DAY 5-NEPAL AND HONG KONG ON COURSE FOR SEMI-FINALS

The fifth day of the ACC U16 Eastern Division competition saw comfortable wins for Nepal and Hong Kong which meant that both sides are now almost certain to claim their expected places in the semi-finals.

Nepal were taken all the way by Malaysia in tbe longest match of the tournament so far before coming out on top by 39 runs at Prem. Nepal had not played for the last three days so were glad of a hard work out. Nepal batted first on winning the toss but never broke free from some tidy bowling and several batsmen fell to good catches on the boundary.

Sidharth Karthik took 4 wickets for 28 as Nepal were bowled out for 141 in 34.5 overs and Malaysia would have had hopes of achieving a memorable victory over their illustrious rivals.

Malaysia’s young batsmen also found run scoring difficult and when they were five wickets down with less than 30 on the board a onesided contest looked likely. Malaysia dug in and thanks to a determined 46* from their captain Sharveen Surendran were almost able to bat out their 35 overs.

Malaysia were evwntuaally bowled out for 102 in 33.2 overs to give Nepal victory by 39 runs. Both teams have four points and are likely to qualify for the semi-finala from Group A unless Thailand can provide a shock result against Nepal on Thursday.

Hong Kong had earlier beaten Bhutan by eight wickets at Royals and are also on the brink of a place in the semi-finals. Bhutan were dismissed for only 42 in 16.5 overs with their diminutive opener again putting in a big

 performance. Forced to retire hurt he returned and was still there at the end of the innings on 13*.

Hong Kong were never under any pressure as they were given 15 runs from the opening over of their innings. Bhutan did claim two wickets but an emphatic victory was achieved in style with a six as Hong Kong reached their target in 8.2 overs.

Hong Kong should now take their place in the semi-finals alongside Singapore who have already won Group B but China could achieve the impossible by beating Singapore and deny them.

With Thailand and China at least having an outside chance of reaching the last four we should have an interesting day ahead as the group stages come to an end. If Thailand could beat Nepal the Land of Smiles would be celebrating a fantastic result.