Hong Kong slump to 165-run loss to Nepal

Hong Kong slumped to a 165-run defeat to Nepal in the ACC Premier League match played in Khatmandu.

Set an improbable target of 305 for victory, Hong Kong were never in hunt as simple survival became the order of the day. But Hong Kong's ultra defensive efforts were not quite enough to stave off defeat as they were dismissed in the second innnigs for 139 from 79.3 overs. The final wicket fell with eleven overs left in the day's play.

Facing 90 overs of batting, Hong Kong needed a solid start from it's top order. But that failed to materialise as Imran Idrees was dismissed early, bowled for the second time in the match by Binod Das with his score on 5. Mark Eames (20) and Adam Gunthorpe (21) both made starts but their untimely dismissals kept Hong Kong on the back foot. Worse was to follow as Ravi Sujanani was run out for 8 and then Najeeb Amar fell for 4 to leave Hong Kong reeling at 64-5. Ilyas Gul joined Irfan Ahmed and the two combined in a 29-run partnership that steadied the innings somewhat. While Gul only scored 12, his innings occupied a valuable 85 balls. Irfan Ahmed continued to bat on and he found another able partner in Roy Lamsam (13 from 63 balls) and the two added another 44 runs together.

With only twelve overs left in the day's play, Hong Kong looked like they could salvage a face saving draw, but when the seventh wicket partnership was broken, the end came in a rush. Whereas the tail had mounted a stern resistance in the first innings, the final four wickets tumbled in the space of 9 balls in the second. Irfan was the stand out performer with the bat for Hong Kong - his 42 runs from 133 balls was double the score of the next highest batsman.

Earlier in the day, Nepal had elected to continue on from their overnight score of 188-6. Overnight batsmen Paras Khadka and Binod Das advanced their individual scores to 87 and 30 respectively and the Nepal total to 233-8 before the declaration finally came.

Both Nepali wickets fell to Nadeem Ahmed, who provided one of the few highlights for Hong Kong as he claimed ten wickets in the match, easily the best by any bowler from either side. Despite Nadeem's match analysis of 46.2-13-160-10, the Man of the Match honour was awarded to Nepal's Mehboob Alam.

Nepal's victory earned them 32 points in the ACC Premier League while Hong Kong scored 13. Hong Kong will face Malaysia in its next ACC Premier League match which will be played in Singapore on 3-5 November 2006.

[ Scorecard ]