Qatar, Singapore, UAE and Afghanistan Top Pools

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy Challenge has reached the quarter-finals stage as eight teams will contest for the semi-finals berth on Wednesday.

The champion of Group A, Qatar is scheduled to meet Kuwait at the Bayuemas Oval while Singapore, the Group B champion will meet Nepal at the Selangor Turf Club Ground. Group C champion Afghanistan will meet host Malaysia at Aman Club. Group D champion United Arabs Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain will contest at the Kinrara Oval.

Singapore had an easy 173 run victory over Bhutan at the Kinrara Oval. Batting first Singapore chalked up a respectable score of 210 for 6 at the end of the allotted 45 overs. Smithpal Singh Sandhu top scored with 44 while Jayanth G (32), Rohan Tripathi (27), Vignesh Balasubramaniam (25) and Siddhart Eapen George (20) chipped in with useful runs. Bhutan's Sushil Sharma took 2 for 43.

In reply Bhutan collapsed to 37 all out in 18.2 overs as Prem Vashdev Dadlani wrecked havoc taking 4 for 4 in 3 overs and Anirudh Rangarajan capturing 2 for no runs.

At Aman Club, Kuwait edged Saudi Arabia by 2 wickets. Saudi Arabia batting first scored 157 all out in 39.5 overs. Shoib Ali (31), Mohammad Sofyan (29), Raza Zamir (24) and Kasim Ali Navqi (16 n.o) featured among the runs. Saad Khalid (3 for 9), Navtej Singh (2 for 22) and U. Milinda Dushmanta (2 for 29) took the bowling honours for Kuwait.

In reply Kuwait scored the winning run (158) losing 8 wickets off the second ball in the 40th over. Opening batsmen Umer Salahudin (35) and Ali Raza (20) put up an entertaining partnership of 66 runs in 12.1 overs. Navtej Singh and Ibrahim Saifudin both scored 17 runs each while Sayed Hassan Ali remained unbeaten on 15. Haroon Zahid, Ahmad Al-Nadwi, Shoib Ali and Obaidullah Shafiq took 2 wickets a piece costing 19, 20, 25 and 26 runs respectively.

At the Selangor Turf Club Ground Qatar beat Hong Kong by 34 runs. Batting first Qatar scored 177 all out while Hong Kong reached 143 all out.

Brief scores Qatar 177 all out in 44.4 overs ( Ibrahim Zahoor 22, Iqbal Hussain - 22, Aamir Asheq Parker - 30, Szuaid Khan - 2/39, Lovepreet Singh - 2/13) Hong Kong 143 all out in 40.5 overs (Shakeel 25, Ibrahim Zahoor - 3/30, Deon Joynal Britto - 3/23). Ibrahim Zahoor of Qatar was declared Man of the Match.

At the Bayuemas Oval, Bahrain defeated Oman by 25 runs in a closely contested match. Bahrain batting first scored 99 all out while Oman replied with 73 all out. David Mathias took 3 wickets for 16 and Angad Singh took 3/9. Dhaval Desai took 4 wickets for 17 runs and Bilal Javed took 3/9). Angad Singh of Bahrain was declared Man of the Match.

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