Atkinson leads Hong Kong to an impressive 8 wicket victory over Namibia

After the disappointment of their defeat against UAE on Tuesday, Hong Kong bounced back with an impressive 8 wicket win over experienced and fancied team Namibia, to go second in Group A, behind Ireland on run rate.

Namibia won the toss and decided to bat on the Nursery 2 Ground at Abu Dhabi, the least used of the two Nursery Grounds in the tournament. On what looked like a good batting surface, Namibia got off to a good start as van der Westhuizen showed some classy strokes, one of which was an effortless straight six down the ground off Hong Kong's in form opening bowler Tanwir Afzal. Hong Kong's initial breakthrough came from slow powerplay option Munir Dar as he deceived Viljoen, hitting him on the pads and trapping him lbw, as he looked to punch square off the back foot.

Namibia continued patiently and looked to be going well at the end of the powerplay as they finished the first 6 overs at 41 for 1, however Hong Kong snatched batch the initiative as they grabbed 3 wickets in as many overs for the addition of only 166 runs, first Haseeb Amjad completely deceived Baard as he was bowled with a well-disguised slower ball, then Aizaz Khan bowled van der Westhuizen off a faint inside edge. The then followed a dismissal that came out of misfortune and great skill as Williams was run out by a direct throw from the deep as they took on the second run when Babar Hayat initially fumbled his pickup but a quick recovery and even better throw left Williams regretting his decision to go against the old adage of never running on a misfield. That left Namibia 57 for 4 in the 10th over, but even after a couple of partnerships around the 20 mark they were still somewhat under par for the wicket and as Nadeem Ahmed showed great control, picking up the wickets of Burger, van Schoor and then Kotze, wickets from Munir Dar and then quick pressure fielding from Irfan Ahmed to run out Verwey saw Namibia finally close their innings on what looked like an under par 111 for 9 off their 20 overs.

In reply Hong Kong couldn't have got off to a worse start, as Irfan Ahmed was run out going for a second run. Hong Kong are a composed team now and this setback didn't unbalance their progress as skipper Atkinson joined Barkat at the crease and the pair set about the chase, recognizing that with less than a run a ball needed there was no need for any excessive stroke play and they just looked to stroke the ball around finding the gaps regularly and as in their batting v UAE the day before they ran to take maximum advantage of any shots that beat the in-field putting the Namibia fielders under pressure and not allowing the Namibia bowlers to settle into any sort of rhythm. As Hong Kong completed the powerplay on 33 for 1, Atkinson launched into Verway's first ball of the 7th over to send it sailing over the mid-wicket boundary for six, he followed this six with another swept over backward square off the last ball of the over and this started to apply even more pressure on the Namibia attack while dragging the required run rate down. At the other end Barkat continued to play maturely staying within his game plan and determined to see his team home, his partnership with Atkinson moved past 50 as Hong Kong edged closer to the Namibia target. Atkinson himself then passed his own 50 with a fine sweep for 4. However Namibia struck back when Atkinson was caught sweeping off van der Westhuizen with the score on 88 in the 14th over, but Nizakat Khan joined Barkat at the wicket and the pair continued the well-paced and controlled chase of their target with 10 balls to spare Khan used his feet to hit a four over long on up to complete the 8 wicket win, Barkat (34) carrying his bat for the second time in the tournament and Khan finishing on 20no.

Match Summary: Namibia 111-9 from 20 overs (Louis van der Westhuzien 22; Nadeem Ahmed 3-18) lost to Hong Kong 114-2 from 18.2 overs (Waqas Barkat 34*, Jamie Atkinson 50, Nizakat Khan 20*) by 8 wkts [Full Scorecard]

Hong Kong have two matches left against USA on Friday and Ireland on Sunday, a rest day follows Thursday. Both of Hong Kong's final matches will start at 2pm local time, 6pm Hong Kong time.