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Match Report - East Asia Cup - Day 4

17 February 2024

Hong Kong China hammer highest total to lift East Asia Cup before China outplay Dragons
By Jay Dansinghani

A packed Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground witnessed the home side lift the East Asia Cup after posting 219 for seven, their highest-ever T20I total and restricting Japan to 185 for eight.

Nizakat Khan’s equal career-best 81 powered the home side before they were further boosted by late cameos from Yasim Murtaza (20) and Narulla Rana (26*).

In the afternoon exhibition game, China cruised to a target of 93 against the Hong Kong China Dragons with more than ten overs to spare. Chinese captain Wei Guolei’s brisk 35 earned him the Player of the Match award.

Hong Kong China vs Japan

Being put into bat, Hong Kong China cashed in on the powerplay. Martin Coetzee struck a pair of fours down the ground in the first over before being cleaned up by Reo Sakurano-Thomas. Nizakat and Anshuman Rath stabilized the innings before the Hong Kong China skipper muscled two straight sixes in a 23-run over to close out the powerplay at 64 for one.

Anshuman Rath reverse swept Ibrahim Takahashi for four but was caught behind when he tried to do the same to Sabaorish Ravichandran, who would get Babar Hayat stumped off the next ball to give Japan hope of restricting the home side to a manageable total.

Nonetheless, Nizakat and Aizaz Khan continued to go for their shots, favouring the short straight boundaries at the Argyle Street end. Yasim Murtaza struck three sixes in his 20 off 6 balls, whereas Nasrulla Rana swung four sixes off the final four deliveries of the innings to push Hong Kong China to an imposing total.

Chasing 11 an over to win, Japan needed a strong start from their openers. Unfortunately for them, they lost both Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming and Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake inside the first four overs, the latter perishing to a brilliant leaping catch from Babr Hayat at long off.

Declan Suzuki-McComb provided some brief resistance with a knock of 37, but this was not enough as Japan fell 34 runs short.

Yasim Murtaza and Ehsan Khan were the stars with the ball, taking three wickets a piece.

Hong Kong China Dragons vs China

After being put into bat, the Dragons reached 66 for two in the 12th over and looked set for a big total with the experienced Jason Lui and Bobby Chan still at the crease.

But Ma Qiancheng had other ideas. The seamer bowled his best spell of the tour, dismissing both set batters in the same over. Chan swung wildly and was caught behind by Huang Junjie, whereas Lui edged an attempted cut to a diving Zou Kiu at short third who pulled off a magnificent catch.

This sparked a collapse that saw the Dragons lose their last eight wickets for just 26 runs.

Chasing 93 to win, Wei Guolei cleared his left leg and smashed a ball through the covers for his first of five boundaries, which included a maximum. By the time he was caught behind off Thinley Khenchub’s bowling, China needed a mere 36 runs to win with six wickets in hand.

Shenjian Zheng (15*) walloped a six over long on to complement a pair of fours from Zong Yuechao (9*) as China cantered home with more than half of their overs to spare.