Honours were shared between Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea after the end of day 1 action of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Sharjah Cricket stadium. After PNG were bowled out for 237 in their 1st innings, Hong Kong ended the play at 50/2, still trailing by 187 runs with 8 wickets remaining.
Papua New Guinea elected to bat first after winning the toss and the top-order managed to bat well through patches with Tony Ura (62 off 104) and debutante, Kipling Doriga (40 off 83) put up 90 runs for the 1st wicket before Doriga fell to Nadeem Ahmed.
Hong Kong spinners, Nadeem Ahmed (5/72) and Ehsan Khan (3/66) did all the damage thereafter as PNG lost wickets in a cluster with Assad Vala (40 off 64) and Lega Siaka (32 off 58) providing some resistance and a cameo at the end of the innings by John Reva (25 off 32) taking PNG to their final total of 237 in 77.3 overs.
Chris Carter & debutante, Cameron McAuslan departed early in the Hong Kong innings with the score only at 19/2 in the 6th over. Captain Babar Hayat (12 n.o off 29) and vice-captain, Anshuman Rath (20 n.o off 37) managed to hold their ends at the end of the day’s play at 50/2. Much will depend on how the two play tomorrow as it will be crucial for Hong Kong to take lead in the 1st innings.
