Gladiators Cricket Club, Korea

Match Reports By Tauseef Bukhari & Louis Coulthard

So Many thanks to Mr. Louis Coulthard to send me the match report for the Final between Hong Kong and UAE. 

Match Report By : Louis Coulthard

Monday, August 04, 2008

12:36 AM

HONG KONG WIN IN A THRILLING FINAL OF THE ACC TROPHY ELITE 2008 IN KUALA LUMPUR.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, UAE were soon in trouble at 3/14 in the 3^rd over with Irfan Ahmed having picked up two wickets with Najeeb Amar picking up one.

Saqib Ali and Khuram Khan then got together and took to the bowling building an excellent partnership of 144 before Nadeem Ahmed, applying pressure through tight bowling, removed Khuram Khan for 56. 

Saqib Ali continued his great form eventually falling to Najeeb in the final over for an outstanding 102 off 134 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes.

AUE finished on 7/242.

Hong Kong, requiring 243 to win, got off to a good start with 13 runs in the first over then came the rain. By the time that the match resumed, Hong Kong were reduced to 35 overs with a revised (D/L) target of 203.

5.8 runs per over was a tough ask and Hong Kong had to go hard.

Unfortunately, both openers Tabarak Dar & Nadeem Ahmed fell in the first over on the resumption of play and Hong Kong were again in serious trouble at 2/25. 

Enter Najeeb Amar. With Jamie Atkinson doing a superb job anchoring one end, Najeeb showed his class in dispatching the UAE bowling to all parts amassing 100 in just 80 balls (9 fours and 6 sixes). 

His partnership of 125 in 21 overs with young Jamie not only got Hong Kong out of trouble but also put them in the box seat but there was more drama to be had. 

Jamie Atkinson, Zain Abbas and Irfan Ahmed fell in quick succession leaving Hong Kong teetering again on 6/169 in the 28^th over. 34 required in 7 overs with 3 wickets in hand. 

With Butt Hussain batting very responsibly in came Munir Dar who, in typical fashion, blasted 17 off 12 balls before departing with Hong Kong requiring 7 runs off 2 overs. 

Fittingly, Butt (27 not out off 36 balls) saw Hong Kong home with a four off the second ball of the 35^th and last over. 

Hong Kong are the Champions with a 3 wicket win.  

Hong Kong bowling: Najeeb Amar 4/61, Irfan Ahmed 2/49 and Nadeem Ahmed 1/30.

                      

Match Report By: Tauseef Bukhari

Friday, August 01, 2008

10 : 50 PM

A breathtaking victory of Hong Kong against Afghanistan in Semi Final

It was absolutely breathtaking victory by Hong Kong today in the semi final of ACC trophy 2008 against Afghanistan. 

After winning the toss knowing about every strength of Afghanistan team in their every department Skipper Tabarak Dar ‘Leading From The Front’ made a daring decision to bat first. Its costs his early departures though again as ‘Leading From The Front’ with 1 run on 4 balls. But skipper always had the trust in his team especially in lower order and in the spin bowling attack so he promoted Nadeem as open and Ilyas Gull at No. 3 to keep his main strength in the middle just in case.

 

Tauseef Bukhari

But unfortunately Ilyas followed his skipper in a very obedient way just after 4 balls in the same over having a “Duck” in his bag.

Second wicket down and just 4 runs on the board. Then Butt Hussain and Nadeem added 18 runs partnership, which ended when Nadeem went back with his 7 runs/29 Balls and it was 3^rd wicket to fell down. Butt Hussain had a very good start in this tournament but today he struggled against Afghanistan’s fast bowlers. Went back to pavilion after Nadeem in very next over. 5^th wicket to fell down in 14^th over at the total of 25 runs was Skhwat Ali top scorer of the last game; today could get 1 run only facing 5 balls. 6^th wicket fell on 72 runs in 29^th over , Zain Abbas who was almost looking successful for another good inning and managed with 51 balls and steeled 17 runs but ran himself out. 7^th batsman was Atkinson who added 26 valuable runs with 3 fours, facing 59 balls when he got out in 31^st over at the total of 76 runs. 

Moner was the 8^th batsman to head back at the total of 107 in 37^th over, and he has not only added 18 runs from 21 balls with the strike rate of 86, but also hit the first six of the match as well on his very first ball he faced. Najeeb joined “very late” with Irfan today but Irfan closed his account with 16 runs from 47 balls and 9^th wicket down with total of 126 runs on the board. 

Najeeb then had no choice other than keeping his head down and stealing runs as many he could get and Roy Lamsam didn’t disappointed him at all till the end of 50 overs with his 7 runs from 12 balls he was able to get in the game. Najeeb made 29 value able runs with 2 fours and 1 six from 49 balls he faced. 

Afghanistan bowling restricted Hong Kong to 154/9 in 50 overs. And it was too good bowling that Hong Kong batsman ever faced in this tournament so far. 

Well a very low total to defend but ‘where ever is a will, there is a way’ Hong Kong team was ready to face the challenge and skipper Tabarak Dar ‘Leading From The Front’ again made a very good decision when he opened his bowling with Irfan and Najeeb.

Idea was to use the every strength and lethal weapons from the very first ball, resultant Irfan did the first damage in 5^th over when from the other end Najeeb bowled 2 consecutive maidens.

                   

It was not the only good decision by Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading From The Front’ he kept changing in the bowling and brought Gull in the first change. Gull who have been so impressing through out in the tournament with his gutsy bowling he did 3 damages and imposed a huge pressure on Afghanistan batters with his very tight spell of 10 overs giving just 26 runs with 1 maiden. While Nadeem and Moner continued giving tough time to Afghan batting line up. Moner’s 10 overs spell helped a lot Hong Kong to get closer to the winning situation. He give 44 runs and took 1 wicket. 

Najeeb was too impressive with his bowling, he got one wicket only but his 9 overs with 4 maidens and 21 runs from his spell in different situations were the main concerns for the judges, on his bowling at last wicket partnership a catch was dropped by wicket keeper Atkinson which could cost the game as Afghanistan was not far away from their target but Nadeem took the liability to cover him up and nailed the last man on 4^th ball of the 44^th over while Hasti Gull "experimented" a reveres sweep which ended as a very safe take by the Former Captain of Hong Kong Ilyas Gull, who is always ‘Helping from the Back’. 

Hong Kong won the battle today, and it was a real battle of nerves!!! 

Today Hong Kong was limping in batting first and few changes in the batting orders didn’t quite came up the way skipper was expecting but he covered it making more “Good Decisions” especially, the distribution of bowling was too good, he used his all best bowling options with right timings and according to the situations, which I think maintained his status as ‘Leading From The front’ in the end.  

Najeeb Amar, Man of The Match in the Semi Final. Wow!!!…. Great Efforts!!!  

Well done Hong Kong and Congratulations to qualify for the final, as well as for a breathtaking victory.  

And again a lot of appreciations for “Mr. John Patrick” Roy Lamsam by completing another UN beaten journey at the end of the innings.  

Good Luck for the Final and Go well against UAE.

Match Report By: Tauseef Bukhari

Wednesday, July 30, 2008.

9.00 PM

Hong Kong  into the Semi Final of  ACC Trophy 2008

Hong Kong today beat Singapore by 93 runs in ACC Trophy 2008 at Royal Military College Oval, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Zain Abbas declared to be “Man of The Match”. 

After winning the toss Singapore invited Hong Kong to bat first. Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading From The Front’ again  with a ‘Duck” on the very first ball of the match. It was big wicket to get for Singapore bowling attack, and they kept the pressure on the new in coming batsman Irfan. Atkinson was having a careful look at the Singapore attack bowlers from the other end and lost his partner on the 1^st ball of the 4^th over, Irfan who was really struggling and heads back without scoring any run after facing 11 balls.

Butt Hussain jogged in but not with his every luck today again, and quickly walked back in the same over with a ‘Duck’ just after 3 balls he faced.

3 wickets down for just 2 runs on the board, Zain walks in with deep thoughts in his mind an with a brave looking stance he started to reflect but then he faced a trouble when he lost his partner Atkinson who was looking to help him but couldn’t help much more than adding 10 runs from 20 balls with his account. Four for 25 in 10^th over, and Hong Kong in trouble!!! An ideal situation for Shkwat Ali who didn’t had his moments yet in this tournament approached at crease and started helping Zain to lift the Hong Kong up from there. They were solid and build a real huge partnership of 158 runs together staying at crease for almost 32.2 overs. Zain Abbas missed a possible 100 today the way he was batting. He got out in 42^nd over with his brilliant 80 runs from 115 balls with 7 good looking fours and 1 six. Shkwat Ali played equally responsible and superb innings of 83 from 119 balls with 10 fours and 1 six. Moner added quick 24 just on 13 balls. He was the 6^th batsman to get out at total of  226 in 47^th over.

Najeeb added 2 runs from 5 balls he faced, Ilyas Gull chipped in 7 runs from 7 balls with a gutsy four though, Nadeem 11 runs from 8 balls with 1 four and 1 six. Everyone then trying to hit out for more runs and lost 3 wickets just for 27 runs in last 20 balls of the innings. Roy Lamsam have done a great effort to arrive at crease though and came back without facing any ball. "A good journey at the end." 

A great deal of responsibilities and commitments done by Hong Kong middle order batting and brought Hong Kong in a real strong position from such a critical stage with the total of  255 for 9 in 50 overs. Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’ was a happy skipper with very good total on the board which was enough to put Singapore under pressure from the start with Hong Kong’s good bowling squad. 

He didn’t feel any hesitation to bring Roy Lamsam as second attack with Irfan, both went quite expensive in their overs though but did the damage as well and Roy Claimed 2 wickets in his 4 over spell for 29 runs. Irfan went for 53 runs in his 8 overs with 1 wicket in his bag. Najeeb dominated in bowling section today, in his 8.2 overs he took 3 wickets for 34 runs. Nadeem and Moner kept bowling tight and didn’t allow the Singapore batters to get much of their bowling. In the end Ilyas Gul was again surprising and impressing his Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading From The Front’ with his 3 maidens from a 4 overs spell, giving just 2 runs and claiming 1 wicket.

Hong Kong won by 93 runs. Zain Abbas was ‘Man of The Match’ today. 

It is a very good sign that Hong Kong team is now looking really 'united' and in their best!!! Which will definitely help them to maintain their performances in the coming big finals. 

But still we are missing some great actions and examples of ‘Leading From The Front’ but hope we will not going to miss it for so long. Well Done Hong Kong, and very well done skipper, because you are still “Leading from The Front” and commanded so good to make into the Semi Final. Good Luck !!!

Match Report By: Tauseef Bukhari

Monday, 28 July, 2008

8.00 PM

 

Hong Kong posted a huge 176 runs victory over Qatar !!! 

 

Hong Kong defeated Qatar by 176 runs today in ACC Trophy 2008 at Selangor Turf Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ilyas Gull earned “Man of The Match Award”. He was promoted in batting order today at No. 7 and he made 56 runs facing 85 balls and batting in very critical situation and did great to lift up Hong Kong when they were 5/60 in 16.3 overs. It was a good decision from Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’ to make some room for Gull a little bit more up in the batting order in this game. 

Qatar won the toss and elected to field. Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’ himself were not having a good day today fell early in 4^th over of the game added only 4 runs in the total of Hong Kong from 12 balls he faced and total score was 17. 

Irfan Ahmed joined Atkinson but in 4^th over young Atkinson followed his skipper, heading back towards the pavilion with 5 runs in his bag from 13 balls. Butt Hussain hero of the previous game, came to bat but today he was able to add only 18 runs which he made on 26 balls. Zain Abbas then took the charge from Butt but struggled and got out without getting after mark. He faced 9 balls. Then Shkwat Joined Irfan who was doing some efforts for trying to stay at the crease.

Hong Kong was looking in real trouble when Irfan departed. The total was 60 runs in 16.3 overs. He could only contribute 13 runs after handling with 29 balls he faced. Hong Kong top order and upper middle order couldn’t make any big partnerships and wickets kept falling.

Ilyas Gull former Captain of Hong Kong joined Shkwat in very critical situation when 5 top batsmen were down. He started to grip on the situation but soon Shkwat left adding 9 runs from his account after facing 24 balls. It was a bit tense situation for Ilyas while his partner Roy Lamsam left him just after facing 3 balls and scoring a Duck. Then Najeeb Amar joined Ilyas Gull and both build up first reasonable 71 runs partnership of  Hong Kong innings. Najeeb batted brilliant and made 45 runs on 46 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Meantime Ilyas kept himself cool and head down and scoring secure boundaries. After Najeeb getting out, Moner Dar came in 37^th over and he was really waiting to get his turn. Both Ilyas and Moner build a huge 118 runs partnership and its ended when Ilyas gets run out after his brilliant 56 runs with 6 fours. Moner added 89 runs from his account just on 52 balls hitting 8 fours and 6 sixes and got out in the end, Nadeem was the not out batsman on 1. 

From Qatar Haroon Abbasi took 3 wickets Abbas Khan 2 & Usman Malik 2.  

 

Qatar’s batting couldn’t resist in front of Irfan’s bowling, their first 4 wickets went into Irfan’s bag  just in 10^th over at the total of  60. And later he claimed 1 more wicket and completed 5 wickets haul, Najeeb and Nadeem did the rest. Najeeb took 3 wickets and Nadeem 1, last man Haroon Abbasi helped Hong Kong by getting run out to make  a quick finish. Qatar all out 100 in 18.6 overs. Ilyas Gull was declared “Man of The Match” by Match Referee Graeme Labrooy from Sri Lanka. 

 

From here Hong Kong now have chance to win the ACC Trophy but one thing is still not satisfying completely which is an inconsistency in the top order’s batting performances.  

Today from the Hong Kong’s total of 276 runs, 191 runs came from the batsman No. 7, 9 & No. 10 which we call tail enders, and from No. 1 to No. 6 batsmen could only contribute 85 runs. Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from The Front’ facing a real challenge here that how can he improve it with his efforts and leadership skills because that is the area where Hong Kong need a lot of work to do. But he must be a happy skipper about the best “team work” today at the end. 

After this win Hong Kong team have advantage and they are in high moral and hope they will continue it till the end with the same attitude. Hong Kong will now meet Singapore on Wednesday, 30^th July 2008 at Royal Military College ground.  

So Good luck Hong Kong and well done today!!!

Match Report By: Tauseef Bukhari

Sunday, July 27, 2008

9.00 PM

 

Splendid Hussain Butt overpowers Kuwait!!!

 

Hong Kong having a very bad start losing to Nepal won against Kuwait today in their second match of ACC Trophy 2008 Elite at Bayuemas Oval.

Hussain Butt brings Hong Kong home with his second consecutive fifty in the tournament, and was not out at 53.

Even though first half century from Hussain Butt was not enough to bring Hong Kong to victory but was good enough to end with a respectable total and I think two half centuries in a row by this lad are now good enough to remove his picture at HKCA website while he was beaten in the air trying to hit the ball out of the Karachi City during Asia Cup match against India. While similar sort of daring effort was made by another player of Hong Kong but he was un lucky to get some coverage on the page. Have a look at his efforts here;

 

Hussain Butt was Man of the Match Today. And he is really looking not going to get deceived in the air again in this tournament with his solid performances so far.

Kuwait won the toss and chose to bat but couldn’t impose more than total of 161 in 46.2 overs. Sabtain Razak was the highest scorer with 47 from Kuwait.

There was one change in the squad from last game, Roy Lamsam joined replacing Zafran Ali.

Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’ this time was really looking good in decision making and kept changing in the bowling on right times and didn’t allow Kuwait to have some big partnerships.  And Irfan and Roy Lamsam started their spells and were very economical and disciplined, A break through given by Roy Lamsam Captain did the best move by bringing Nadeem in to the attack and soon after Ilyas Gull was invited to take on with his experienced bowling. Both Nadeem and Ilyas Gull completed their quota of 10 overs spells and in result from their 20 overs, 6 wickets went in their bags 4 to Nadeem and 2 to Ilyas costing only 57 runs in total in their accounts.

Nadeem Ahmed 10 overs 3 maidens 28 runs 4 wickets.

Ilyas Gull            10 overs 0 maidens 29 runs 2 wickets.

Najeeb Amar was a bit giving more runs then others but did well over all. In his 7 overs he give 34 runs for 1 wicket in his bag.

Then Moner Dar took 2 wickets in his 5.2 overs giving only 18 runs.

After restricting Kuwait to 161 once again today a very good move made by Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’ to give a chance to young Atkinson to open the inning, which worked quietly good and there was 44 runs partnership between Atkinson and Tabarak. Atkinson gets out after contributing his 15 runs.

Then Irfan was promoted in the batting order batting against Nepal at No. 6 to give him an opportunity at No. 3 but he couldn’t do much adding 7 runs from his account for the team and went back in pavilion after facing 14 balls. But it was a good move again by the Captain Tabarak Dar ‘Leading from the Front’.

Hong Kong lost 2 wickets for 63   in 13.2 overs, and once again it was looking like they are going to be in trouble when Tabarak Dar got out in 20^th over after adding a very valuable 32 runs on 61 balls faced by him, but then Hussain Butt ‘Hero’ of the game today batted with a very responsible attitude and he was very positive, consolidated and in well control on himself, played a very beautiful inning with 9 fours and was unbeaten at 53, faced 66 balls.

Moner Ahmed was LBW out on 7 facing 6 balls. But the Zain Abbas helped Hussain Butt to bring Hong Kong home with his very responsible 20 runs on 43 balls.

 

Hong Kong reached the target and total was 164 for 4 in 35.5 overs. Hong Kong won by 6 wickets.

 

Hussain Butt was the Man of the Match today.