DAY 5: SAUDI ARABIA MAINTAIN THEIR ADVANTAGE OVER QATAR, KUWAIT MOVE INTO THIRD PLACE
DAY 4: SAUDI ARABIA SPIN A WEB AROUND KUWAIT, QATAR SURPRISED BY BAHRAIN
April 26, 2017
DAY 6: HEARTBREAK FOR THAILAND AS SAUDI ARABIA WIN BY ONE WICKET
April 29, 2017
The calculators were out on day five of the ICC World Cricket League Qualifier – Asia being held in Chiang Mai the top five teams now have their positions because of net run-rate. At the top of the table Saudi Arabia and Qatar both now have eight points as Saudi Arabia beat Bhutan by six wickets at Prem and Qatar defeated China by 265 runs at Gymkhana, but Saudi Arabia have the advantage as they have played a game fewer and still have a far superior run-rate.
There is also an intriguing battle for third place between Bahrain, Kuwait and Thailand who now each have four points from four matches. At the start of the day Bahrain still had hopes of keeping up with Saudi Arabia and Qatar but they were beaten by Kuwait who lived up to their promise of playing entertaining cricket by winning by 128 runs at Royals. Kuwait are now in third place, Thailand fourth and Bahrain fifth.
The day began with Qatar hoping to beat China by a big margin so that they would improve their net run-rate so that they could still win the competition by beating Saudi Arabia in the final round of matches played next Monday. Qatar had suffered a surprise defeat against Bahrain but have a strong batting line-up and some impressive bowlers so they were confident of closing the gap on Saudi Arabia.
In fact, although Qatar defeated China by 265 runs, they were made to work much harder than expected to gain their victory. Kamran Khan had given Qatar a perfect start with an innings of 69 from 36 balls with 13 fours and two sixes but wickets kept falling to such an extent that Qatar were five wickets down after 18 overs, even though they did have 153 runs on the board.
Zaheer Ibrahim made 80 batting at seven and Dharmang Patel an unbeaten 76 batting at number eight but Qatar were bowled out for 339 in 48.5 overs as the Chinese could again be proud of their efforts in the field. Feng Yu had already taken five wickets against Saudi Arabia on the first day and he did even better against Qatar with six for 77 to give him 14 wickets in the tournament.
China also surpassed expectations with the bat as they made their highest total of the competition and batted for more than 30 overs to make Qatar wait for their victory. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nadeem took five for 22 and he now has 17 wickets in five matches to go to the top of the wicket-taking list.
Victory by 265 runs is not often a disappointment but Qatar knew that Saudi Arabia had already gained their fourth win of the tournament and maintained a healthy advantage on net run-rate by beating Bhutan by six wickets as the match ended before lunch.
Bhutan had started the day well as they were only two wickets down with 62 runs on the board but they were missing their best player Jigme Singye who had only been available for the first three matches of the tournament.
Saudi Arabia have an array of talented spin bowlers and today it was captain Shoaib Ali who was the match-winner with his off-spin as he took five for 17 in 5.4 overs as Bhutan were dismissed for 97 as they lost their last eight wickets for 35 runs.
Bhutan did well to take four wickets as Saudi Arabia chased their target in 17.4 overs with Damber Gurung resuming his role as captain / coach taking two wickets but Saudi Arabia are still well placed at the top of the table with four wins out of four and a superior net run-rate.
There is also an intriguing battle for third place between Bahrain, Kuwait and Thailand who now each have four points from four matches. At the start of the day Bahrain still had hopes of keeping up with Saudi Arabia and Qatar but they were beaten by Kuwait who lived up to their promise of playing entertaining cricket by winning by 128 runs at Royals. Kuwait are now in third place, Thailand fourth and Bahrain fifth.
The day began with Qatar hoping to beat China by a big margin so that they would improve their net run-rate so that they could still win the competition by beating Saudi Arabia in the final round of matches played next Monday. Qatar had suffered a surprise defeat against Bahrain but have a strong batting line-up and some impressive bowlers so they were confident of closing the gap on Saudi Arabia.
In fact, although Qatar defeated China by 265 runs, they were made to work much harder than expected to gain their victory. Kamran Khan had given Qatar a perfect start with an innings of 69 from 36 balls with 13 fours and two sixes but wickets kept falling to such an extent that Qatar were five wickets down after 18 overs, even though they did have 153 runs on the board.
Zaheer Ibrahim made 80 batting at seven and Dharmang Patel an unbeaten 76 batting at number eight but Qatar were bowled out for 339 in 48.5 overs as the Chinese could again be proud of their efforts in the field. Feng Yu had already taken five wickets against Saudi Arabia on the first day and he did even better against Qatar with six for 77 to give him 14 wickets in the tournament.
China also surpassed expectations with the bat as they made their highest total of the competition and batted for more than 30 overs to make Qatar wait for their victory. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nadeem took five for 22 and he now has 17 wickets in five matches to go to the top of the wicket-taking list.
Victory by 265 runs is not often a disappointment but Qatar knew that Saudi Arabia had already gained their fourth win of the tournament and maintained a healthy advantage on net run-rate by beating Bhutan by six wickets as the match ended before lunch.
Bhutan had started the day well as they were only two wickets down with 62 runs on the board but they were missing their best player Jigme Singye who had only been available for the first three matches of the tournament.
Saudi Arabia have an array of talented spin bowlers and today it was captain Shoaib Ali who was the match-winner with his off-spin as he took five for 17 in 5.4 overs as Bhutan were dismissed for 97 as they lost their last eight wickets for 35 runs.
Bhutan did well to take four wickets as Saudi Arabia chased their target in 17.4 overs with Damber Gurung resuming his role as captain / coach taking two wickets but Saudi Arabia are still well placed at the top of the table with four wins out of four and a superior net run-rate.
Probably the most eagerly anticipated match of the day came at Royal Chiang Mai Golf Course where Bahrain faced Kuwait. Bahrain were fresh from a achieving a surprise victory over Qatar in their previous match, while Kuwait’s captain was promising that his side would play an attractive brand of cricket and had an attitude that encapsulated the Spirit of Cricket.
‘I would like to thank ICC for providing this opportunity to Kuwait. We are not here to win or lose. We are here to play our best cricket and to entertain the locals. At the end of the day, cricket has to be the winner.’ Kuwait were the winners today as they beat Bahrain by 128 runs in a very entertaining contest.
Kuwait had obviously taken their captain’s words to heart as there was a wonderfully exciting start to the match after he had won the toss and chosen to bat first. Aamir Javed was not content to hit two sixes from the first over bowled by Jabbar Amjad, he tried to hit a third from the last ball of the over and was caught off a skier by the wicket-keeper.
Undaunted by the fate of his opening partner, Mohammad Asghar batted in similar vein and played a vibrant innings of 37 from 24 balls with 3 sixes and 3 fours before he was caught at mid-wicket as Kuwait were 62 for 2 in the eighth over.
Umar Waheed and Mohammad Amin were able to bat in a more restrained fashion as the Bahrain spinners began to take control but left-hander Ali Zaheer also made the most of a good pitch as he made 78 from 72 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. He took 15 runs off an over from leg-spinner Junaid Aziz in which the captain was run out from a free hit.
With five wickets left at the 40-over mark Kuwait looked set for an impressive total but those five wickets fell only 10 runs as they were bowled out for 228 in 45.4 overs. Bahrain’s left-arm spinners had impressive figures as Babar Ali took 3 for 38 and Tahir Dar 2 for 30.
Bahrain would have fancied their chances of chasing the target as they had made 233 for 7 in 50 overs against Qatar. Their chase didn’t quite go to plan as dangerous opener Janaka Chaturanga was out for 10 off three balls as left-arm seamer Sajid Manzil took two wickets in the second over of the innings.
Mohammad Sameer and Gamini Perera did bat much more sensibly and Bahrain were well placed on 40 for 2 after 10 overs. Left-arm spinner Haroon Shahid who had taken 8 for 19 against China bowled well but it was Mohammad Asghar who took the decisive wickets with his off-spin.
Mohammad Sameer was out for a composed 47 with five fours and two sixes as Bahrain quickly collapsed from 70 for 3 to 100 all out. Haroon Shahid had figures of 3 for 25 in his 10 overs but man of the match Mohammad Asghar did even better with four wickets for 13 to add to his innings of 37 from 24 balls.
Bastaki Fahad was delighted to claim the final wicket with his first ball and Bahrain would have been disappointed with their performance when victory would have kept them on the heels of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Instead it is Kuwait who now stand in third place in the table but things could very well change over the last two rounds of matches.
Saturday’s matches will see Kuwait meet Bhutan at Gymkhana Club, Bahrain play China at Prem and Saudi Arabia face Thailand at Royals. There should still be a great deal of interesting cricket to be played but Saudi Arabia still look to be favourites to win the tournament and to gain promotion to Division Five of the ICC World Cricket League.
