Sloppy Hong Kong suffer bruising defeat against Papua New Guinea to miss out on own T20 tri-series final
- Zeeshan Ali hit a fabulous unbeaten 55 to give Hong Kong hope but was eventually stranded as Hong Kong left nine balls of their innings unused
- Opponents cruise to lowly target to set up final against Nepal, while the hosts will face its ‘A’ team in the curtain-raiser on Wednesday morning
Head coach Simon Willis said Hong Kong were guilty of a “really sloppy” performance, after suffering a chastening 10-wicket defeat to Papua New Guinea on Tuesday.
Hong Kong were indebted to Zeeshan Ali, who delivered a fabulous exhibition of clean ball striking in an unbeaten 55, for their total of 121, after slumping to 30 for six in the eighth over.
Zeeshan was eventually stranded, as Hong Kong left nine balls of their innings unused, and PNG cruised to a target that was a long way below par on a blameless wicket.
Nepal had earlier beaten PNG by 85 runs, and after Hong Kong’s meeting with Nepal on Sunday was lost to the weather, the hosts will miss out on the final of their own tri-series, instead facing Hong Kong ‘A’ on Wednesday morning as a precursor to the showpiece.
“We have to be honest and say we were really sloppy today,” Willis said. “If you look at some of the dismissals, we played across the ball a lot, after talking about playing down the ground, we had run outs, which should not have happened, and a leg-side stumping off a wide. I do not expect that from us as a team, going forward.”
Hong Kong made an inauspicious start when Martin Coetzee was caught behind off the last ball of the second over, and PNG left-armer Kabua Morea beat the defence of captain Nizakat Khan with the first delivery of the following over.
Anshy Rath went in identical fashion to his captain, and when Aizaz Khan mistimed a pull to short midwicket, Hong Kong were 17 for four.
Babar Azam, who hammered Nepal for 110 runs off 49 balls in a one-off match on Saturday, was run out for 12, after being called for a chancy single by Yasim Murtaza, sparking jubilant PNG celebrations.
Murtaza’s misery was compounded two balls later, when he was beaten by the spin of Assad Vala, to leave Hong Kong reeling on 30 for six.
“We lost the game in the first 10 overs … looking at the scores posted here in the past few days, 121 was on the low side,” Willis said.
Ali struck six sixes in his 29-ball knock, and there were useful cameos from Nasrulla Rana and Ehsan Khan, as Hong Kong staged something of a recovery. But Ali ran out of partners when Ayush Shukla and Ateeq Iqbal both tamely surrendered their wickets.
PNG openers Tony Ura and man-of-the-match Sese Bau played the situation perfectly, opening their shoulders only with the finish in sight, and knocking off the runs with 44 balls to spare.
“We probably tried to go for wickets too much and that is what leaks runs,” Willis said. “Fair play to PNG, we have been outplayed in all three facets of the game. Some guys did not turn up, and only they know the reasons for that.”
Hong Kong’s next competitive cricket is at April’s ACC Premier Cup in Oman, and Willis said he was looking forward to seeing who among the second-string ‘A’ team puts their hand up for a senior chance.
“We are looking for the right characters,” Willis added. “We want to give opportunities, when they arise, to guys who have performed at domestic level, and create competition for places.”
