Hong Kong v. Oman

Hong Kong 168-1 from 36.2 overs (James Atkinson 59*, Asad Arif 27, Irfan Ahmed 46*) beat Oman 160-8 from 40 overs (Luvieen Alva 44, Vivek Venkataram 32, Purval Sule 32; Nishil Savalani 3-26) by 9 wkts
Man of the Match: James Atkinson (Hong Kong)
[Full Scorecard]

Hong Kong Under 15s yesterday gained revenge for their defeat by Oman 2 years ago in the corresponding ACC tournament in Sharjah. In the famous cricket stadium this time they beat the Omanis by 9 wickets with almost 4 overs to spare. This ensures Hong Kong's participation in the quarter-finals this coming Tuesday since they received a walkover by Bhutan who failed to arrive at the tournament.

Oman won the toss on a sweltering morning and chose to bat. They were given a flying atart as the first over went for 12 runs. At 82 for 1 Hong Kong were staring down the barrel of a big target despite Shakeel's tight spell of 8 overs 1 for 14. Nishil Savalani then took 3 much needed wickets and Hong Kong raised their game to restrict the batting side to 164 for 8 from their allotted 40 overs.

Hong Kong started their innings tentatively against a weak bowling attack but gradually grew in confidence. Jamie Atkinson and Asad Arif paced their innings well and were increasing the run rate when Asad skied a catch and was caught for 27 off 65 balls with 3 fours. The openers had put on 94 and had broken the back of the total when Irfan Ahmed, Hong Kong's captain, came to the wicket.

With both captain and vice-captain batting well and scoring off virtually every ball the victory was never in doubt. Irfan scored the winning runs lifting the ball over cover to bring up 46 runs in only 32 balls with 7 fours. Jamie was awarded Man of the Match for his anchor role of 59 unbeaten runs off 118 balls with 5 fours.

The match referee congratulated Hong Kong on what he described as "a very professional performance". They must play Bahrain on Saturday to decide who wins the group and avoids playing against the strong Nepal side in the quarter-final knockout stage.

The side are gelling well and are confident that with a reasonable score on the board, they have strength in depth in the bowling department to restrict any batting side and do well in this tournament.

Hong Kong v. Bahrain

Hong Kong 183-7 from 40 overs (Ashish Gadhia 25, Irfan Ahmed 54, Zuaid Khan 31*) beat Bahrain 140 (Karan Kumar 40, David Mathias 35; Zuaid Khan 3-29, Nishil Savalani 2-26, Asad Arif 2-28, Inderjit Singh 2-5) by 43 runs
Man of the Match: Zuaid Khan (Hong Kong)
[Full Scorecard]

Hong Kong today completed an excellent win against a strong Bahrain side by 43 runs. It arrived by virtue of disciplined batting and bowling performances and some excellent fielding.

Batting first, Hong Kong's front five batsmen all made a start and the captain, Irfan Ahmed played a starring role with a hard-hitting 54 made off only 44 balls with 9 fours. The total of 183 for 7 off the allotted 40 overs was always going to be difficult to match and Bahrain lost a wicket to the first legitimate ball when Zuaid Khan bowled the dangerous left-hander Jasnaik. This was followed by a stunning run-out from a direct hit almost from the boundary by Aayush Khemka. Shakeel's miserly spell of 8 overs for only 16 runs kept the Bahrain batsmen in check but boundaries flowed from the other end. It took 2 excellent runnning catches at long-off from Zuaid to remove Bahrain's best batsmen and a flying run-out from Jamie Atkinson to put Hong Kong well on the road to victory. From 103 for 3, Bahrain collapsed under mounting pressure to 140 all out. Inderjit Singh picked up 2 wickets and Asad Arif bowled an excellent spell of 8 overs off the trot, one for 28.

For the second match running, a Hong Kong player picked up the Man of the Match gong. This time it was Zuaid Khan for his 31 not out, 3 for 29 and athletic all-round fielding.

Hong Kong will play Afghanistan next in the knockout quarter-final stage and are quietly confident about the result. The side are winning matches through teamwork and a high degree of cricketing nous. Make no mistake, if they continue in the same vein, they can go all the way in this tournament.

Hong Kong v. Afghanistan

Afghanistan 267-5 beat Hong Kong 50 by 217 runs (further details not currently available)

They hit the ball like men, they batted with the maturity of men and they bowled like men.  There was only one reason why the Afghanis performed in such a way - because they really were men.

For the record, Hong Kong's dreams of a final crashed at the quarter-final stage under a welter of 4s and 6s struck by 2 batsmen and wickets from 2 bowlers who were older than them.  They lost by over 200 runs and although the scorecard shows a hammering, the reality was that this was literally men against boys.

Both Afghani openers scored centuries and put on 137 runs in the blistering heat.  The total posted of 267 for 5 was far too many for Hong Kong who had done well to restrict Afghanistan in the last 15 overs.  Jamie Atkinson and Asad Arif put up a creditable opening partnership of 31 but when Irfan Ahmed holed out at deep mid-on with the score at 41, the wheels fell off.

Hong Kong's batting frailties were cruelly exposed and they succumbed meakly for 50 runs.  Jamie's well made 20 earned praise all round but the truth is the boys are not ready to take on this sort of opposition for another year or two. 

There has been a lot of talk of "a level playing field" where there are no size and weight advantages and no discrepancy in terms of maturity.  All boys have been checked by a doctor to ascertain how close they are to adulthood.  Passports can not be trusted to give accurate reflections of boys' ages.  We are told that moves are afoot to tackle the problem.  If nothing can be done, then the format must be changed to allow for more round-robin matches so that at least being drawn to play against older boys does not end your participation in the tournament.  More ACC tournaments are planned in the coming months - let's hope the hypocrisy ends and we start thinking about furthering boys' cricket skills and burying the shameful attitude of win-at-all-costs.  

Reports by Steve Atkinson - Team Manager