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Scotland start with Hong Kong bashing

Scotland thrashed Hong Kong by 24 runs to win the first match of the Desert T20 tournament at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in the Capital on Saturday.
Scotland elected to bat first and the names that mattered, delivered on the day. Openers George Munsey (22 runs) and Kyle Coetzer (31 runs) provided solid first-wicket partnership of 61 runs. Building on the foundation, Richie Berrington (60 not out) and Calum MacLeod (60) put on a 127-run third wicket partnership to take the score to 189 for loss of three wickets.
Hong Kong lost but fought hard as they ran out of gas to end their chase at 165 for six. Shahid Wasif and Ehsan Khan gave a good account of themselves.
Hong Kong had variety in bowling and skipper Babar Hayat tried four different hands at start. Spinner Nadeem Ahmed started well but Munsey wrested the momentum as he plonked medium pacer Ehsan Nawaz for a boundary in the second over. Coetzer welcomed Tanveer Ahmed with a boundary. Next up, spinner Ehsan Khan almost had Munsey with his second ball. He gave both openers a tough time with few posers.
The Scotsmen, however, settled in to take two boundaries from Nawaz and a maximum of Anshuman Rath to make it 70 runs from seven overs.
Ehsan Khan hit back in the eighth over and sent away both openers. He trapped Munsey in front of the wicket and later had Coetzer caught by Aizaz Khan in covers.
Berrington and MacLeod kept the score moving and got the 100 up in 13th over. They made good use of the wind to tonk few sixes into the stands. Both the batsmen got to their fifties in style with sixes of Tanveer Ahmed. MacLeod was a delight to watch with his stand and deliver shots and when he was finally out, it was the penultimate ball of the innings.
In reply, Hong Kong made the worst start as Aizaz Khan was run out in the second over. Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat kept pace with the run rate and had boundaries in each over but the skipper departed in search of quick runs. At the end of five overs, Hong Kong were 33 for loss of two wickets. New batsman Rath got lucky as he was dropped in slips but Nizakat Khan wasn't so. He was caught after run-a-ball 22. Runs were hard to come by and Waqas Khan (3) fell cheaply. Rath and Shahid Wasif provided brief entertainment with a couple of boundaries but a terrible misunderstanding led to another run out. Ehsan Khan joined Wasif with 93 needed from 41 balls. Khan hit two sixes of Josh Davey over and Wasif too got into act. Despite the late flurry, 34 runs were needed from last over and it wasn't meant to go Hong Kong's way.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com