Singapore and Hong Kong qualify for 2020 Asia Cup Qualifiers

Singapore and Hong Kong claimed the two spots from the ACC Eastern Region T20 tournament held in Bangkok from 27th Feb – 06th Mar, 2020 into the 2020 Asia Cup Qualifiers, to be hosted by Malaysia in Sep 2020. While Singapore won the Eastern Region competition remaining unbeaten in the tournament, Hong Kong finished second after beating Malaysia by six wickets in the last match of the competition.

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Singapore remained unbeaten in Eastern Region T20 tournament and crowned as Champions – Image by Asian Cricket Council @ACCMedia1 (Twitter)

Singapore’s Tim David was named the player of the tournament, while team-mate Sidhant Singh won the best batsman award and Hong Kong’s Aftab Hussain won the best bowler award in the tournament. Malaysia finished 3rd in the points table, while Nepal and Thailand finished 4th and 5th respectively. Singapore and Hong Kong will now join with United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in the Asia Cup Qualifiers, from which the winner will advance to the main draw of 2020 ACC Asia Cup, and get the opportunity to play T20I matches against the regional full members.

Hong Kong produced the goods when it mattered the most after a horrendous 5-0 whitewash in the Interport T20I series against Malaysia, to put up a disciplined bowling and batting performance to win the all-important game and claim their spot in the main qualifiers. Malaysia will be bitterly disappointed after a brilliant start to the tournament, as they defeated Nepal in their opening game of the tournament. Nepal, on the other hand, will keep ruing their batting failures over the past 12-18 months, as yet again they failed to qualify from a regional event to the main qualifiers of either an ACC or an ICC event.

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Malaysia shocked Nepal in the opening day fixtures in Eastern Region T20 in Bangkok – Image by Asian Cricket Council @ACCMedia1 (Twitter)

Singapore were thoroughly clinical in their outings in the tournament from the outset, registering wins over Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and were primed to continue the same against Nepal, however, due to overnight rain having left the outfield and square too damp to even start the game, the match was eventually abandoned without a ball being bowled on the final day of the competition.

ACC Eastern Region T20 Top Run-Scorers

Player Country Total Runs Innings Highest Average Strike-Rate 50’s
Siddhant Singh Singapore 153 3 77 51 140.36 2
Timothy David Singapore 150 2 92 n.o 150 192.3 2
Jamie Atkinson Hong Kong 107 4 50 53.5 118.88 1
Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak Malaysia 104 3 51 n.o 52 126.82 1
Nizakat Khan Hong Kong 99 4 48 24.75 154.68 0
Shahid Wasif Hong Kong 96 4 50 24 104.34 1
Surendran Chandramohan Singapore 88 3 47 29.33 118.91 0
Gyanendra Malla Nepal 84 2 46 42 110.52 0
Virandeep Singh Malaysia 79 4 41 n.o 26.33 103.94 0
Aminudim Ramly Malaysia 73 4 29 24.33 143.13 0

 

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Nepal suffered a crucial loss to Hong Kong in Eastern Region T20 in Bangkok – Image by Asian Cricket Council @ACCMedia1 (Twitter)

ACC Eastern Region T20 Top Wicket-Takers

Player Country Wickets Innings Runs BBI Average Economy Strike-Rate
Aftab Hussain Hong Kong 8 4 71 14/3 8.87 4.43 12
Anantha Krishna Singapore 8 3 73 28/4 9.12 6.53 8.37
Haroon Arshad Hong Kong 7 4 88 16/5 12.57 6.21 12.14
Sandeep Lamichhane Nepal 6 3 56 22/3 9.33 4.66 12
Ehsan Khan Hong Kong 6 4 78 9/2 13 5.2 15
Pavandeep Singh Malaysia 6 4 98 6/2 16.33 6.12 16
Syazrul Idrus Malaysia 6 4 115 11/2 19.16 8.21 14
Nopphon Senamontree Thailand 5 4 95 25/2 19 7.6 15
Khizar Durrani Malaysia 5 4 123 11/2 24.6 7.68 19.2
Sharvin Muniandy Malaysia 5 4 108 13/4 21.6 8.41 15.4

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