Afzaal Haider - the Lion of Hong Kong - bowled his heart out to single-handedly put the home team in with a chance of beating Nepal and maintaining their winning record at the ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament at the Hong Kong Cricket Club yesterday. The tireless Haider put in another lion-hearted performance as he took a career-best seven for 35 to bowl Nepal out for 151 in their second innings and put life back into Hong Kong's sagging spirits. They had been bowled out for a miserable 100 in their first innings to concede a first innings lead of 128. But Nepal's batsmen failed to press home the advantage and put the match beyond Hong Kong's reach in the face of a fiery comeback from Haider. The fast bowler bowled with aggression and in three sustained spells knocked the stuffing out of the batsmen for the second time in the match. He finished with a match haul of 12 for 95. 'I took eight wickets in a one-day match once. But as far as a three-day game goes, these are my best figures. I'm happy as it gives us a chance to win, if not draw the match,'' said Haider. Everything now depends on Hong Kong's batsmen. Needing 280 to win, they reached stumps on the second day on 32 for two having lost the wicket of skipper Tim Smart and Haider. As if he hadn't done enough for the day, Haider was sent in as night-watchman after Binod Das got the breakthrough by bowling Smart. But Haider lasted only two deliveries, edging Das to be caught behind. 'We decided to take a gamble and sent Haider in. But unfortunately it didn't work,'' said Hong Kong manager Yarman Vachha. In a bid to shield Rahul Sharma, Hong Kong then sent in Nadeem Ahmed to carry out Haider's task and he stuck around, accompanying opener Mark Eames, who was unbeaten on 16. A total of 17 wickets fell on the second day. Nepal needed only 12 overs in the morning session to wrap up Hong Kong's innings. A mix-up resulted in the unfortunate run-out of the hard-hitting Najeeb Amar and with his departure ended Hong Kong's slim hopes of overhauling Nepal's first innings total of 228. Debutant Courtney Kruger lasted two balls before being given out leg before as were Mustafa Iqbal and Nadeem. Tabarak Dar was unbeaten on 37 and apart from Najeeb, was the only batsman - five of them were out without scoring - to make any impression. Things looked grim for Hong Kong, but thankfully that man Haider was up to the challenge. On a wicket assisting seamers, Hong Kong went into the match one medium-pacer short and this gave Nepal the upper hand. Unassisted, Haider grabbed the first four wickets to fall in the second innings. Who knows what might have been if the in-form Imran Farcy had been picked by the selectors to back up Haider. His partner Mustafa bowled only four overs before Smart brought in left-arm spinner Najeeb to no avail. Having bowled an unchanged spell of 13 overs, Haider had to rest. There was no option but to turn to part-time seamer Manoj Cheruparambil. No dice, and Smart threw the ball to off-spinner Ilyas Gull, who thankfully was on song, picking up two wickets. Haider came back to bowl two more spells and polish off the tail to give Hong Kong hope. Now, the batsmen must complete the job.
