ACC Eastern Region T20, Day 3 Reports

ACC Men’s Eastern Region T20 Day 3; Singapore 239 for 3 (T.David 92*, Siddhant 77, S.Chandramohan 47) defeated Malaysia 111 (A. Krishna 4-28) by 128 runs and Hong Kong 78 for 2 (Nizakat Khan 36) defeated Thailand 77 for 8 (Kinchit Shah 2-9) by 8 wickets with 12.2 overs remaining.

After completion of Day 3 matches:

Teams	M	W	L	Nr	Pts	NRR
Singapore	2	2	0	0	4	+4.275
Hong Kong	2	2	0	0	4	+3.686
Malaysia	3	2	1	0	4	-0.828
Nepal	2	0	2	0	0	-1.625
Thailand	3	0	3	0	0	-3.371

Malaysia vs. Singapore

In the first match of the day, a brutal 92* (32) from Tim David powered Singapore to a 128-run win over Southeast Asian neighbors Malaysia.

After Singapore won the toss and elected to bat first, Surendran Chadramohan and newly promoted opener Sidhant Singh got off to a circumspect start accumulating 19 off the first 3 overs.

This proved to be the calm before the storm as Chadramohan regularly cleared his left leg to unleash his signature slashes over backward point and cover.

At 59/0 at the end of the Powerplay, Malaysia would have been hoping to peg things back against a batting line-up known to spontaneously implode. Just as it looked like things were calming down with Chandramohan chopping a Fitri Sham arm ball onto his stumps, out walked eventual Player-of-the-match Tim David.

David wasted no time getting set, launching every Malaysian bowler he encountered either over his head or well beyond the deep mid wicket boundary with a ferocious pull shot that is quickly becoming synonymous with his name.

He was ably supported by Sidhant Singh, who fell in the 18^th over for a comparatively slow 50-ball 77 – his second consecutive 50+ score of the tournament. Unperturbed, Singapore continued their assault on Malaysia’s hapless bowling attack, pummeling 44 runs in the last 2.3 overs as Aryaman Uchil chipped in with 16 (6).

Singapore ended up with 239/3 in their 20 overs, including 13 maximums, 7 of which came off the blazing blade of the Perth Scorchers all-rounder.

In reply, Malaysia lost 3 wickets in each of their first 3 overs starting with Anwar Arudin mistiming a slog to Janak Prakash at long on. Despite a mini recovery by skipper Ahmed Faiz—who top-scored with 25— and southpaw Syed Aziz Mubarak, Malaysia was never really in the chase.

After designated finisher Aminuddin Ramly was dismissed for 23 when he lofted left-arm spinner Aaahn Achar straight to Surendran Chadramohan at long off, the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion. Malaysia lost their last 5 wickets for just 9 runs, getting bowled out for 111 inside 16 overs with leg-spinner Anantha Krishna chipping in with a 4-fer.

Thailand vs. Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s spinners choked a hapless Thailand, who could only crawl to 77/8 in their 20 overs after they chose to bat first, before Hong Kong’s top 4 batsmen knocked off the runs inside 9 overs.

On a tired and abrasive surface that had slowed considerably since the morning game, Thailand could have troubled Hong Kong with a total in the region of 115. Unlike their previous fixture against Malaysia—where they could only muster 18 runs in their first 8 overs without hitting a boundary—Thailand found themselves at a promising 30/2 after 5 overs, aided in no small part by a succession of wides down the leg side from Hong Kong’s seamers.

Once Hong Kong shook off the cobwebs, however, Thailand slipped back into familiar patterns, failing to rotate the strike as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Batting at 6, Ziaul Hoque was the only bright spot in an otherwise toothless batting display as he accumulated a handy 23* (26), including the only maximum of the innings – a slog sweep off the bowling of Waqas Barkat.

Things did not get much better for Thailand with ball in hand as Nizakat Khan made quick work of a simple chase, racing to 36 (19) in an effort to boost Hong Kong’s NRR.

The only bright spot for the hosts was left-arm spinner Nopphon Senamontree, who caught Shahid Wasif plumb in front off an attempted slog sweep. The umpire, however, ignored Thailand’s appeals, denying them a wicket off the first ball of Hong Kong’s reply. Senamontree would eventually get his man when Wasif chopped another attempted slog sweep onto the stumps.

The left-armer continued to deceive Hong Kong’s batsmen with his changes of pace, but that wasn’t enough to stop Hong Kong romping to an 8-wicket win.  

For a quick-fire 19* and a suffocating spell of 4-1-9-2, Kinchit Shah was adjudged Player-of-the-match.