Under 19 Cricket World Cup – Division 2 – Asia

Semi Final - Hong Kong v Oman @ Asian Institute of Technology Ground

With Hong Kong finishing second in Group B it meant they were to face winners of Group A, Oman, in the Semi Final.

Oman were unbeaten and had got to the semi-final mainly to some excellent spin bowling.

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field first. Nasrulla Rana wasted no time in picking up 2 quick wickets after he was introduced in the 5^th over. Striking with two very executed yorkers, leaving Oman 9-2.

It was from there that Adeel Abbas for Oman looked to steady the innings. He and Poojari rotated strike well picking up singles when they could. It was in the 17^th over that Nasrulla stuck for a 3^rd time, Poojari finally losing patience with a loose shot providing a simple catch to Dhananjay Rao.

The introduction of Mehran Zeb continued to frustrate the Oman batters, who were slowly ticking over at around 3 runs per over. It was Zeb who removed Adeel Abbas for 30, and Oman were left 59/4 after 21 overs. Mehran Zeb finished his 10 overs with excellent figures of 10-3-19-1.

Regular wickets continued to fall through some consistent bowling and when the final wicket was taken by Vikas Sharma, Oman were all out for 130.

Hong Kong knew two or three good partnerships would see them through to the Mondays Final. Oman knew early wickets were going to be needed, so introduced one of their three spinners, KS Kattokaran, from the start. Challu and Rao were extremely watchful, and it was when Challu tried to force a shot off the spinner he was caught at mid-on. Adit Gorawara came and went the very same over, LBW off the left arm spinner, without scoring leaving Hong Kong 14/2.

Just as the first partnership was building Mehran Zeb and Dhananjay Rao, Oman introduced their second and third spinners, SR Ravindra and AS Sirah. Zeb was adjudged to have been LBW for 16 too Sirah and it was here Hong Kong started to struggle, losing 3 wickets in 2 overs. Hong Kong were 46/5 with still 30 overs to bat. Daniyal Butt tried to get Hong Kong back into the game with 18 from 19 balls but was another batsman that fell to the leg spin of Sirah.

Just as Hong Kong seemed to be forming partnerships to get back into the game, the Oman spinners would strike. It seemed a pattern for the whole game, that wickets would fall in clusters and it was no different this time. Hong Kong losing three wickets in quick succession meant they were 73/8.

Abdul Urslan decided to take the attack to the spinners and for a moment looked like he could go on and win the game but when Nasrulla Rana edged a catch to the wicket keeper it was all over. Hong Kong dismissed for 100, Urslan ending on 22 not out off 17 balls.

A bitterly disappointing result for Hong Kong, who will now play Qatar in the 3^rd/4^th Place play off match and AIT Cricket Ground.