ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

NEPAL v HONG KONG Hong Kong should have played this match at home but the ICC ruled that none of Hong Kong’s grounds was suitable for first-class international cricket, even though three-day matches in the Asian Cricket Council Fast Track Countries Tournament had been staged at Hong Kong Cricket Club’s ground at Wong Nai Chung Gap in 2004. Despite many of Hong Kong’s grounds having turf pitches, they were all deemed too small. Hong Kong therefore agreed to play the match in Nepal whilst on their journey home from their previous match in the United Arab Emirates. After finishing their game in Sharjah on the 26th April, they arrived in Kathmandu on the 28th, ready to start this match on the 30th with hardly any time to acclimatise to the different conditions. In deciding to play cricket in the Kathmandu Valley at the end of April and in early May, the ICC and the Cricket Association of Nepal took no account of basic geography, since that is the start of the rainy season. However, to avoid the monsoon, the fixture list for the 2005 competition would needed to have been agreed much earlier so that matches in Nepal could have been played in January to March. Conditions do not become suitable again until mid-October which would have been too late with the semi-finals scheduled for the end of that month. It was hardly surprising that the weather dominated the match with no play being possible on the first day and rain severely curtailing proceedings on the other two days. Hong Kong made two changes from the side that played in Sharjah. Rahul Sharma, easily their most experienced batsman but who was unavailable for the previous match, replaced Mark Eames and Irfan Ahmed came in for Jawaid Iqbal. This should have made for a stronger side but, in reality, both teams struggled with the conditions which favoured pace and swing bowling. Binod Das decided to exploit the cloud and damp atmosphere by inviting Hong Kong to bat first after winning the toss. Das then bowled superbly to take the first five wickets and later pick up a sixth. At 22 for five Hong Kong were in serious trouble but a patient display by Nasir Hameed (32 runs at a strike rate of 34.0) brought a minor recovery as both sides struggled to settle with the many interruptions due to rain, the weather finally closing in at the end of Hong Kong’s innings. With only one day remaining, a draw seemed inevitable and became a certainty after rain and a wet outfield caused the first five hours to be lost. When play finally got under way, quick runs were demanded and as Paresh Lohani and Paras Khadka added 37 for the second wicket, it looked as though Nepal would take the initiative. However, run-scoring was hard with the slow outfield. Afzaal Haider found his rhythm and became almost unplayable. No batsman was able to stay long, either finding it difficult to put bat on ball or, when connection was made, offering catches to the wicketkeeper, Nasir Hameed. From 51 for one, Nepal were reduced to 97 for seven. Once past the hundred, Das declared in the belief that it would be easier to obtain bonus points for bowling than for batting. There was some excitement as Dipendra Chand dismissed Adam Gunthorpe and Irfan Ahmed in successive balls but Nasir Hameed prevented the hat-trick. Two balls later, the umpires called a halt because of bad light. Binod Das received the Man-of-the-Match award for destroying Hong Kong’s top order in their first innings. 54 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2005