DAY 4: SAUDI ARABIA SPIN A WEB AROUND KUWAIT, QATAR SURPRISED BY BAHRAIN
DAY 3: QATAR GIVEN A TOUGH TIME BY THAILAND, SAUDI ARABIA TOO STRONG FOR BAHRAIN
April 25, 2017
DAY 5: SAUDI ARABIA MAINTAIN THEIR ADVANTAGE OVER QATAR, KUWAIT MOVE INTO THIRD PLACE
April 28, 2017
The tournament has come alive on the fourth day of the World Cricket League Qualifier – Asia being held in Chiang Mai as leaders Qatar with three wins out of three were surprisingly beaten by Bahrain by 52 runs at Gymkhana and Saudi Arabia are now the only unbeaten side in the competition as they beat Kuwait by four wickets at Prem.
These two matches involving the four Gulf States proved highly competitive affairs and there was also another win for hosts Thailand who beat China at Royals by seven wickets after bowling them out for 55.
After four days of action, the table is closely fought with Saudi Arabia and Qatar level on six points, with Bahrain and Thailand just behind on four points. Iqbal Sikander, former Pakistan leg-spinner and ICC Development Officer for the Middle Eastern region, is acting as adviser and mentor for Saudi Arabia, and he was delighted to be back in Thailand. ‘It is lovely to be back after a long time in such a lovely country, with beautiful surroundings and a great atmosphere.’
He also praised the Saudi Arabia team, ‘we have played some good cricket in the last week and we are aiming to reach World Cricket League Division Five as this would bring Saudi cricket to a different level. We have 50 000 followers on facebook and have had many messages of support. We are focusing on our own cricket and taking one match at a time. We have noticed that teams from the Gulf region are vulnerable against spin and we feel we can control any match with our seven spinners.’
Saudi Arabia faced Kuwait at Prem having won their first two matches convincingly but the Kuwait captain had promised his side would try to play an attacking brand of cricket that would entertain the spectators. Kuwait won the toss and chose to bat first and their openers did try to play their shots against a pair of bowlers, Ibrar-ul-Haq and Imran Arif who had both taken four wickets against Bahrain the day before.
Kuwait had reached 25 for 1 in 10 overs but two wickets to off-spinner Mohammad Afzal and one to slow left arm bowler Hammad Saeed soon had Kuwait four wickets down. The spin attack kept up the pressure and the fifth wicket fell to a run out and Mohammad Ghulam was sixth out with the score on 75.
Ali Zaheer and Imran Ali showed great determination in building a sixth wicket partnership of 45 as they resisted their attacking instincts against a variety of spin bowling options, Zaheer made 30 and Imran 31 but the end of the innings came quickly as four wickets fell for ten runs as Kuwait were bowled out for 130 in 43.2 overs. Mohammad Afzal finished with 4 for 22 and Imran Arif claimed the last wicket for figures of 3 for 21.
Saudi Arabia looked to have made a great start as they scored 42 for 1 in the first seven overs before lunch but Kuwait fought back well after the interval as Abdul Waheed fell for 23 and Hamad Saeed for 13 to leave Saudi Arabia on 57 for 3 after 10 overs.
Medium pacer Imran Ali and left-arm spinner Haroon Shahid both took two wickets apiece as Saudi Arabia slipped to 76 for 5 but Shoaib Ali hit a straight six and Shabhaz Rasheed hit four consecutive fours to take them close to victory. Rasheed was unbeaten on 27 and Ibrarul Haq scored the winning runs as Saudi Arabia won by four wickets with 23.4 overs to spare.
These two matches involving the four Gulf States proved highly competitive affairs and there was also another win for hosts Thailand who beat China at Royals by seven wickets after bowling them out for 55.
After four days of action, the table is closely fought with Saudi Arabia and Qatar level on six points, with Bahrain and Thailand just behind on four points. Iqbal Sikander, former Pakistan leg-spinner and ICC Development Officer for the Middle Eastern region, is acting as adviser and mentor for Saudi Arabia, and he was delighted to be back in Thailand. ‘It is lovely to be back after a long time in such a lovely country, with beautiful surroundings and a great atmosphere.’
He also praised the Saudi Arabia team, ‘we have played some good cricket in the last week and we are aiming to reach World Cricket League Division Five as this would bring Saudi cricket to a different level. We have 50 000 followers on facebook and have had many messages of support. We are focusing on our own cricket and taking one match at a time. We have noticed that teams from the Gulf region are vulnerable against spin and we feel we can control any match with our seven spinners.’
Saudi Arabia faced Kuwait at Prem having won their first two matches convincingly but the Kuwait captain had promised his side would try to play an attacking brand of cricket that would entertain the spectators. Kuwait won the toss and chose to bat first and their openers did try to play their shots against a pair of bowlers, Ibrar-ul-Haq and Imran Arif who had both taken four wickets against Bahrain the day before.
Kuwait had reached 25 for 1 in 10 overs but two wickets to off-spinner Mohammad Afzal and one to slow left arm bowler Hammad Saeed soon had Kuwait four wickets down. The spin attack kept up the pressure and the fifth wicket fell to a run out and Mohammad Ghulam was sixth out with the score on 75.
Ali Zaheer and Imran Ali showed great determination in building a sixth wicket partnership of 45 as they resisted their attacking instincts against a variety of spin bowling options, Zaheer made 30 and Imran 31 but the end of the innings came quickly as four wickets fell for ten runs as Kuwait were bowled out for 130 in 43.2 overs. Mohammad Afzal finished with 4 for 22 and Imran Arif claimed the last wicket for figures of 3 for 21.
Saudi Arabia looked to have made a great start as they scored 42 for 1 in the first seven overs before lunch but Kuwait fought back well after the interval as Abdul Waheed fell for 23 and Hamad Saeed for 13 to leave Saudi Arabia on 57 for 3 after 10 overs.
Medium pacer Imran Ali and left-arm spinner Haroon Shahid both took two wickets apiece as Saudi Arabia slipped to 76 for 5 but Shoaib Ali hit a straight six and Shabhaz Rasheed hit four consecutive fours to take them close to victory. Rasheed was unbeaten on 27 and Ibrarul Haq scored the winning runs as Saudi Arabia won by four wickets with 23.4 overs to spare.
Kuwait had fought hard throughout the day but Saudi Arabia had won their third match out of three to match Qatar’s record and would now have to wait to find out if Qatar could overcome Bahrain to maintain their lead at the top of the table.
Qatar were looking for their fourth win of the tournament against but they had been tested by Thailand on the previous day when they had batted first so it was no surprise that Qatar asked Bahrain to bat when they won the toss.
All seemed to be going well for Qatar when opening bowler Awais Malik took two wickets in his opening spell and then left-arm spinner Mohammad Nadeem also claimed two wickets to reduce Bahrain to 62 for 5.
Bahrain’s sixth wicket pair of Gamini Perera and Tahir Dar steadied the innings and began to build a partnership that would transform the innings. Tahir Dar reached his fifty and the partnership passed the hundred mark. Perera made 47 from 85 balls with 7 fours but left-hander Tahir batted brilliantly as he hit 79 from 88 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Their sixth-wicket partnership ended on 127 but Bahrain’s tail-enders were able to hit 41 from the last three overs with a blaze of boundaries to take the total to 233 for 7, a remarkable effort from a position of 62 for 5.
Qatar have a strong batting line-up but would need to bat well to achieve a target of 234 in 50 overs but Tahir Dar continued his remarkable all-round performance by taking the first three wickets with his left-arm spin. Opener Mohammad Tanveer made a half-century and when he was out for 53 from 52 balls with 7 fours and a six, Taimoor Sajjad and Zaheer Ibrahim were looking in good form with the score on 141 for 4.
Qatar still seemed to be in control of the match but Tamoor fell lbw to Babar Ali for 36 and Junaid Aziz followed with the wickets of Zaheer and Nouman Sarwar as three wickets had fallen in the space of six balls.
Dharmang was eighth out as he was run out but Awais Malik and Imran Hussain both played some powerful shots and there was also a last-wicket partnership of 16 before Bahrain could claim their unexpected victory by 52 runs. Qatar were bowled out for 181 in 38.4 overs with Junaid Aziz and Tahir Dar both taking three wickets. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are now level on six points and Saudi Arabia have a game in hand.
Thailand faced China in the third match of the day and even a delay of two hours at Royals and a reduction in overs to 42 aside couldn’t save China from another heavy defeat after they had been asked to bat first.
China’s batting has been consistent in this tournament but unfortunately this is because they have been dismissed for three successive scores in the fifties and even though Zhang Yufei and Zhang Peng both reached double figures and China had lost only three wickets going into the 15th over, they were bowled out for 55 in 20.2 overs as Noppon Senamontree took 4 for 13 with his left-arm spin.
China at least managed to take three wickets before Thailand completed a seven wicket victory as captain Daniel Jacobs hit the match-winning six to give Thailand a record of two wins and two defeats with two more matches to play,
