19 August 2006

NEPAL REPEL HONG KONG

Hong Kong v Nepal at Kilat Club

NEPAL WON BY 87 RUNS

Nepal beat Hong Kong by a convincing 87 runs at Kilat Club to go top of Group C.

Hong Kong played a lot worse than they're capable of, opening with a barrow-load of wides and no-balls which had the scoreboard rattling along. Nepal's batsmen were never under any concerted pressure on a wicket of variable bounce. There were always 'escape runs' for the batsmen and Hong Kong's bowlers struggled to get any real penetration.

Mahaboob Alam and Basanta Regmi hit freely just at the times the run-rate was stagnating and 211 was always a defendable total, particularly when you have the line-and-length merchants Nepal have.

Paras Khadka Binod Das Dhirendra Chand

Just calling the Nepalis line-and-length bowlers is doing them a disservice but it's evident that they bowl to well-calibrated fields and know enough about the opposition batsmen to ensure that runs aren't gifted away. Binod Das took a wicket in his first over and Hong Kong were up against it from then on.

Only when Tim Smart was at the crease did batting against Nepal look easy, and his fall for 34 to an in-shooter from Paras Khadka was critical. Khadka had earlier accounted for the dangerous Hussain Butt with another in-ducker and at 50 for 4 with all the big guns back in the pavilion, Hong Kong were up against it. Dhirendra Chand rammed home Nepal's advantage with some snorting pace.

The tail stuck around for as long as they could, nudging and wheedling until the mounting run-rate forced them to hit out, but it was to no avail.

Hong Kong didn't play to their strengths, but they were beaten by a better side. They now have a winner take-all match against Kuwait on Sunday to decide which of them join Nepal in the quarter-finals.

GROUP C
Hong Kong v Nepal at Kilat Club
Toss: Hong Kong
NEPAL WON BY 87 RUNS
Nepal: 211 for 7 in 50 overs (P.Lohani 45, S. Gauchan 35; A. Haider 3-37)
Hong Kong: 124 all out in 43.3 overs
(T. Smart 34; P. Khadka 3-16, D. Chand 4-31)
Man of the Match: Dhirendra Chand (Nepal)

Points: Nepal 2, Hong Kong 0