FITCH U19 Championship - Day 4 Review
Thursday 20th December

Game 7 – Independents V Pakistan Association Cricket Club 9:30 am start at Tin Kwong Road Recreational Ground
A 10-man Independents were sent in to bat by PACC, who were hunting for a big victory this morning to leapfrog them into 2nd place. They got just the start they wanted, with left arm wristspinner Ali Zaidan (4-0-11-2) and HK U-19 seam bowling allrounder Nasrullah Rana (3-0-13-1) reducing the Independents to 23/3 in the powerplay.
This great start was backed up well by the rest of PACC’s attack. Legspinner Umair Mohammad struck thrice in his four overs for just 9 runs, and Shanzeb Khan gave away just 13 runs from his quota. They were disciplined in the field as well, and kept the Independents to just 87/6 in 20 overs. Zakir Hayat battled away his 25, but could only find the fence once – Independents managing just 3 boundaries and 1 six in total.
Nasrullah Rana then came out aggressive in the chase. He lost his partner Ahmed Qureshi in the first over -bowled by Hayat- and Ehsan Muhammad got Abdul Rauf caught at mid-on last ball of the powerplay. But Rana continued to take the attack to the bowling – playing some nice shots, taking quick runs, and riding his luck. He brought up his 50 off 49 balls (7 fours), and was well supported by young Ailyaan Zahir at the other end (18 off 28). Together the pair put on 55 runs to take their side to the verge of victory. Rajab Hussain dismissed them both in the 16th over, but by that point PACCC already had 87 on the board, and skipper Hamaz sent the first ball of the 17th over to the fence to win the game for his side. A comprehensive victory to take PACC to second in the table, and one step closer to reaching the finals.
Standout performances:•Nasrullah Rana (PACC) (50 off 49 Balls) and (1/13 off 3 Overs)•Umair Mohammad (PACC) (3 for 9 off 4 Overs)•Ali Zaidan (PACC) (2 for 11 off 4 Overs)•Zakir Hayat (Independents) (25* off 31 Balls) and (1-26 off 3 Overs)
Result:Independents (87/6) LOST to Pakistan Association Cricket Club (91/4) by 6 wickets | Scorecard


Game 8 – Kowloon Cricket Club V Hong Kong Cricket Club 1:00 pm start at Kowloon Cricket Club
The hosts were bolstered by the return of some of their HK U19 representatives, and elected to bat first against the still-unbeaten HKCC side after winning the toss. However, they lost a couple of them in the first three overs, with Heath Ledger and Ayush Shukla striking with the new ball.
Ahaan Trivedi hung around to consolidate the innings, and together with Aarush Bhagwat took KCC past fifty. He was dismissed in the 11th over for 21, but then Aarush took over and upped the pace. He put on 46 runs in the next 6 overs with Arjun Sharma (17), and by the time he was dismissed in the 19th over he had scored 58 off 47 balls (5 fours, 2 sixes) – the highest score of the tournament so far. HKCC finished strong conceding just 11 runs for 3 wickets in the final two overs, and KCC ended on 127/7 in 20 overs. Ayush Shukla the pick of HKCC’s bowler, with 3/19 in his 4 overs.
HKCC struggled initially in the chase, managing just 12 runs in the powerplay. Ahaan Trivedi struck to remove both openers in the 5th and 7th overs, bringing in Harry Ledger to the crease. The fast bowling allrounder smoked 4 boundaries and 1 six in a 17-ball 29 to put the innings back on track, and when he was out stumped HKCC were 64/3 in 11.2 overs.
However, this dismissal triggered a mini collapse – Sahil Uppal was caught well in the deep by Gorawara, Kabir Sodhi was runout without facing a ball, and Rahul Sharma picked out Gorawara in the deep as well. Suddenly HKCC were 80/7, needing 48 more to win in 32 deliveries.
Enter Jhatha. The HKCC captain had been taking a backseat for most of the game so far, but walking out to bat at 8 he began to find the gaps and pick up crucial boundaries. He received crucial support from Dhruv Sodhi and marshalled the chase, taking 20 runs off the 17th over and 12 off the 19th. HKCC needed 5 to win from the final over, and after a first ball run-out to get Jhatha on strike, he found the deep midwicket fence to win the game. He ended on 40* off just 25 balls, with 2 fours and 3 sixes, and HKCC finished the group stages unbeaten. They will take part in the finals tomorrow afternoon.
Standout performances:•Aarush Bhagwat (KCC) (58 off 47 Balls)•Jhathavedh Subramanyan (HKCC) (40* off 25 Balls)•Ayush Shukla (HKCC) (3 for 19 off 4 Overs)•Ahaan Trivedi (KCC) (21 off 30 Balls) and (2 for 25 off 3 Overs)•Harry Ledger (HKCC) (29 off 17 Balls) and (1 for 14 off 3 Overs)
Result:Kowloon Cricket Club (127/7) LOST to Hong Kong Cricket Club (130/8) by 2 wickets | Scorecard


Game 9 – Pakistan Assocation Cricket Club V Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club1:30pm start at Tin Kwong Road Recreational Ground
DLSWCC won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan Association.
The left arm wrist-spin of A Zaidan struck an early blow dismissing Saif Ali Khan in the opening over trapped LBW. Mehran Zeb joined N Ahmed and set about dominating the initial 6 over power play however, N Rana made the second breakthrough dismissing Zeb courtesy of an edge through to the wicket keeper leaving DLSWCC on 37-2. Things worsened for DLSWCC with Jhalalafzal then stranded by his partner (48-3) and worse could have followed straight after however PACC made a mess of more of a number of opportunities for further run outs. N Ahmed was well caught by a fine catch at square cover for a run a ball 24 and with that DLSWCC were 61-4 off 9 overs with two relatively new batters at the crease.
Urslan Abdul was the 5th wicket to fall skying a catch towards extra cover (73-5). Umair picked up his second wicket and PACC’s sixth in dismissing M Hassan who struggled to get going making 9 off 23 balls before slicing the ball to point (82-6) The arrival of Farhan to the crease instantly lifted the tempo of the innings with some excellent placement and running between the wickets showing excellent maturity for someone so young. Furrukh was well held at cover for 8 (111-7). Farhan was eventually run out for a well-made 17 and with that DLSWCC concluded their innings on 119-8.
An eventful first over by M Hassan included the opening breakthrough with N Rana being bowled to leave PACC 13-1. Hassan struck again to make it 2 in 2 overs trapping Qureshi LBW for 3 (17-2). A useful 3rd wicket partnership of 23 was broken when Urslan struck for the first time dismissing Aaliyann for 6 (40-3). The PACC innings was mostly held in check with boundaries not easy to come by in the opening 10 overs and they found themselves 51-3 off 10 still requiring another 69 runs to win.
The responsibility for the business part of the innings rested on the shoulders of PACC captain Hamaz and Mohammad with M Zeb bowling with excellent discipline from the Lion Rock end making runs difficult to come by. Zeb completed his 4 overs finishing with exceptional figures of 0-4. PACC were 64-3 off 13 overs still needing 56 to win off the remaining 42 balls. PACC preferred the pace on the ball and that aided by some ill-discipline with No Balls from the DLSWCC seamers meant that the game was still there in the balance for both teams. M Hassan returned for his final over in the 15th over with DLSWCC sensing that they needed a breakthrough going into the final stages of the game. The breakthrough duly arrived when Hassan bowled the dangerous Hamaz for 16 (78-4). 38 off 30 with 6 wickets in hand with both of DLSWCC’s premier spinners having bowled their full quota of overs. N Ahmed returned for the 16th over and turned the game in DLSWCC’s favor by dismissing Umair for 4 and Mohammad who made 33 off 43 balls in successive balls (83-6). The Hat Trick ball was avoided however the damage had been done. Urslan completed and excellent run out at the bowlers end off his own bowling to dismiss Mehar for 2 (90-7).
Arbaz refused to give up and struck 2 excellent boundaries over the leg side to leave PACC needing 25 off 18 balls with 3 wickets in hand. N Ahmed returned for his final over and picked up his 3rd wicket dismissing Arbaz well caught at backward point by Farhan (96-8) to finish with 3-22 off his 4 overs. Fittingly, Farhan Khan put his imprint on the final stages of the game by dismissing Waheed, well caught at deep mid-wicket by M Hassan for 6 (104-9). The game went into the final over with PACC needing 15 to win and DLSWCC 1 wicket. 3 off the last ball followed by a dot ball then Zaidan chipped one to cover which was well caught by the retreating Saif Ali Khan. DLSWCC win by 11 runs!
With this win DLSWCC keep their hopes alive, and a big win over KCC tomorrow morning could see them qualify for the finals. However, PACC remain in pole position, and are likely to get another crack at HKCC tomorrow afternoon.
Standout performances:•Farhan Khan (DLSWCC) (17 off 19 Balls)•Umair Khan (PACC) (2 for 14 off 4 Overs)•Mehran Zeb (DLSWCC) (16 off 16 Balls and 0-4 off 4 Overs)•Mohammad Hassan (DLSWCC) (3-21 off 4 Overs)•Noman Ahmed (DLSWCC) (3 for 22 off 4 Overs)

Result:Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club BEAT Pakistan Association Cricket Club by 11 runs | Scorecard

Tournament Page
Tomorrows fixtures at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground are as follows:9:30am start – Diasqua Little Sai Wan v Kowloon Cricket Club1:30pm start – Final - Hong Kong Cricket Club v TBC