Hong Kong are on the verge of being knocked out of the ICC Trophy in Toronto, Canada. Despite a brave performance from Tabarak Dar, the SAR fell to a 49-run loss at the hands of the United States on Tuesday, leaving them winless in the preliminary round and clutching straws in the hope of making it through to the next stage.
The only thing going Hong Kong's way at the 2003 World Cup qualifying tournament seems to be the toss. For the third consecutive time, Stewart Brew won the toss and elected to field against the Americans.
Seeded 10th in the tournament - Hong Kong are the sixth seeds - the United States got off to a dream start with openers Rohan Alexander and Dave Wallace putting on 153 runs in 33 overs against a dispirited Hong Kong attack. That opening partnership effectively sealed the direction of the game.
"We underperformed again, especially in the first 25 overs when we did not bowl enough balls in the right areas and conceded too many extras," said coach Andy Moles.
Key strike bowler Mohammed Zubair was once again in erratic form, conceding figures of one for 43 from eight overs. He also bowled six wides as Hong Kong struggled in the field, dropping a number of catches and mis-fielding on more than a few occasions. It was left to Dar, who has developed the persona of the forgotten man of Hong Kong cricket, to revive sunken spirits.
Dar made the breakthrough when he bowled Wallace for 68 and then went on to take three more wickets at the death to finish with the best bowling figures for Hong Kong in this tournament - four for 34.
All-rounder Dar was playing his first match in the competition. Something about him seems to make him invisible to the Hong Kong selectors. Last November in Sharjah at the Asian Cricket Council Trophy, Dar was ignored and failed to figure in any of Hong Kong's five outings. Fortunately for Hong Kong, the opposition was not of the same calibre as in Toronto, and they entered the finals.
Dar suffered the same fate in the opening two games - being dropped against Denmark and Ireland - in Toronto. But being picked to play in a match that Hong Kong needed to win desperately, he came up trumps. Sadly it was a story of too little, too late. He was brought on to bowl as a last option. Skipper Brew had run through seven bowlers when he handed the ball to Dar. And the Little Sai Wan player obliged by bowling Wallace. "He had an excellent game, taking four wickets and scoring an unbeaten 19," conceded Moles.
The task of scoring at better than five runs per over against a disciplined attack proved too much for Hong Kong's out-of-form batsmen. Dyutish Chaudhuri departed early and fellow-opener Saleem Malik and number three Rahul Sharma got into a shell. The pair put on 61 runs in a painstaking 19 overs. Malik was dismissed with the score on 76 and Sharma followed soon after as Hong Kong struggled to 94 for three. Brew hit a quickfire 31 off 38 balls but it was to no avail as the pressure of chasing was too much to cope with.
"We got off to a slow start which put pressure on the lower order and when we tried to catch up with the run rate we ended up losing wickets regularly," said Moles.
Mark Davies, Mark Eames and Alex French all went cheaply as Hong Kong edged to 155 for seven in the 42nd over. Dar and Sher Lama put some respectability back in the Hong Kong score as they figured in a 32-run stand in five overs before Lama was stumped. With the total out of reach it was decided to bat out the remaining overs in a bid to boost the net run rate. The hope is that convincing wins in their last two games against Papua New Guinea (early this morning Hong Kong time) and Bermuda (tomorrow) might still be enough to see Hong Kong win fourth place in the group and thus earn the right to enter the Super League via a play-off.

Cricket
Youths lead HK to Victory.....
Written by Alvin Sally (SCMP)

Young guns Sher Lama and Tabarak Dar strutted their stuff yesterday to put Hong Kong in the final of the four-nation Tuanku Ja' afar tournament in Singapore.
An Enterprising century partnership between the pair helped Hong Kong to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Thailand in their final group game at he Indian Association club. Man of the Match Lama was unbeaten on 55 and Tabarak Dar 54 not out as the SAR overhauled the Thai total of 151 in the 30th over. Hong Kong will meet Malaysia in the final today at Kallang. The Malaysians defeated the SAR by six wickets in the preliminary round but Hong Kong are ready to avenge that loss.
"We will beat them. The Malaysians are steady but we are a more talented side. They don't frighten us at all, said happy Hong Kong Manager Clive Howard yesterday.
Batting with a lot of maturity, Lama and Tabarak Dar put on 127 runs in an unbroken stand which lasted 20 overs. The pair came together with the score on 26 having lost skipper Sada Hussain (19) and aftab Ahmed (0).
"They batted iwht a maturity beyond their years. Although we lost two early wickets, Dar and Lama did not panic. All their runs came along the ground and they did not offer a single chance. It was a very mature performance," said Howard.
Thailand won the toss and elected to bat. An early run out and good fast bowling from Mohammed Zubair, Brett Morley, Lama and Mohammed Jamshaid piled the pressure on the Thais.
Zubair grabbed four for 30, while Morley took two for 22. The Thais were dismissed before lunch and Hong Kong had a face a few overs before the break. In that time they lost Ahmed. And then immediately after the interval, they lost skipper Hussain.
"We decided to open with Ahmed to give Ray Brewster a rest, Unfortunately he was out quickly," Howard said.
Brewster, who played a key role in Friday's seven wicket win over Singapore, was suffering from mild heat stroke. He kept wicket during the Thai innings but coach Lal Jayasinghe prudently decided to save him from further exertion on the field as Hong Kong began their run chase.
Hong Kong rested all - rounder Saleem Malik but he will play in today's final with Morley expected to take on the role of 12th man.

Monday, September 10, 2001
CRICKET
Dar, Iqbal provide fireworks on Independents' day
Written by Alvin Sally (SCMP)

For the second year in succession the Independent clubs showed they were a tad better than their counterparts from the two established clubs - the Hong Kong Cricket Club and the Kowloon Cricket Club - beating them by three wickets in what has now become the annual season-opener to the Sunday League competition.
But the Independents - drawn from defending Sunday League champions Pakistan Association, defending Sunday Cup champions Vagabonds, Little Sai Wan and Friends - had to eke out their win yesterday at Mission Road.
It took a gritty, unbeaten partnership of 52 between Jawaid Iqbal and Tabarak Dar to lift them to victory. Chasing a modest total of 145, the Independents began well, knocking off the first 45 runs with openers Ilyas Gul (32) and Azhar Illahi (20) in fine touch.
But Sher Lama and Adrian Ashman turned the complexion of the match as they grabbed three and two wickets respectively and sparked a collapse. Five wickets fell for 12 runs, leaving the Independents struggling on 94 for seven before Dar and Iqbal staged the rescue act.
It was an interesting innings from us. We began well before we fell into a hole. But thankfully we were chasing a very small total and Jawaid and Tabarak batted sensibly, said Independents skipper Mark Burns.
Iqbal was declared Man of the Match for his all-round performance that saved the day for the Independents. The Hong Kong off-spinner bowled a tight spell, conceding 23 runs from his 10 overs and took two wickets. But it was his batting which was invaluable. Coming in at nine, Iqbal scored 31 off 41 balls, including a six off Ashman.
It was nice to see Jawaid hit Ashman over his head for six," said Burns.
The match, originally scheduled to be played at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, was moved to Mission Road after the Wong Nei Chung Gap ground was deemed unplayable due to the rain. But the weather did interrupt play yesterday, albeit briefly, seeing the game reduced to 48 overs.
Clubs' XI were soon in all sorts of problems and had to thank David Mallinson and Anthony Booth for their total of 145 all out. Mallinson scored 34 while Booth was unbeaten on 32 when the innings ended in the 41st over.
Vagabonds medium-pacer Butt Hussain was the chief wicket-taker, grabbing four for 34, while Iqbal chipped in with his brace. The total did not seem to be much of an obstacle, but the dismissals of Nasir Hameed, Hussain, Munir Ahmed, Burns and Mohammed Amjad for 12 runs put the Clubs in line to avenge last year's loss.
However, Iqbal and Dar had other ideas.

Chasing 344 is monumental in itself, but having to do so under murky skies with Mohammad Sami and Razzaq producing some unplayable balls makes it almost impossible. Hong Kong crawled along for most of the innings barring a cameo from Tabarak Dar in the middle. After Nasir Hameed was out to the third ball, Tim Smart and Alexander French shared a painful partnership, with French hardly looking for any scoring opportunities. Both were beaten on several occasions and Smart was finally out to Razzaq with Younis completing a sharp chance at second slip (45 for 2).

Dar's six boundaries, four of which were crisply struck, added a coating of vim to the lethargic afternoon. He went after anything short that Naved-ul-Hasan dished out and even dug out a yorker and sent it speeding to the long-off fence. Malik's fuller one finally did him in as he was bowled trying to sweep from outside the off (95 for 3). French fell in the very next ball, playing on to Farhat, and that triggered a mini-procession. Farhat struck two more quick blows and Sami came back and pocketed the wicket of Ilyas Gul (102 for 7).