Hong Kong slump to third loss at ICC U19 CWC Qualifying tournament

Hong Kong slumped to their third straight loss at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifying tournament when they were soundly beaten by Afghanistan by six wickets today.

Batting first after winning the toss, Hong Kong got off to another poor start with openers Vikash Gope (1) and Shivang Baid (3) both dismissed by Izatullah Dawlatzai within the first four overs. James Atkinson, batting down the order, shared a 54-run partnership with Nizakat Khan before Atkinson was trapped LBW by Afghanistan's skipper Asgar Hussain for 27 with the score on 62. Khan and Ashish Gadhia then moved the score along to 128 at which stage Khan was dismissed for a well-struck 59 from 92 balls, including six fours and one six. Irfan Ahmed failed to score but another useful partnership of 31 runs between Gadhia and Waqas Barkat boosted the score to 160 by the end of the 40th over. But when Gadhia (45 from 77 balls), Barkat (12) and Asif Khan (0) were all dismissed in quick succession, it looked as if Hong Kong's innings would come to another quick and disappointing conclusion. However Aizaz Khan (12) and Niaz Ali (13) put up some useful lower-order resistance and a total of 195 was eventually achieved from 49.2 overs. For Afghanistan, Izatullah Dawlatzai was the pick of the bowlers with 4-31 from 6.2 overs while Aimal Wafa picked up 3-22 from his ten over spell.

Afghanistan, playing in only their second match of the tournament due to their late arrival in Canada, showed no signs of jet lag as their opening pairing of Ayoub Ahmadzai and Jawid Ahmadi cracked a partnership worth 67 runs from 16.3 overs. Ashish Gadhia made the initial breakthrough for Hong Kong when he had Ahmadzai caught by James Atkinson for 34 from 63 balls and when Gadhia picked up his second wicket shortly afterwards, the Hong Kong spirits would have been lifted. However at 2-85 after 21 overs, Afghanistan were still well placed. Jawid Ahmadi continued to prosper but he was eventually dismissed for a well-struck 58 from 65 balls when the total had reached 109. Ayan Aminzai fell cheaply but an unbroken stand worth 69 runs between Noor ul Huq (44 from 50 balls) and Aimal Wafa (27 from 40 balls) saw Afghanistan comfortably home with 7.5 overs remaining. Ashish Gadhia's 4-0-20-2 was the best of an otherwise disappointing bowling performance from the Hong Kong attack. Aimal Wafa picked up the Man of the Match award for his all-round efforts.

Scorecard: Hong Kong Under-19 v. Afghanistan Under-19

Hong Kong's third loss puts them bottom of the points table and they now face a must-win situation in their next match against Canada. Hong Kong will need to post at least three victories from their remaining six matches at the tournament if they want to qualify for the next ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup to be played in New Zealand in February 2010. Other results from today's play did not help Hong Kong's cause with the USA upsetting Ireland and Canada beating Netherlands. Papua New Guinea continued their unbeaten run at the tournament with a 92-run win over Uganda.