Nadeem grabs six in ICC WCL warm-up

Hong Kong's spin ace Nadeem Ahmed grabbed six wickets as Hong Kong beat the Tanzania Academy XI by 53 runs in a warm-up match preceding the start of the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 tournament.

In a rain-affect match, Hong Kong posted 204 from 42 overs with a number of batsmen making useful contributions, although none went on to post a half-century. Skhawat Ali, batting at number 8, top scored with 44 while Butt Hussain made 43 and Zain Abbas scored 34.

In reply, the Tanzania Academy XI was dismissed for 149 in 35 overs with Nadeem Ahmed picking up the impressive figures of 6-18 from his nine overs while Shakeel Haq claimed 2-11 from five overs.

Hong Kong received an early set back to their tournament preparations when strike bowler was Afzaal Haider was withdrawn from the squad after failing to recover from an injury sustained on the preparatory tour to Sri Lanka. His place in the squad was taken by young Waqas Barkat who will provide a second wicket-keeping option for the team.

With Hussain Butt still unable to bowl, the fast bowling duties during the tournament will be shouldered by Irfan Ahmed, Shakeel Haq and Roy Lamsam with Zain Abbas providing useful back-up. But Hong Kong's hopes for the tournament are likely to rest on their spin attack that includes left-armers Nadeem Ahmed, Najeeb Amar and Munir Dar while Ilyas Gul's off-breaks will provide some useful variation.

Nadeem's performance in the first match may indicate that the Hong Kong spin-oriented attack will be a handful in Tanzanian conditions.

Hong Kong's campaign at the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 begins on 4th October 2008 when they face Italy.

Hong Kong will be hoping to make the final of the six-team tournament and thereby gain promotion back up to the ICC World Cricket League Division Three with a tournament to be played in Buenos Aries in January 2009.

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