U-16 teams from Hong Kong and Nepal have registered victories by big margins on the opening day of action in the ACC U-16 Asia Cup Eastern Qualifiers. The 35-overs format tournament is being played in Thailand with 8 teams divided into 2 groups of four countries.
Hong Kong U-16 beat Myanmar U-16 by 213 runs as Hong Kong posted a mammoth 253/4 in their 35 overs Tej Narain (47 off 55), Kalhan Challu (64 off 67) & Munir Khan (43 off 39) scoring the bulk of the runs for their team. In reply, Myanmar U-16 were bowled out for only 41 runs in 17.2 overs with 6 players falling without scoring any runs.
Mohammad Hassan (6/8 in 4 overs) wrecked the batting line-up with Dhananjay Rao, Raunaq Kapur, Hussain Mohammad & Aryan Shetty picking up a wicket apiece.
Nepal U-16 also had an easy outing against Thailand U-16 as they beat them convincingly by 13 runs. Batting first, Nepal U-16 managed to score 179 before getting all out in 34.4 overs. Trit Raj Das (39 off 57) was the top-scorer for Nepal with useful contributions from Kushal Malla (24 off 22) and Sunil Bhandari (23 off 33). Kokiad Chatwong (3/34), Kongkidakon Rueangrotchanchai (2/42) & Chiraphong Liangwichian (2/40) were the pick of the bowlers for Thailand U-16.
In reply, Thailand U-16 never posted any threat to Nepal as they got bowled out for only 46 runs in 19.3 overs to lose the contest by a big margin. Narayan Joshi was the star of the show with 5/17 off 7 overs and got good support from Surya Tamang (2/9 off 4) & Nikhil Kumar Singh (1/6 off 2) to cap off a good bowling effort from the young nepali boys.
In other matches of the day, Singapore U-16 edged past Malaysia U-16 by 29 runs while China U-16 were en-route to a comfortable victory over Bhutan U-16.
