Tanwir's ton saves Hong Kong blushes; finish 5th at ACC Trophy Elite 2012

A brilliant hundred from Tanwir Afzal, playing in just his fifth match for the Hong Kong senior team, has saved Hong Kong's blushes after a top-order collapse had left Hong Kong on the ropes against Oman in the 5th place Play-off match against Oman at the ACC Trophy Elite 2012. Afzal came to the crease with Hong Kong in trouble at 48-6 in the 16th over and he and Mudassar Hussain staged a stunning fightback with a 142-run partnership in 23 overs that took Hong Kong to a total that they ultimately defended.

A shell-shocked Hong Kong team, still reeling from their disappointing effort against Nepal, batted first after winning the toss at the Al Dhaid Cricket Village on the outskirts of Sharjah. Irfan Ahmed and Waqas Barkat opened the batting for Hong Kong and the pair put on 18 runs for the first wicket before Irfan fell LBW for 8 to Khalid Rasheed off the last ball the fifth over. With Rasheed's next delivery, he cleaned bowled Hong Kong skipper Jamie Atkinson, who played down the wrong line. The top-order batsmen's penchant for playing big shots cost them dearly as Rasheed picked up two more wickets as Nizakat Khan (4) and Waqas Barkat (18) fell in quick succession leaving Hong Kong on 32-4. Worse was to follow for Hong Kong as Anshuman was run-out for 13 and when Kinchit Shah was run-out without facing a ball, Hong Kong was reeling at 48-6 after 16 overs.

Tanwir Afzal joined the fray but he was lucky to survive as two early chances were put down by the Oman fielders. Aizaz Khan (7) was next to fall, trapped LBW trying to sweep left-arm spinner Hemal Mehta leaving Hong Kong at 59-7. Mudassar Hussain, on debut for Hong Kong, joined Afzal at the crease and the pair applied themselves to the task of rebuilding the innings. Hussain was more circumspect of the two but Azfal was willing to chance his arm whenever a bad ball was offered.

Afzal brought up his fifty with a huge six that sailed out of the ground - his fifty included 5 fours and 3 sixes and came off 59 balls. In the next twenty balls, Afzal smashed another 4 fours and 5 sixes, including three in one over from Mehta, to bring up his maiden century for Hong Kong - his century also coming up with another huge six. His fine innings ended when on 106 he tried to reverse sweep Amir Ali and was bowled. His partnership with Hussain had realised 142 runs off 138 balls with Hussain playing the perfect foil to the swashbuckling Afzal.The tail-enders couldn't add too many more to the total and Hussain was the last man to fall for an excellent 43 off 92 balls as Hong Kong was eventually dismissed for 213 in 48.5 overs.

For Oman, opening bowler Khalid Rasheed claimed 4-31 off ten overs, while Hemal Mehta claimed 2-44 despite copping a bit of stick from Tanwir Afzal, including one over that went for 21 runs.

Tanwir Afzal was back in the thick of the action upon the resumption of play and he got Hong Kong off to the perfect start with the wicket of Zeeshan Maqsood in the first over. He then picked up danger man Zeeshan Siddiqui for 9, with Atkinson taking a good catch in the slips, to have Oman at 18-2 in the fifth over. Mudassar Hussain replaced Nadeem Ahmed at the opposite end and he picked up two key wickets as Vaibhav Wategaonkar (23) and Adnan Ilyas (0) fell in successive balls leaving Oman on 40-4 after 12 overs.

Jatinder Singh and Aamir Kaleem put on a 59-run partnership but Singh (45) perished after hitting a low full-toss from Nizakat Khan straight down Tanwir Afzal's throat at fine leg. Sultan Ahmed was next to fall when he was run out for 7. Hussain then picked up his third wicket when Amir Ali cut a short ball to cover where Nizakat Khan took a good diving catch. Aamir Kaleem was proving stubborn however and he brought up his fifty shortly afterwards - his fifty coming off 71 balls, including 5 fours. Tanwir Afzal also picked up another wicket when he deceived Oman skipper Hemal Mehta (13) with a slower ball that the batsman could only lob to mid-wicket where Wasqas Barkat took a simple catch to leave Oman on 170-8.

Oman were still in the hunt with 44 runs required from 55 balls and with Kaleem still at the crease. On 58 however, Kaleem retired hurt and he had to be replaced by last man Khalid Rasheed, joining Rajeshkumar Ranpura at the crease. Ranpura struck two sixes to take Oman closer to victory but the return of Irfan Ahmed to the bowling crease sealed a dramatic victory as he induced two faint edges from Rasheed and then Ranpura, both grabbed by wicket-keeper Anshuman Rath, as Hong Kong wrapped up the victory by 7 runs, with 7 balls to spare. For Oman, the injured Aamir Kaleem finished unbeaten on 63.

Mudassar Hussain picked up 3-29 in a great all-round performance in his debut match for Hong Kong but it was Tanwir Afzal who claimed the Man of the Match honours with figures of 3-38 from 8 overs to go with his brilliant 106 from 78 balls.

It was an earlier than expected finish for Hong Kong but they may well be satisfied with their fifth place finish in the end, giving the young team plenty of experience and much to work on as they ultimately build towards the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in 2014.