Hong Kong 1st XI managed to avoid a series whitewash as they managed to win the final match of the 4-match series against Malaysian Cricket Association President’s XI at YSD-UKM Oval. MCA however won the series 3-1 to cap off the preparations for Malaysia’s national players ahead of ICC WCL tournament.
Ehsan Nawas and Waqas Khan put up a match winning partnership of 106 runs for the 5th wicket to script the victory in the 48th over, chasing 240 set by MCA President’s XI, who got bowled out in the 40th over itself. Malaysia national members will need to address these things before they take the field against the likes of Jersey, Bermuda, Denmark, Vanuatu and Uganda in the upcoming ICC World Cricket League Division 4 at home.
Earlier, MCA President’s XI innings was held together for the majority of their time by Ahmed Faiz, who cracked a whirlwind 109 off only 76 deliveries in the midst of seeing the other batsmen get out at the top of the innings until Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak (32 off 28) gave him the much required stand of 96 runs to lift them up from 40/4 Sharvin Muniandy (27 off 32) added some crucial runs towards the end of the innings as MCA were bowled out for 240 with good 10 overs of their innings left. A superb effort on the part of Hong Kong bowlers, who kept picking up wickets at crucial junctures in the match to restrict them to a par score.
Saad Mahmood (4/58), Aftab Hussain (3/35) and Nasrulla Rana (2/29) did a good job and Head Coach Simon Cook will be pleased by their efforts as this tour provides the perfect opportunity to try out new faces from the domestic scene in Hong Kong.
MCA bowlers too bowled well but Waqas Khan’s patient knock of 95 from 144 deliveries provided the backbone to Hong Kong’s innings and with Ehsan Nawas being the aggressor (63 off 44), Waqas played the anchor role after Hong Kong were reduced to 110/4 at one stage of the match.
Pavandeep Singh (2/38) and Muhammad Fitri (2/42) bowled well for MCA President’s XI. All eyes now will be on the national players of the Malaysian squad, who have been playing for quite some time now with hosting Singapore and Sri Lanka Army XI prior to this series. Lot of expectations will be riding on the shoulders of Ahmed Faiz, Anwar Arudin, Virandeep Singh, Syed Aziz and co. as they compete in the Division 4 tournament to claim one of the two available qualification spots into ICC WCL Division 3.
