UAE beat Hong Kong by 22 runs but World Cup dream still alive

Hong Kong has lost its unbeaten record at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2014 after being beaten in a tight battle with UAE by 22 runs in Queenstown, New Zealand. Despite the loss, Hong Kong still move through to the Super Six stage of the tournament and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

Batting first after winning the toss, UAE made a steady start with the opening batsmen putting on 54 runs for the first wicket inside 15 overs. Irfan Ahmed made the initial breakthrough for Hong Kong, bowling Salman Faris for 22. UAE skipper Khurram Khan then combined with Amjad Ali in a 72-run partnership before Ali was dismissed for 49 with the score on 126 after 27 overs. From then on Hong Kong picked up wickets at regular intervals to keep the UAE score and run-rate in check. Khurram Khan was eventually dismissed for a well struck 78 from 68 balls with the total on 5-185 in the 39th over but the tail added another 64 runs thanks to Rohan Mustafa (32) and Mohammed Naveed (29*) for a final total of 249. A bigger score looked likely but Haseeb Amjad wrapped up the UAE innings with a hat-trick of wickets, clean bowling Mustafa and Kamran Shazad off the last two deliveries of the 47th over and then bowling last man Manjula Guruge off the first ball of the 49th over to finish with figures of 3-33.

Hong Kong's reply got off to a poor start as they lost in-form batsman Irfan Ahmed (4) and skipper Jamie Atkinson (13) inside the first 11 overs with only 26 runs on the board. The UAE bowlers applied great pressure on the Hong Kong batsmen and the required run-rate started to climb. Waqas Barkat and Mark Chapman shared a 49-run partnership before Barkat was dismissed for a patient 24. Chapman and Nizakat Khan (16) added another 46 runs but wickets fell at inopportune times for Hong Kong as their chase failed to reach the tempo required to overhaul the UAE total. Chapman fell for a well-struck 59 from 68 balls and a late flurry from Babar Hayat (46*) got Hong Kong close. But in the end, the total was beyond Hong Kong's reach and they were eventually dismissed 23 runs short of their target.

Match Summary: UAE 249 from 48.1 overs (Amjad Ali 49, Khurram Khan 78, Rohan Mustafa 32; Haseeb Amjad 3-33 incl. hat-trick) beat Hong Kong 227 from 49.4 overs (Mark Chapman 59, Babar Hayat 46*; Manjula Guruge 4-39, Rohan Mustafa 3-53) by 22 runs [Full Scorecard]

Despite the loss, Hong Kong progress to the Super Sixes phase of the tournament together with Scotland and UAE from their group and PNG, Namibia and Kenya from the other group. Teams will carry through points scored against the other progressing teams into the final phase of the tournament. PNG carry forward 4 points while Scotland, Hong Kong, UAE and Namibia carry forward 2 points and Kenya 0 points.

All matches in the Super Six series will be played in the Christchurch region, starting on 26th January 2014.