KUWAIT CLINCH A THRILLING 3 RUN VICTORY
OVER SINGAPORE IN THE INAUGURAL MATCH
ACC TROPHY ELITE 2010 KICKS OFF |
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Kuwait city 1st April,2010.
The ACC Trophy Elite 2010 kicked off at the Kuwait entertainment city cricket ground with Kuwait beating Singapore by a thrilling 3 runs in a nail biting finish in the inaugural match. The day started with the British Ambassador playing the first ball of the tournament bowled by the tournament director Mr. Asad Baig and cheered by the Kuwait cricket board members Mr. Yousuf Bash, Emad Al Jassam , KC executive council Chairman Jeff DeLange , Mr. Shahid Mirza clapped on by both the Kuwait and Singapore teams, match officials and many spectators.
Kuwait led by Hisham Mirza won the toss and elected to bat on a nice sunny Wednesday morning. But Kuwait quickly lost their dashing opener Khalid Butt for 6 runs in just the 3 rd over at the score of 10. New comer Lasantha joined Hisham and together they raised a partnership cautiously. Hisham finally fell in the 20th over bowled by Dharmichand when the score was 68. Hisham made 45 runs with four 4s and one six. Another new comer Saifullah joined Lasantha and they continued to build the innings. However Singapore spinners tied up both the batsman and the run rate dropped down to nearly three runs per over as both the batsmen put a partnership of only 35 runs in next 10 overs. Lasantha fell after scoring a valuable half century riddlde with 3 fours and one six. Saifullah departed quickly afterwards for a painstaking 24 of 47 balls. Amin scored quick 17 runs off 15 balls but fell LBW to Narendra when the score was 146. |
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ACC Trophy (Elite) 2010 opening ceremoney by UK embassador HE Frank Baker along with ACC / KC officials, Kuwait and Singapore teams |
Then the best part of the Kuwait innings happened when young Saad Khalid joined Saud Iqbal. Saad upped the tempo of Kuwait innings changing the momentum in their favor when Singapore was all over them. He scored a brilliant 68 of just 44 balls laced with 5 fours and 5 sixes in the best partnership of the Kuwait innings adding 83 runs for the 6 th wicket. Saad finally fell on the score of 229 during the batting power play in the 46 th over. Singapore managed to get back some relief by holding off the remaining batsman. Kuwait finally managed to score 252 runs and they were all out in the last over. Saud contributed 21 off 27 balls. For Singapore their spinners did an admirable job to contain the Kuwait batsman. Narendra Reddy, Buddhika Mendis and Dharmichand Muliwa particularly were very impressive. |
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Like Kuwait, Singapore also started the chase cautiously knowing the target was just 5 runs an over. Kuwait had immediate success when Khalid Butt bowled out their star opener Chetan Suryanshi for just 5 runs with only 8 runs on the score board in the 5 th over. Narendra Reddy joined Buddhika but he too was brilliantly run out by Murad in the 11 th over after scoring 10 runs. Then Singapore captain Munish Arora joined Buddhika and they built a partnership of 41 runs. Buddhika was out on 31 in the 18 th over at the score of 70 when Saad Khalid took a fantastic catch in the deep running almost 20 yards to take a tumbling catch. Kuwait started tightening the noose on Singapore by tying up the batsman and taking wickets at regular intervals. Sagar Kulkarni 17, Syed Ali 2, Parmod Raja 2 and Philip Childs 2 were all trapped by off spinner Mohammad Amin. Lasantha took two brilliant catches in the deep to remove Ali and Raja off Amin. At this point the match was totally in favor of Kuwait with Singapore struggling on 142 with seven wickets gone in the 36 th over and only the captain carrying on a lone battle at one end . Saad Janjua joined his captain and gradually they started to tilt the balance in their favor with a partnership of 46 runs for the 8 th wicket . |
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Munish Getting the Man of the match Award from KC Official Mr. Mehboob |
Munish was unfortunately run out in the 42 nd over thanks to a great throw from Amin on his personal score of 90 highlighted with 7 fours and 2 sixes. It looked like it was all over for Singapore when they lost their 9 th wicket in the next over with Dharmichand bowled by Haji Javed at the score of 194. Kuwait cricketers had no idea that the remaining last 8 overs would become one of their worst nightmares. Last man Shoaib Razzaq joined Saad and they started hitting the Kuwaiti bowlers all over the ground smartly using the power play option in the 44 th over. In the end they required 10 runs in the last over but a nerve wracking death over bowled by Murad Khan sealed the fate in Kuwait’s favor as Singapore managed to score only 6 runs in that over. They needed a boundary off the last ball to win the match but Murad kept his nerves to bowl the most important dot ball of the match leaving Singapore crestfallen. The man of the match was awarded to Munish for his sensible knock of 90 runs that almost took the match away from Kuwait. Amin was the most successful bowler for Kuwait taking 4 wickets for just 17 runs in 5 overs. He was well supported by Haji Javed, Khalid Yamin and Khalid Butt who all picked up a wicket each. |
Afghanistan and Nepal comfertably won against Bhutan and Hong Kong |
In other matches Afghanistan and Nepal comfertably won against Bhutan and Hong Kong respectively. Nepal started their 2010 ACC Trophy Elite campaign with a convincing 118-run win over defending champions Hong Kong. Hong Kong, unlike Nepal, were unable to pick themselves up after the loss of their early wickets. Ilyas Gul was their highest scorer (27 off 29 with 5 fours) while the rest of the team struggled to put runs on the board. Nepal’s Mehboob Alam (3-33) and Basant Regmi (2-17) were the pick of the bowlers but they all bowled well. Nepal move on to face Oman while Hong Kong play hosts Kuwait on April 2nd.
In the other game of the day played at Hubara, Afghanistan thrashed Bhutan by 393 runs with centuries from Asgher (151 not out), Karim Sadeq (130) and Noor Ali (108) pushing the total to 471-5. Hamid Hasan picked up 6-18 including a hat-trick to help limit Bhutan to just 78 in 32.5 overs |
