Cricinfo







Bangladesh v Hong Kong
Zahid Newaz - 05 July 1999

Bangladesh made a flying start in the Asian Youth Cup Under-19 Cricket tournament as its young turks crushed Hong Kong to score a massive eight-wicket victory at the Kalang ground in Singapore Monday.

The opening match of the eight-team Asian tourney between the two teams had been delayed till lunch owing to overnight rain and reduced to 25 over-a-side match.

Bangladesh won the toss and sent Hong Kong to bat first. Hong Kong were forced to close their innings at 110 runs for 6 wickets in 25 overs with two-down Roy Lamson contributing the match highest 56.

One-down Alex French with 20 runs and Arshad Amdani with 19 were the two other Hong Kong batsmen reaching the double figures.

Rezaul Haq Nayeem of Bangladesh downed two wickets giving away 22 runs in five overs with a maiden.

Mosaddek Hossain Rubel and skipper Fahim Muntasir Sumith claimed one wicket each conceding 18 and 30 runs respectively.

In reply, Bangladesh team romped home to their winning target of 111 runs for the loss of two wickets in 20.1 overs despite playing their last five overs amid rain.

Promising all-rounder Hannan Sarkar, coming to bat as number three, hammered home an unbeaten 46 runs off 50 balls hitting four boundaries.

Vice-captain and opener Imran Ahmed scored a well-judged 28 runs off just 27 balls featuring three fours before he was caught by Niraj Savalani off an Alex French delivery. Two-down Rajin Saleh Alam made a not-out 15 off 24 balls including two boundaries while another opener, Nahidul Haq Shoan, scored 6 runs from seven balls before being caught by Asshad Amdani off a Brendan Hadin ball.

Alex French and Brenden Hadin of Hong Kong took one wicket each giving away 17 and 23 runs respectively.

Bangladesh will meet Malaysia Tuesday and the United Arab Emirates Wednesday in their two remaining Group-A encounters.