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Asia Cup - 2004
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Asia Cup - 2004
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Bangladesh see off minnows
COLOMBO: Bangladesh proved too experienced for Hong Kong as they
opened the Asia Cup with a 116-run victory in Colombo.
The loss of early wickets ended Hong Kong's hopes of an upset in
their first one-day international after they restricted Bangladesh
to 221-9.
Slow left-armer Abdur Razzaq marked his debut with 3-17 as Hong Kong
mustered only 105 in reply.
Javed Omar top scored with 68 for Bangladesh, with off-spinner Ilyas
Gul taking 3-46 from his 10 overs.
When Hong Kong skipper Rahul Sharma walked out to toss up with
Habibul Bashar it was the biggest moment in Hong Kong's 150-year
cricket history.
And they were far from disgraced despite the margin of Bangladesh's
victory - only their second since the 1999 World Cup.
Sharma took the bold decision to put Bangladesh in after winning the
toss and he was rewarded in the fifth over when Afzaal Haider had
Mohammad Ashraful caught for nine.
Bashar helped Man of the Match Omar add 85 for the second wicket,
hitting five boundaries in his 32 before falling to Najeeb Aamer.
Gul claimed his first victim when Rajin Saleh was caught behind for
10 and trapped Alok Kapali lbw for two in his next over.
Ilyas Gul and Tim Smart celebrate a wicket for Bangladesh
Omar followed with the total on 145 when he was run out by Manoj
Cheruparambil's throw and Ilyas then removed Mushfiqur Rahman for
18, with wicket-keeper Tim Smart taking his second catch.
Bangladesh were 174-7 when Mohammad Rafique was bowled for three by
off-spinner Alex French but Khaled Mahmud (26) and Khaled Mashud
(22) kept their heads to see the total past 200.
Hong Kong were soon struggling in reply as Mushfiqur Rahman claimed
two wickets with the new ball and declined to 67-7 as Razzaq, Mahmud
and Rafique got in on the act.
Tabarak Dar made 20, but only four other batsmen reached double
figures and an eighth wicket partnership of 29 between Gul (16) and
Sher Lama proved to be the highest of the innings.
Hong Kong settled for trying to play out their 50-over allocation
but came up short after Gul was caught off Razzaq after almost an
hour at the crease.
Razzaq then trapped Haider lbw and Rafique ended the game with the
first ball of the 46th over when Khalid Khan was caught behind,
leaving Lama on 16 not out.
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