Hong Kong start Challenge League B round with 51-run win over Kenya, as spinners save day in Jersey
- Ehsan Khan and Kinchit Shah take 7 wickets between them as Kenya are bowled out for 162
- Hong Kong go top of table after Uganda lose to hosts and just 2 points separate the top three
Hong Kong survived another poor day with the bat to claim a 51-run win over Kenya in their opening Challenge League B game in Jersey, a result that took them back to the top of the table.
The hosts’ five-wicket win over Uganda, which lifted Jersey above their opponents into second on net run rate, means just two points separate the top three.
While Hong Kong play Bermuda on Sunday, and Jersey face the competition’s bottom club the day after, the match between the hosts and Trent Johnston’s side now takes on added importance.
What was always likely to be a feisty game, given the events of the previous round in Uganda, could turn into something else entirely, especially as whoever wins will have one foot in the next round.
But Hong Kong know they will need to be far better than they were against Kenya on Friday, where, not for the first time this summer, it fell to spinners Eshan Khan and Kinchit Shah to bowl their team to victory.
The pair took seven wickets between them, conceding just 44 runs in the process, as Hong Kong dismissed their opponents for 162 in 43.4 overs. Khan took three wickets for 20 runs from his 10 overs, and Shah four for 24 from 6.4, having Vraj Patel stumped by Scott McKechnie for eight to end the innings.
Such is the strength of the Hong Kong bowling attack that openers Ayush Shukla and Aizaz Khan got only nine overs at the start of the Kenyan innings, but that was enough to reduce the batting side to 30 for two, with the pair accounting for opener Sukhdeep Singh (3) and Irfan Karim (10).
When Eshan Khan trapped the other opener, Rushab Patel, lbw for 14, Kenya were in deep trouble at 38 for three. Tanzeel Sheikh followed shortly after for a two-ball duck.