Najeeb's five wicket haul can't save Hong Kong

Najeeb Amar grabbed 5-27 against Malaysia but his efforts weren't enough to save Hong Kong from suffering their second loss at the Air Niugini International Super Series being played in Papua New Guinea.

Najeeb's superb bowling effort was the highlight of a good performance in the field by Hong Kong who did well to restrict Malaysia to a modest total after their openers had laid a solid foundation. Opening batsman Sharif top-scored with 49 while Rosmanizam provided good support with 40. A big score looked likely as Malaysia reached 1-84 but the run out of Sharif and some effective bowling from Najeeb triggered a middle order collapse. The Malaysians were eventually restricted to 207-9 from their 50 overs.

Hong Kong's reply got off to a poor start with the early dismissal of Waqas Barkat. But a steadying partnership between Roy Lamsam (33) and Jamie Atkinson lifted the score to 40 before Atkinson was bowled with his own score on 19. Ilyas Gull (26) and Najeeb Amar (19) made useful contributions but wickets fell at inopportune times for Hong Kong and they never managed to get on top of their run chase. A late flourish from Asif Khan (35*) gave Hong Kong some brief hope but none of the other lower order batsmen stayed around long enough to give him the support he needed and Hong Kong crashed to 165 all out in 41.5 overs to remain winless in the tournament. Chief destroyer for Malaysia was opening bowler Navatratnam who claimed 4-41 from his ten overs while Rahim cleaned up the tail with 3-12.

Scorecard: Air Niugini International Super Series - Hong Kong v. Malaysia

Hong Kong's final 50-over match is against red-hot hosts PNG before the competition reverts to a Twenty20 format for the last 2 days of the tournament.