Hong Kong eliminated after dramatic tie with Kuwait

Hong Kong were eliminated from the ACC Trophy 2006 on a net run rate calculation after a dramtic tie with Kuwait in their final group match in the competition.

Hong Kong Cricket Association

20-Aug-2006

Hong Kong were eliminated from the ACC Trophy 2006 on a net run rate calculation after a dramtic tie with Kuwait in their final group match in the competition. Hong Kong only have themselves to blame for the loss as they were unable to contain the Kuwaiti batsmen after having then in trouble early and, later, collapsing to hand the game to the Kuwaiti's with a win firmly in their grasp.

Hong Kong put Kuwait into bat after winning the toss and were rewarded immediately with two early wickets by Afzaal Haider. Further success followed and Kuwait were teetering at 5-55 before a middle-order resurgence lifted them to a competitive total of 253-8 from their 50 overs. Haider finished with figures of 3-52 from his 10 overs while Amjid Mahmood collected a brace in his first appearance of the tournament. For Kuwait Hisham Mirza hit 78 and Mustansar Hasan scored 46.

Hong Kong's reply got off to a solid start with Tabarak Dar (37), Tim Smart (51), Rahul Sharma (58) and Hussain Butt (74) all contributing valuable runs. At 240-4, Hong Kong looked odds on completing the victory they needed to advance to the next round of the competition, but a dramatic collapse saw them fall just one short of their target. They needed just 4 runs off the final over but in a frenetic finish they only managed to score three runs and lose three wickets.

The tied result was not enough for Hong Kong as they knew before the start of the match that Kuwait had the superior run-rate.

[ Full Scorecard ]

UPDATE: After a recalculation of the run-rates, Hong Kong were slightly ahead of Kuwait and were allowed to progress to the quarter-finals where they face Singapore. See - Hong Kong back from the dead.