18*) that brought Hong Kong to a position from which they have a chance to challenge for victory.

Jawaid Iqbal then grabbed three wickets as the Hong Kong's bowlers furthered their team's cause by restricting Singapore's seconbd innings to 118-5 from 59 overs by the close of play.

Batting became evermore difficult as the wicket started to keep low in the afternoon session and the Hong Kong spin bowlers exploited the conditions to the fore. After Hussain Butt had accounted for opener Glenn Meyer, the ball was thrown to the spin trio of Jawaid Iqbal, Najeeb Amar and Ilyas Gul to do their work. Iqbal claimed the wickets of Naik, Robertson and Arora in a twelve over spell that conceded 25 runs while Najeeb bowled an even tighter spell, conceding just 11 runs from thirteen overs, including nine maidens.

But it was Ilyas Gul that picked up the prize wicket of first innings centurion Chaminda Ruwan when he trapped him LBW for 25 runs. Ruwan had tried to dominate the Hong Kong bowlers in the same way that he had done on the first day, hitting six fours in his 31-ball innings. His virtually run-a-ball assault was in stark contrast to the rest of the batting and after Ruwan's dismissal, Singapore's run-rate virtually dried up with just 26 runs being scored in the last 23 overs of the day.

With 151-run lead and five wickets at their disposal, Singapore still hold the upper hand in this match. To win the match, Hong Kong will need to capture the remaining wickets quickly on the third morning and then bat extremely well to overhaul the Singaporean total on a wicket that is proving difficult to score runs on.

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