Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Jul 15 (IANS): Uganda and Hong Kong registered wins in the play-off semifinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier B, here on Friday.
In the first play-off semifinal, Uganda beat Jersey by 5 runs while Hong Kong registered a seven-wicket win over Singapore in the second semifinal.
Play-off Semifinal 1: Uganda v Jersey
Winning the toss and opting to bat first did not work in Uganda's favour as they folded out on a low total against Jersey. Openers Simon Ssesazi and Ronak Patel got off to a good start but it fizzled out soon as Jersey put on the brakes. The 46-run opening partnership was broken in the ninth over with Uganda losing their second wicket in the next one.
From there on the slide continued. Wickets fell at regular intervals with three batters getting out for a duck. A fighting knock of 26 from Juma Miyaji helped push Uganda's score past 100.
Chasing 111, Jersey had no big demons to slay but Uganda were not going down without a fight. Miyaji bowled Harrison Carlyon for 9 in the second over, while Frank Nsubuga got Julius Sumeerauer in the over thereafter.
Uganda were terrific as they defended their low total with a lot of grit. Apart from Asa Tribe (14) and Jonty Jenner (27 not out), the Jersey batters failed to hold on. They fell for single-digit scores as Jenner received no support. Requiring 15 runs in the final over, Bilal Hassun did well to defend Uganda's total, giving away just nine runs.
Play-off Semifinal 2: Singapore v Hong Kong
Led by Yasim Murtaza, Hong Kong's strong bowling display helped restrict Singapore to a sub-par total of 146 after winning the toss and elected to bowl first.
Even though Singapore had got off to a flyer, putting up 59 runs for the first wicket, they lost three in quick succession, leaving them on 59/3 in the ninth over. Murtaza crippled them further.
Navin Param and Janak Prakash put up a solid half-century stand to revive them in the middle overs but Ehsan Khan got both of them out to slow the progress once again. In the end, they could manage only a modest score as three wickets fell in the final over of their innings.
In reply, Hong Kong raced through the initial overs with captain Nizakat Khan doing the bulk of the scoring. Nizakat put up crucial stands with Aizaz Khan and Babar Hayat to ensure Hong Kong's chase was as comfortable as possible.
Hong Kong suffered a brief hiccup when Nizakat was run out for a brilliant 55-ball 81 in the 18th over. But with only 12 more runs to win, Hong Kong reached the target with seven balls to spare.
Brief score:
Uganda 110 all out in 20 overs beat Jersey 105/9 in 20 overs by 5 runs
Singapore 146 all out in 20 overs lost to Hong Kong 148/3 by 7 wickets