All Stars T20 cricket: Nizakat Khan smashes 81 to lead New Territories to series crown
- Captain Nizakat also claims two wickets as his dominant Tigers see off Kowloon Lions
- Kowloon never in the hunt chasing 156, as Haroon Arshad bags four wickets
New Territories Tigers crowned their dominance of the 2023 Sky Warriors Men’s All Stars T20 Series with a straightforward 40-run victory over Kowloon Lions in Sunday’s final at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.
The Tigers dominated from beginning to end, shrugging off a daunting schedule that asked them to play back-to-back matches on Saturday, before returning to tackle Kowloon 24 hours later.
Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan was the star of the show with the bat, bludgeoning four sixes and seven fours in a 52-ball innings of 81, as New Territories compiled 155 for five from their 20 overs.
The Lions never recovered from a nightmare start to their reply and a stumbling chase finished on 115 for nine. Shahid Wasif was caught at deep backward square leg from the first ball of the innings, before gun batter Babar Hayat became the second victim of an ecstatic Haroon Arshad’s opening over.
The All Stars tournament, staged over three days, features three teams comprising Hong Kong’s leading domestic talent.
Kowloon strolled to a facile eight-wicket victory over Hong Kong Islanders on Friday, but crumbled for 97 the following morning to lose to New Territories by 66 runs.
The Tigers completed a good day’s work on Saturday by chasing down 153 for the loss of only four wickets to beat – and eliminate – the Islanders.
Nizakat gave his team a speedy start in the final. He overcame the loss of fellow opener Martin Coetzee – whose early fun was halted by a tremendous tumbling catch at mid-on from Kowloon skipper Yasim Murtaza – to blaze away until he holed out on the deep-extra-cover boundary.
That left Tigers 124 for four, with 20 balls of their innings remaining, and some clean late hitting from Daniyal Bukhari, who finished unbeaten on 26, set Kowloon a target they never threatened.
Babar clubbed his first ball for six, but lasted only two more, with Arshan’s guttural roar after Zeeshan Ali held a tricky catch behind the stumps delivering audible notice of the value of the wicket.
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Arshan finished with four wickets, and there were three from four miserly overs for Ehsan Khan, most notably the scalp of Kowloon captain Murtaza, who was bowled coming down the pitch and trying to hit the off spinner back to the New Territories.
Raag Kapur offered late resistance with an entertaining run-a-ball 38, before trying one big shot too many to gift Nizakat his second wicket of a triumphant afternoon.
