Uphill battle for Hong Kong to save match against Nepal

A brave rearguard batting effort on the second day was not enough to turn around Hong Kong's fortunes in their ACC Premier League match against Nepal at the TU Ground in Khatmandu.

Najeeb Amar lead the tail-end batting effort with a robust 37 and he received good support from Afzaal Haider (23) and Ilyas Gul (13*) who bravely batted with an injured hand. Hong Kong's final total of 136 was better than they could have expected after they had slipped to 46 for 6 mid-way through the final session of the first day's play. For Nepal, Binod Das claimed the last wicket to fall and he finished with figures of 3-30 from 15.2 overs.

The slow, low pitch continued to make batting difficult and Nepal's batsmen struggled to ascert their authority in the second innings. After a burst of pace from Afzaal Haider and Irfan Ahmed, the ball was thrown to Hong Kong's spin duo of Najeeb Amar and Nadeem Ahmed. The two bowlers once again provided the bulk of the overs, but this time they didn't have the services of the injured Ilyas Gul to back them up.

First innings bowling hero, Nadeem made the first breakthrough when he trapped Lohani LBW with the score on 25. A promising second wicket partnership was snuffed out with the score on 59 when Irfan Ahmed claimed the wicket of Mehboob Alam who struck a brisk 29 from 27 balls. Hong Kong claimed three further wickets in relatively quick succession and with Nepal's score at 81-5, Hong Kong could sniff an opportunity to get back into the game.

But, as happened in the previous match against Singapore, Hong Kong was unable to finish off the opposition and an unbeaten 69 from Paras Khadka, with good support from Binod Das who scored an unbeaten 20, lifted Nepal to a seemingly impregnable 188 for 6 at the close, an overall lead of 269 with four wickets in hand.

Nadeem Ahmed was again the most successful Hong Kong bowler, claiming three wickets for 75 runs from a busy 27 overs while Najeeb Amar grabbed two wickets in a tight spell that conceeded just 34 runs from 28 overs with 11 maidens. Irfan Ahmed was the other successful bowler - his solitary wicket cost 24 runs from 12 overs.

Hong Kong scored an unlikely victory from a similar position in 2004 but it will take an extraordinary effort by the 2006 team if they are to repeat that feat.

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