HK vs UAE (UKM Oval)

A new day, new opposition, and a new ground awaited the Hong Kong boys on a stormy looking morning in Kuala Lumpur. Spitting with rain and a damp playing surface resulted in an hour delay to the start time, after which Hong Kong were sent in to bat against arguably the front runners of the tournament - the United Arab Emirates.

Cameron McAuslan and Anshuman Rath started off the innings steadily, running well between the wickets and dispatching any loose bowling. The first power play came and went, with both batsmen looking set. McAuslan looked to being playing more freely, but unfortunately under edged a ball to the keeper attempting to sweep Imran Haider, departing for 13. Once again, Hayat joined Rath, and what followed was one of the finest partnerships in Hong Kong cricket history. Both batsman looked in complete control of their innings. Hayat playing the more attacking role soon catching up to Anshy’s score despite arriving at the crease 12 overs after him. Undeterred by the pace of Hayat’s innings, Anshy played with his all too familiar finesse and style that has seen him push Hong Kong to many victories. The partnership continued to pass milestones, ultimately ending on 180, after Rath was adjudged lbw off the bowling of Haider, for 102 off 113 balls. Hayat fell two balls later, for an extraordinary 107, striking at just over a run a ball. This innings was far from over, and with two new batsman at the crease in the 42nd over, passing that 300 mark was always going to be a challenge. The highest scoring batsman from those remaining was Kinchit Shah, chipping in with a handy 16 off 9, helping Hong Kong reach 275/8 at the end of the final (49th) over of their innings.

The job was far from done, and all the bowlers knew from the get go that they’d need to execute their plans to a high standard in order to dismiss a UAE team that passed 300 in their first match on this same ground. Openers Tanwir Afzaal and Ehsan Nawaz bowled brilliantly, with Nawaz taking the wickets of both openers - Chirag Suri for 1 and Ashfaq Ahmed for 11. UAE’s main man Rohan Mustafa put up a bit of resistance making 33, but he was involved in a mix up that resulted in the run out of Rameez Shahza in the 7th over. He later holed out to Nizakat Khan at mid off, off the bowling of Aizaz Khan in the 14th over, seeing UAE crumble to 4/57. From this point on wickets fell at regular intervals, with no other batsman able to withstand Hong Kong’s bowlers for any significant amount of time. Ehsan Khan’s off spin cleaned up the rest of the tail, leaving him with figures of 4/17 from only 6 overs - in which he also claimed his 50th List A wicket. The final wicket fell in the 24th over, ending UAE’s innings on 93. A very convincing 182 run victory is exactly what the team needed to boost their confidence and chances of getting into the final. Babar Hayat was awarded man of the match for his innings of 107.

Anshuman Rath later said “Fantastic win for the lads today. It takes a lot of courage to bounce back after our first game and the boys have responded really well. The game against Oman tomorrow is a key game and let’s hope to keep the momentum going”