Hong Kong Malaysia overcome Kuwait to march into semi-final

Malaysia and Hong Kong have qualified for the semi-finals of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy following respective wins over Singapore and Kuwait in the last Group A matches, which were played on Saturday.

Malaysia continued their unimpressive form clinching a semi-final spot as Group A runners-up, defeating Singapore by three wickets at Sharjah Stadium, while Hong Kong thrashed Kuwait by eight wickets with nearly 30 overs to spare at Dubai.

The Malaysians, who had to beat Singapore to finish ahead of Kuwait, were 60-4 chasing Singapore's 196-9 in 50 overs, when they were given a let-off with a missed run-out opportunity of Rohan Selvaratnam, who was stranded at one end.

Selvaratnam proceeded to play a Man-of-the-Match winning role, scoring 84 from 94 runs to guide Malaysia home.

Brisbane-based Joshua Dearing, who qualifies for Singapore by virtue of his Singaporean mother, had Malaysia in trouble at 4-60 after taking three early wickets.

A 60 run partnership between captain Suresh Navaratnam, and Selvaratnam, put Malaysia back on track, before Navaratnam was out lbw for 23, hitting across the line, to Kapila Mendis.

With 76 still need for victory, Selvaratnam farmed the strike with the late order, a 40 run partnership with Arul Vivasan, steering Malaysia out of danger.

Selvaratnam played a patient innings, waiting for the loose ball, which was inevitable against a Singaporean attack which was inconsistent. He hit nine fours and two sixes from 94 balls.

Earlier, it had appeared Singapore would set a large target, cruising to 1-123 before losing eight wickets for 73 runs.

The Singaporeans began aggressively, with captain Johann Pieris smashing 27 off 19 balls, including two fours and a six.

Australian residents, Andrew Scott and Joshua Dearing, then combined for a 79 run partnership, with Dearing playing a support role, scoring 19 from 53 balls, including two fours.

As in most innings in this tournament, the loss of a key player triggered a collapse, and this was the case when Scott was out going for a big hit. His 62 came from 103 balls and included four fours.

Third highest scorer for Singapore was extras (34), which included 24 wides.

At Dubai, the lunch break only needed to be extended by 15 minutes for Hong Kong to wrap up its final Group A match by eight wickets against Kuwait.

Again exhibiting the clinical approach which has set it apart from other teams, Hong Kong took advantage of a Kuwaiti team seeking to improve its net run-rate before attaining its target at a rate of six an over.

Kuwait was all out for 128 in 34.3 overs, before Hong Kong overtook the target for the loss of two wickets with 28.2 overs remaining.

Kuwait won the toss and elected to bat. Hong Kong experienced unexpected difficulty when opening bowler Mohammad Zubair again had problems controlling his inswinger and conceded 15 wides in his four overs.

Despite this, Kuwait lost two early wickets, with Hanees Babu and Asif Ahmed caught behind off Zubair and captain, Stewart Brew, respectively, before opener Mohammad Nawaz and Wahif Iqbal, combined for a partership of 34.

Nawaz then combined with Saad Qamar to produce 44 runs, before he became the first of Javed Iqbal's three wickets. Javed was later awarded the Man-of-the-Match award for his haul of 3-30.

Nawaz, the only Kuwaiti batsman who had looked competent against the tight Hong Kong attack, departed with the score on 99, skying a catch to mid-off.

The removal of Kuwait's key batsman insigated a collapse with five wickets lost for 29 runs. Extras (27) were the second highest contributor to the Kuwait innings, thanks mainly to Zubair's 17 wides.

Iqbal, and fellow spinner, Alex French, were the pick of the Hong Kong attack, with French taking 1-17 from 10 overs.

The only wickets lost in Hong Kong's innings were due more to overexuberance than the Kuwaiti bowling, with both Cheruparambil Manoj and Salim Malik out playing their shots.

Overall, captain, Stewart Brew, was pleased with the performance, despite some imperfections in the bowling.

"It probably would have suited us to have a harder game going into the semi-finals. We didn't bowl as well as in the other two games."

Brew was happy though, with the team's discipline.

"We are keeping to a theme which I think makes it easier for the younger guys - they don't get distracted."

Hong Kong has now won Group A and will meet the winner of tomorrow's Group B match between Nepal and the Maldives in the first semi-final on Tuesday.

Malaysia will meet the United Arab Emirates in the second semi-final on Wednesday.