"Chasing 181 runs to win, Vice Captain of Hong Kong Manoj Cheruparambil again batted with alot of responsibility."
Said Tauseef Bukhari
Roy Lamsam (First ball) and Najeeb Amar (4th ball) couldnt resist against Kamyuka and got out in first over. Sending Najeeb at No. 3 was a gamble which didnt worked unfortunately. But Manoj stood firmly and Hussain Butt helped him making 84 run third-wicket partnership. Butt Hussain (52) and Manoj Cheruparambil (51) had helped it recover from the loss of two early wickets.
After departing Manoj, Zain Abbas bravely shared his contributions and another 40 runs partnership with Hussain Butt who got out in 37th over at the total of 124.
This time Moner Dar was promoted in the batting order to finish the game quickly. Moner Dar batted at No. 8, 9, 8 in first three games and scored very quickly. "It was a risk which Captain Tabarak Dar took, when himself , Irfan and Jamie Atkinson were still to bat and at that moment required run rate was just 4.3." said Tauseef Bukhari. "Unfortunately Moner got out after facing only 5 balls and it gave the opposition chance to come back in the game again, when they were almost losing their hopes to win". Irfan resisted for a while adding 12 runs from his account staying for almost 7 overs at the crease. Hong Kong were 160/6 in 46th over. After that Tabarak Dar came in faced 3 balls couldn't open his account and out for duck in next over. Nadeem looking agressive hitting 2 fours facing 7 balls and scoring 8 runs giving a catch at long off departed. Hong Kong 8/173 in 48.4 overs. Zain Abbas hit a classic four next ball and then took a single on last ball of teh over to keep the strike. Sensable batting.
ViceCaptain Manoj Cheruparambil and Butt Hussain (Photo ICC/CricketEurope)
Hong Kong 8/178 after 49 overs. Just 3 runs to win Zain Abbas facing and Jamie Atkinson at non stricker end and still Ilyas Gull has to come and 6 balls to go. Everything looking in favour of Hong Kong. Zain Abbas missed the first ball, next ball tried to cut away through gully position but played in the air a straight catch in gully!!! After playing such a good knock Zain couldnt manage that shot along the ground.
2 runs to level the score and 3 to win and former Captain of Hong Kong Ilyas Gull walking in, still look Hong Kong will make it. 3 balls to come, Gull took a single. He was confident about Jamie can grab a single or two as well. 4th ball of teh over, Jamie Atkinson half forward, ball struck on the pad, LBW Shout !!! And Umpire's fingers goes up ......Match Over.
Hong Kong lost their last five wickets for 19 runs to lose a match they seemed to have firmly in their grasp by just one run.
Cricket matches don't get any more exciting than that. But Hong Kong will be sickened by a defeat which effectively puts them out of the running for the World Cup qualifier - barring some truly extraordinary results on Friday.
Afghanistan and Uganda, who face the Caymans and Argentina respectively in the final round, must now be favourites to qualify, though Papua New Guinea would still have a chance if they were to register a really big win over Hong Kong.
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Uganda win last-over thriller against Hong Kong to set up fantastic finale
ICC Media Release
28 January 2009
Two wickets by Ronald Ssemanda in the final over of a sensational match against Hong Kong handed Uganda a dramatic one-run win in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3.
With Afghanistan ending Papua New Guinea’s unbeaten run at the tournament, after an inspired performance by stand-in captain Karim Khan, three teams now sit level on points after the fourth round of matches.
And despite the agony of the defeat, Hong Kong still remains in contention at this tournament, although it will be reliant on some shock results if it is achieve a top two finish
This means four sides go into Friday’s final group matches with the potential to win one of the two remaining spots at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in April on what should be an incredible finale to the group stages of the event.
Should teams be tied on equal points and equal wins in the round-robin matches, places will be determined by who has the higher net run rate, and if the teams are still equal the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in the round-robin matches in which results were achieved will be placed in the higher position.
Uganda’s Man of the Match Kenneth Kamyuka, who followed up yet another valuable contribution with the bat in the lower-order with four wickets, admitted that his side had turned around what had looked like an impossible situation when Hong Kong was 160-5 with almost five overs remaining and paid tribute to his coach, Ebrahim Mohamed, for the side’s tough mental resolve.
The coach has helped us with these situations by working on the mental side of our game. He has told us we should be soldiers and fight to the last ball, said Kamyuka.
I enjoy bowling when there is a lot of pressure on the batsmen. Needing just 21 runs for victory, with five wickets in hand and 27 balls remaining, Hong Kong looked all set for victory, after an 84 run third-wicket partnership from Butt Hussain (52) and Manoj Cheruparambil (51) had helped it recover from the loss of two early wickets.
But inspired bowling from Kamyuka and Ssemanda created one of the most memorable finishes to a game in the history of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League.
With just three runs required for victory in the final over, Ssemanda first dismissed Zain Abbas (35), before Jamie Atkinson was trapped lbw with Hong Kong one run short of its target.
Earlier in the day, Roger Mukasa’s 67 provided the foundation for Uganda’s 180 all out, with Moner Ahmed the pick of the bowlers with 4-30.
“I didn’t give up hope as we have been in these type of situations before and from the moment we got a couple of late wickets, there was always a chance and we were determined to fight until the last ball”, said Ebrahim Mohamed, Uganda coach.
His opposite number, Aftab Habib, admitted that he was devastated by the result but was extremely proud of the effort put in by his side.
“To be honest we were cruising the game and then all of a sudden we lost five wickets for 19 runs. We were not quite good enough, but I’m proud of the guys and the amount of effort they put in”, said Habib, the Hong Kong coach.
There was pressure through the whole of the game and the boys felt a bit hard done by in the end.
In Friday’s matches, Argentina play Uganda, PNG faces Hong Kong, while Afghanistan take on Cayman Islands. ____________________________________________________________________________________
Latest Scoreboard
Hong Kong v Uganda
| Uganda beat Hong Kong by 1 run |
| Match Over |
| Uganda |
| DT Jukes (England) |
| S Douglas (Bermuda), C Young (Cayman Islands) |
| Kenneth Kamyuka (Uganda) |
6:20 PM Local Time |
Uganda
| +R Mukasa | bowled Najeeb Amar | 67 | 82 | 9 | 0 | 81.71 |
| AS Kyobe | c Najeeb Amar b Moner Ahmed | 18 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 33.33 |
| J Olweny | c Najeeb Amar b Moner Ahmed | 15 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 71.43 |
| NKJ Bibodi | c Tabarak Dar b Moner Ahmed | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| E Nakaana | lbw b Ilyas Gull | 10 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 28.57 |
| *JZ Kwebiiha | st Atkinson b Moner Ahmed | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 |
| B Musoke | c Butt Hussain b Ilyas Gull | 14 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 45.16 |
| K Kamyuka | c Najeeb Amar b Irfan Ahmed | 37 | 46 | 4 | 0 | 80.43 |
| F Nsubuga | c Lamsam b Irfan Ahmed | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| R Ssemanda | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| C Waiswa | st Atkinson b Nadeem Ahmed | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | b 11, lb 5, nb 0, w 2, p 0 | 18 |
| Total | all out, 50.0 overs | 180 | (3.60 runs per over) |
| Irfan Ahmed | 9 | 2 | 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.56 | | Lamsam | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 | | Nadeem Ahmed | 10 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.10 | | Ilyas Gull | 9 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.22 | | Najeeb Amar | 10 | 2 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | | Moner Ahmed | 10 | 1 | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 |
| | | 1 | 67 | AS Kyobe | (19.0 overs) | | 2 | 90 | J Olweny | (23.4 overs) | | 3 | 90 | NKJ Bibodi | (23.5 overs) | | 4 | 110 | R Mukasa | (26.4 overs) | | 5 | 121 | JZ Kwebiiha | (33.2 overs) | | 6 | 130 | E Nakaana | (39.1 overs) | | 7 | 149 | B Musoke | (43.2 overs) | | 8 | 161 | F Nsubuga | (46.5 overs) | | 9 | 179 | K Kamyuka | (49.0 overs) | | 10 | 180 | C Waiswa | (50.0 overs) |
|
Hong Kong| JPR Lamsam | bowled Kamyuka | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| M Cheruparambil | run out (Musoke/Mukasa( | 51 | 76 | 7 | 0 | 67.11 |
| Najeeb Amar | c Musoke b Kamyuka | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Butt Hussain | c Olweny b Nakaana | 52 | 108 | 4 | 2 | 48.15 |
| Zain Abbas | c Nsubuga b Ssemanda | 35 | 72 | 1 | 0 | 48.61 |
| Moner Ahmed | c Kwebiiha b Bibodi | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 160.00 |
| Irfan Ahmed | bowled Ssemanda | 12 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 57.14 |
| *Tabarak Dar | c Bibodi b Kamyuka | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nadeem Ahmed | c Olweny b Kamyuka | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 114.29 |
| +JJ Atkinson | lbw b Ssemanda | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ilyas Gull | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | b 4, lb 2, nb 0, w 6, p 0 | 12 |
| Total | all out, 49.4 overs | 179 | (3.60 runs per over) |
| Kamyuka | 10 | 4 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.10 | | Waiswa | 5 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.40 | | Nsubuga | 10 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2.70 | | Ssemanda | 8.4 | 0 | 40 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4.62 | | Nakaana | 10 | 1 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.70 | | Bibodi | 6 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.33 |
| | | 1 | 0 | JPR Lamsam | (0.1 overs) | | 2 | 0 | Najeeb Amar | (0.4 overs) | | 3 | 84 | M Cheruparambil | (25.3 overs) | | 4 | 124 | Butt Hussain | (36.3 overs) | | 5 | 136 | Moner Ahmed | (38.0 overs) | | 6 | 160 | Irfan Ahmed | (45.4 overs) | | 7 | 161 | Tabarak Dar | (46.3 overs) | | 8 | 173 | Nadeem Ahmed | (48.4 overs) | | 9 | 178 | Zain Abbas | (49.2 overs) | | 10 | 179 | JJ Atkinson | (49.4 overs) |
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