Travel weary Hong Kong slump to opening round defeat in PNG
A travel weary Hong Kong side slumped to a 90-run defeat to Singapore in the opening round of the Air Niugini International Super Series being played in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Hong Kong Cricket Association
03-Sep-2010
A travel weary Hong Kong side slumped to a 90-run defeat to Singapore in the opening round of the Air Niugini International Super Series being played in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Hong Kong was on a hiding to nothing having flown overnight on a six hour flight from Hong Kong to Papua New Guinea before heading straight to the ground for their first match. Tired and in unfamiliar territory, it's not too surprising that Hong Kong was not able to put up a strong performance in this match.
Singapore won the toss and opted to bat first. They amassed a total of 252-8 from their 50 overs with Suryawanshi (32), Mendis (41), Param (53) and Arora (42) all making useful contributions. For Hong Kong, Najeeb Amar was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 3-47 from 8 overs.
In reply, Hong Kong made a useful start to their run chase and at 95-2 looked well placed to force a victory. But the middle and lower order was unable to build on the good work done at the top of the order and Hong Kong could only muster a total of 162 all out from 44.4 overs. Ilyas Gull top scored with 58 while Roy Lamsam (29) and Waqas Barkat (27) made useful starts. For Singapore, Tripathi claimed 4-26 from 7.4 overs while Mulewa picked up 3-23 from 8 overs.
Hong Kong's second outing will be against Malaysia.
*Scorecard courtesy of Cricket PNG (scorecard is incomplete)