DAY 4-MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE HEAD THEIR GROUPS AS THEY EACH GAIN SECOND WINS

The fourth day of the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition which is being held in Chinag Mai saw Malaysia and Singapore both close in on places in the semi-finals as each made it two wins out of two. Malaysia defeated Myanmar by eight wickets at Royals and Singapore beat Hong Kong by six wickets at Prem as each moved to the top of their respective groups.

Malaysia proved far too strong for Myanmar as opening bowler Ahmed Akmal returned outstanding figures of six for 18 in six overs as Myanmar were bowled out for 71 in just 21 overs. Bowling medium pace against some ambitious strokeplay, Ahmad started with two wickets in his first over and also took the KEY wicket of Kaung Htet Kyaw who top scored with 27 before emphatically finishing off the innings.

Malaysia started their reply after a 10 minute interval and although they lost two early wickets had reached 44 in 10 overs at the time of the scheduled lunch break, so the umpires allowed them to continue their chase. It proved a sensible decision as Malaysia coasted to their target by making 72 for 2 in 13.2 overs with Lokman unbeaten on 18.

Malaysia still have to play Nepal in their final group match but they have a good chance of claiming a place in the semi-finals and could well meet Singapore on Saturday who have definitely qualified for the last four after beating Hong Kong by six wickets.

A close contest was expected between two of the stronger sides in the competition and Hong Kong looked to be building a solid platform at the start of their innings as the openers saw out the first ten overs. Lucas Del Bianco was first out for 10 with the score on 34 but his partner Jagraj Singh continued to play the anchor role.

Unfortunately for Hong Kong, only the two openers managed to reach double figures with Jagraj playing a composed innings of 39 from 67 balls with 4 fours, but once he was fourth out with the score on 78 in the 25^th over, the Hong Kong batting effort fell away badly.

Four Singaporean bowlers took two wickets apiece with captain Raoul Sharma taking two wickets in two balls at the start of the final over with a run out next ball completing Hong Kong’s demise as they were dismissed for 104 in 34.3 overs.

Singapore made a poor start to their chase as Hong Kong needed to make early breakthroughs to have a chance of defending their target. Raoul Sharma came to the crease at 11 for two and immediately calmed his side’s nerves with some quality strokeplay, but Raunaq Kapur took two wickets to leave the match in the balance with Singapore on 53 for 4.

Aditya Kalra joined his captain at the crease and he batted with such great fluency that Raoul was content to push the singles as his partner hit the boundaries. Aditya hit six fours in an innings of 37 from 32 balls as the fifth wicket partnership of 55 took Singapore to victory with 11 overs to spare. Raoul finished on 43 from 59 balls and he had played a decisive role in seeing his side through to the semi-finals.

The next round of matches played on Wednesday sees Nepal back in action as they face Malaysia at Prem, while Hong Kong and Bhutan meet at Royals with a place in the semi-finals potentially the prize for the winners.