The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Hong Kong caves in meekly

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Hong Kong caves in meekly

Karachi: The capitulation was slow and sure. The chase was never on as Hong Kong continued to suffer the spectre of big defeats while Pakistan won by 155 runs in the STAR Cricket Asia Cup Group ‘B’ match here at the National Stadium.

In the last edition at Colombo in 2004, Hong Kong lost to Bangladesh by 116 runs and suffered a 173-run defeat against Pakistan. And Tuesday night was no different. Chasing Pakistan’s 288, Hong Kong openers — skipper Tabarak Dar and Shkawat Ali — hung in grimly.

Unsettled

However in the seventh over, Umar Gul crunched one into Tabarak’s helmet and as he slumped with pain, rubbed his jaw and retired hurt, the slow descent to defeat had begun.

A Sohail Tanvir bouncer consumed Shkawat before Irfan Ahmed, Hussain Butt, Courtney Kruger and J.J. Atkinson probably heard ‘shiver-me-timbers’ as Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar and Shahid Afridi skewered the stumps.

Tabarak came back to bat and failed to last while a touch of black humour lingered as Zain Abbas drilled one onto Younis Khan’s helmet at silly point. Hong Kong finished with 133 in 37.2 overs.

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan: 288 for nine wkts. in 50 overs.

Hong Kong: Tabarak Dar lbw b Afridi 24, S. Ali c (sub) Mansoor Amjad b Tanvir 8, Irfan Ahmed b Iftikhar 0, K.H. Butt b Iftikhar 4, C.K. Kruger b Tanvir 0, Zain Abbas (retired hurt) 26, J.J. Atkinson b Afridi 18, Munir Dar (run out) 14, N. Amar lbw b Younis 21, Nadeem c Misbah b Fawad 2, A. Haider (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-13): 16; Total (in 37.2 overs): 133.

Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-28, 3-32, 4-45, 5-76, 6-102, 7-126, 8-133, 9-133.

Pakistan bowling: Gul 6-1-20-0, Tanvir 6-1-20-2, Iftikhar 6-1-18-2, Afridi 8-0-30-2, Shoaib 8-0-31-0, Fawad 2.2-0-8-1, Younis 1-0-3-1. — Principal Correspondent

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