- Scotland 117 for 5 (Cross 39, Coetzer 33) beat Hong Kong 116 (Aizaz 31, Evans 3-17, Taylor 3-17, Sharif 3-29) by 5 wickets
Kyle Coetzer and Matthew Cross romped Scotland into Sunday’s final, blazing past Hong Kong by five wickets in the first semi-final in Malahide. The pair’s 52-run stand in just four overs during the 68-run Powerplay was more than the Hong Kong bowling attack could handle in defence of their modest total of 116.
Coetzer fired Scotland’s opening salvo of the second innings against Hong Kong captain Tanwir Afzal, rocking him for two fours and a six over the leg side in a 16-run first over to get the chase underway. Haseeb Amjad came back with a much-needed Hong Kong riposte in the second over, bowling a wicket-maiden that claimed Calum MacLeod chopping onto his stumps for a duck.
However, mayhem ensued with the arrival of Cross. Afzal took himself off for the third over in favour of left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed and Cross swept him for the first of his five fours. Coetzer bashed another three fours over mid-on and midwicket off Haseeb in the fourth before he hit another trio off Nadeem in the next over to take Scotland to 50 in just five overs.
Switching ends made little difference for Afzal, who brought himself back to replace Haseeb for the sixth. He was clobbered for a pair of sixes over square leg by Cross and struggled to find a consistent line. After another boundary, Cross mistimed one towards cover for Nadeem to end his innings on 39 off 15 balls.
Irfan Ahmed removed Coetzer for 33 off 19 balls in the seventh over when a half-tracker was slammed straight into a perfectly-positioned Anshuman Rath at short midwicket who knifed the ball out of the air with both hands over his head. By that stage though, Scotland needed just 45 off 80 balls. Two more wickets fell, Richie Berrington to Irfan off a thin edge for 3 and Preston Mommsen walked for 10 after edging an attempted pull down leg side to the wicketkeeper Jamie Atkinson off Aizaz Khan. But George Munsey and Josh Davey knocked off the winning runs with 46 balls to spare.
Scotland maintained a perfect record for teams fielding first in morning starts at Malahide by sending Hong Kong in. Atkinson fell in the first over to set the tone for Hong Kong’s struggles when his attempted hoick over the leg side fluttered to mid-on for the first of Alasdair Evans’ three wickets.
Nizakat Khan was the second Evans victim, giving a thin edge behind to Cross after his attempt to back away from the stumps for an off side smash went awry. Irfan nearly fell to Safyaan Sharif off the second ball of the fourth over when he mistimed a flick over mid-on but didn’t learn his lesson and was dismissed attempting the shot again on the next delivery, giving an easy catch to Rob Taylor for 11, making it 23 for 3.
Mark Chapman was the only other recognised batsman to make it into double-figures with 24. He got off the mark with a square drive off Sharif, then cracked a powerful pull for six off Evans in the following over as Hong Kong tried to stay positive despite the loss of early wickets, reaching 42 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay.
Chapman survived a sharp chance on 18 at backward point off Sharif, but was out two balls later, missing a flick across the line. Taylor then struck twice in the 13th over, having Babar Hayat caught behind for 8 and Rath leg before to a yorker for 5 to make it 62 for 6 and Hong Kong tiptoed through the rest of their innings.
Evans bounced out Afzal in the 17th over, caught at deep midwicket by Taylor, and Aizaz hit a six and four off Sharif in the next over before an attempted upper cut didn’t clear short third man for Sharif’s third wicket. Taylor got his third in the penultimate over, knocking back Haseeb’s middle stump for 5 before Davey ended the innings with Nadeem’s top-edged pull finding Con de Lange at short fine leg for 10.
Taylor was named Man of the Match for his 3 for 17 and two catches while his figures were matched by Evans. Sharif ended with 3 for 29. Hong Kong now go to the third-place game to be played on Sunday morning in Malahide ahead of the final where Scotland await the winner of Ireland and Netherlands.
