Irfan Ahmed's superb 100, helps Hong Kong make history at the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers

In their third competitive match of the tournament, Hong Kong made history as they beat Canada, a team ranked above them in the world and one they have never beaten at senior level. It was a fantastic team effort lead by a superb 100 by Irfan Ahmed off 53 balls and puts Hong Kong top of Group A.

The tone of the match was set as early as the second over as Ahmed launched into a the hapless Henry Onsinde, hitting his first ball for six way over long on with an effortless stroke. The over didn't improve for Onsinde as Ahmed gave him no place to hide, taking 22 runs in total including one more 6 over long off and a 4 straight back over the bowlers head. Ahmed was given great support by opening partner Waqas Barkat (31) as the pair put on a blistering 102 in 11 overs. Canada seemed at a loss as to what to do as several group conferences took place and they frequently switched their bowling attack around but to no avail as Hong Kong reached their best powerplay score (61 for 0) of the tournament including warm up matches. Ahmed has seemed on the cusp of doing this to an attack this tournament but today he seemed extremely determined. His initial ferocious tempo did slow down marginally as he caught his breath but as he went beyond his half century and closed in on his 100 he continued to spare no bowlers in the Canadian attack. After the departure of captain, Jamie Atkinson in the 14th over, he was joined at the crease by in form Nizakat Khan and the pair put on 42 in just 21 balls including a towering six off Hiral Patel that cleared the sightscreen and crashed into a scaffolding tower used for the analysis camera. In all he struck 8 sixes and four 4s in his knock and with the first ball of the 18th over he brought up his 100 much to the delight of his team mates with a punched two through mid-wicket. Hong Kong closed on 168 for 5, the highest score for this Nursery One Ground at Abu Dhabi so far this tournament.

As throughout the tournament so far Hong Kong's new ball attack of Tanwir Afzal and Haseeb Amjad delivered the goods and stunted any attempts by Canada to get off to a flyer in pursuit of their target, they were joined in the powerplay overs by Munir Dar and it was him who struck first as he had Gunasekera stumped smartly by Jamie Atkinson as Dar drew him out of his ground and beat him on the outside edge. He followed that up soon after when in the last over of the powerplay he clean bowled Rizwan Cheema as he used his feet and looked to hit through mid-wicket. Hiral Patel then joined Canadian captain Ashish Bagai at the wicket and although for a few overs they stopped the flow of wickets the pressure along with the required run rate kept increasing which eventually lead to one too many tight singles as Patel partially slipped as was smartly run out by Dar and keeper Atkinson.

After his batting exploits Irfan Ahmed re-joined the attack for the 15th over with Canada on 77 for 3, still needing 92 from just 36 balls and not content with limiting his efforts to batting he deceived Hansra with a change of pace that saw him sky the ball into the safe hands of Waqas Barkat, before then removing the dangerous Bagai next ball caught behind as he went for an expansive drive outside off putting Ahmed on a hat trick and which he nearly got as the new batter just kept out a Yorker heading for middle stump. With the run rate climbing with every ball, Hong Kong kept their composure and closed out the match as Dar returned to pick up two more wickets to leave him with figures of 4 for 17 from his four overs. Canada finally finished their 20 overs on 115 for 8 leaving Hong Kong victors by 53 runs and not surprisingly Irfan Ahmed became Hong Kong's third Man of the match in the last three games and their fourth overall including the warm-up matches.

Match Summary: Hong Kong 168-5 from 20 overs (Irfan Ahmed 100, Waqas Barkat 31) beat Canada 115-8 from 20 overs (Jimmy Hansra 26, Raza-ur-Rehman 23; Moner Ahmed 4-17) by 53 runs [Full Scorecard]

Hong Kong moves to the main Sheikh Zayed Stadium for their match Tuesday against UAE, starting at 2pm local time, 6PM Hong Kong time. The match will also be streamed live on the ICC website at www.ccc-cricket.com.