The dream of appearing in a World Cup is over. Hong Kong were left gutted after a stirring fightback fell agonisingly short against Papua New Guinea who clinched a pulsating victory with one ball to spare at the ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers yesterday.
Only eight spectators were present at the cavernous Dubai International Cricket Stadium but they were treated to a tense thriller which see-sawed right to the very end when young Hong Kong bowler Aizaz Khan couldn't quite hold his nerve, conceding 13 runs from the last over as PNG successfully chased down a modest total of 131.
Losing as they did to Nepal and Canada - the first game by 28 runs and the second by eight wickets - was not as crushing to the spirits as yesterday's loss, for Hong Kong came so close to what would have been a sensational comeback win.
The result all but ruled out Hong Kong's hopes of finishing in the top three of their eight-team pool and keeping alive their chances of featuring in the knockout stages of this 16-team tournament which will decide the two associate countries to play in the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September. 'This is very disappointing. The dream is over unless something really amazing happens like the other teams failing to turn up at the grounds and every other result going our way,' said Hong Kong head coach Charlie Burke.
'We fought back well after being restricted to what was a below-par score, but so many little things could have been done better and we weren't quite able to do that.'
Things like building partnerships - Hong Kong only had one reasonable stand between skipper Jamie Atkinson and Babar Hayat, a 38-run liaison - or for set batsmen to carry on and get a sizeable score left Hong Kong about 15 runs short of what would have been a good total.