Vice-captain Binod Das ended up with five wickets in the innings but his feat didn’t brought the expected victory for Nepal as the hosts Hong Kong raced to the target of 281 runs with three wickets in hands on the last day of the ACC Fast Track Countries tournament.
Nepal dominated the match for first two days but faltered on the last day. Hong Kong, who were 32/2 overnight chasing 281 for victory, had three batsmen scoring half-century to register the dramatic victory. Opener Mark Eames, Rahul Sharma and Tabarak Dar each got half-century.
Eames, who was 17* overnight, partnered Rahul Sharma for 116 runs for fourth wicket. He scored 68 runs in 244 balls while Sharma got 61 in 150 balls. They were out in space of 2 runs and Hong Kong still needed 100 runs with five wickets in hands.
Binod then bowled Manoj Cheruparambil five runs later to revives Nepal’s hopes but Tabarak Dar had other thought. Dar partnered Ilyas Gul (10) for 38 runs and unbeaten 67 runs with vice-captain Najeeb Amar to take the team home safely. Amar scored quick fire 30 off 37 balls while Dar remained unbeaten on 56 scored from 80 deliveries.
With the defeat, Nepal ended the worst tournament run with two defeats and two draws. Nepal managed 16 points from the game to end up with 51 points from four matches while Hong Kong accumulated 31.5 from the game to take its tally to 97. Hong Kong is at the top of the table with a six points lead to already finalist UAE.
Nepal is currently placed at third position above Singapore (40.5 points) and Malaysia (33.5) but they still have to face each other on while Hong Kong and UAE will play the rehearsal for the final.
Day II ReportNepal Eyes Historic Victory
Nepal is in sight of the historical victory against Hong Kong after setting them a victory target of 280 runs and reducing them to 33/2 at the end of the second day in the three-day match at the Hong Kong Cricket Club ground today.
Hong Kong started the second day at 50/5 in reply of Nepal’s first innings’ 228 but were bowled out for mere 100 runs. Nepal made 151 in second innings and Hong Kong were left reeling at the end of the day with a whole day to bat out for a draw with 8 wickets in hand. Nepal have the best chance to pull off the first victory against Hong Kong taking the remaining wickets in a minimum of 105 overs on the last day.
Vice-catpain Binod Das, who bowled beautifully on the first day to take three wickets on the first day, did not add any more early in the morning but was again at his best taking two in Hong Kong’s second innings. Binod shared the new ball with Manjeet Shrestha for the first time in the tournament and producing excellent results.
Manjeet Shrestha, playing his first three-day match, took three wickets while Paras Khadka and Shakti Guachan each claimed a wicket in the host’s first innings.
Nepal started the second innings with a lead of 128 runs only to see the team being packed adding just 151 second innings runs. Kaniska Chaugai, on his debut in three-day match, added 37 to his first innings’ 28. Shakti Gauchan scored 31 while Unil Shrestha got 26. Binod and Raju Basnet scored 12 and 11 respectively.
A Haider, who had taken five wickets in first innings, was again the chief destructor – this time taking seven wickets giving away just 35 runs. I Gul claimed two while N Ahmed took the remaining one.
Hong Kong started their second innings cautiously scoring 28 runs in 15 overs and not losing any wickets. But Binod bowled captain Tim Smart for 14 in the last ball of the 16th over and got rid of Haider in the second ball of next over. Opener M Eames (18) and N Ahmed (0) are unbeaten.
At the end of day two, Nepal has claimed 13.5 points while Hong Kong have 12.5.
NO DAY I REPORT