Hong Kong get title defense back on track with six wicket victory over Kuwait

A great team effort has got Hong Kong's ACC Trophy Elite title defense back on track as they rebounded from their first round loss to Nepal to record a six wicket victory over hosts Kuwait at the Hubara ground today. A solid bowling and fielding display by Hong Kong restricted Kuwait to a modest total of 202 all out and then some excellent batting led by Hussain Butt got Hong Kong home with six wickets and more than six overs to spare.

It was an early start for both teams as a mandatory break for Friday prayers dictated a start time of 8:15AM and with about an hour drive to the ground, teams departed from the hotel at 6:30AM.

Once at the ground, Kuwait won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked liked a good batting surface. The match got off to a frantic start with the Kuwaiti openers Khalid Butt and Hisham Mirza smashing 35 runs off the first three overs. Aizaz Khan was blasted out of the attack with 15 runs taken off his only over and and Irfan Ahmed's first two overs went for 20. Spin was introduced in the fourth over and Nadeem Ahmed had immediate success as he trapped Mirza LBW for 14. Irfan then scattered the stumps of new batsman Nalaka Dayan in the following over and when Nadeem bowled Khalid Butt in his second over, the honours lay with Hong Kong with the score at 38-3 after an incredible 5.2 overs. A quiet period of play then followed as the Hong Kong spinners lay siege and only 19 runs were scored off the next 14 overs. Nikhil Kulkarni scored a painstaking 4 runs off 38 balls before he was caught in the slips by Roy Lamsam off the bowling of Hong Kong skipper Najeeb Amar. Lasantha Dimuthu, who had earlier been bowled by Irfan off a no-ball free hit, and Muhammad Amin then combined for a 64-run partnership that lifted Kuwait's total to 121 just shy of the 35 over mark. Ilyas Gull trapped Amin LBW for 27 and then dismissed Dimuthu in a similar fashion six overs later for a patient 51 scored from 111 balls. Ilyas switched ends and his success continued as he induced Muhammad Akhudzada to loft a ball to mid off where Najeeb Amar claimed a cheeky one handed catch over his head. Three balls later, Ilyas claimed his fourth wicket as Saad Khalid holed out to Waqas Barkat at midwicket.

A 41-run partnership then followed between Said Iqbal and Haji Javed. Their partnership was interrupted at the end of the 49th over as the teams came off the field to observe the 45 minute mandatory prayer period that is taken during games held on Fridays. At the end of the prayer period, the teams returned to the field for the final over of the innings. The break affected the concentration of the Kuwaiti batsmen with Saud Iqbal bowled by Moner Ahmed from the first ball after the resumption. The Kuwait innings finished on the penultimate ball of the innings with Haji Javed being run out.

It was another good display in the field and once the early fireworks were extinguished, Hong Kong's spin bowlers held control for most of the innings. Ilyas Gull was the best of the bowlers as he picked up 4-33 from nine overs including two maidens. Nadeem Ahmed and Moner Ahmed claimed two wickets each and Irfan Ahmed was the other wicket taker for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong lost an early wicket when Roy Lamsam went back to ball that stayed low and he was trapped LBW by Haji Javed for 4. Nasir Hameed and Hussain Butt then combined for an excellent 61-run partnership with both batsmen playing each ball on its merit. Runs were hard to come by with very few bad balls being offered by the Kuwaiti bowlers. Nasir was the more aggressive of the two batsmen, striking five boundaries in his 65-ball innings worth 40 runs. He was eventually bowled when he chopped a short ball onto his stumps from the bowling of Khalid Yamen. Ilyas Gull hit two boundaries in his brief innings but he too fell to a back-foot shot as he bottom edged a ball to keeper Akhudzada off the bowling of Khalid Butt.

The match looked evenly poised at this stage with Hong Kong on 93-3 after 26.3 overs however Nizakat Khan joined Hussain Butt at the crease and the pair batted positively over a period that saw Hong Kong wrest the initiative away from Kuwait. Nizakat was not afraid to loft the ball over the inner ring and while he lived dangerously at times, his methods were effective as he scored 39 off 48 balls with four boundaries and one huge six over cover. His innings came to an end when he edged a ball from Nalaka Dayan to Akhudzada behind the stumps. Nizakat's positive play rubbed off on Hussain Butt who had been curbing his naturally attacking strokeplay up to this moment. When Irfan Ahmed came to the crease and continued with the attacking cricket, Butt started unleashing a number of punishing shots to and over the boundary. The pair combined to take Hong Kong swiftly to its victory target and the last fifty runs came off just six overs with Irfan Ahmed finishing undefeated on 21 from 19 balls while Butt finished unbeaten on 82 from 115 balls including eight fours and one six. Hong Kong wrapped up the victory with six wickets and six and a half overs to spare.

There was scant reward for the Kuwait bowlers who toiled away on the flat pitch during the hottest part of the day. Khalid Butt was the best, claiming 1-21 from seven overs including three maidens.

Scorecard: Hong Kong v. Kuwait

This was a much improved performance by Hong Kong against a side that had upset Singapore in the opening round of matches. Solid bowling and fielding was followed up with some excellent batting and a relatively comfortable victory was achieved in the end, although the margin of victory does not necessarily reflect the tight arm wrestle between the two sides throughout the day.

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