Match 2
Hong Kong(Me) vs New Zealand(AI)
Hong Kong Cricket Ground
P.S - Teams might not be real as I have done get best.
1st Innings Video
2nd Innings Video
Match Notes : 3rd match of this T20 K.O Cup. Hong Kong taking on the heavy weights New Zealand. On paper New Zealand should win this match and are favorites to win this match. According to pitch report its not that great for batting.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first. James Taylor in commentary box thought its a bad decision, but I think from a real life perspective New Zealand would have batted on a sub continent wicket first, put up a decent huge total and make Hong Kong chase a mammoth of a target. I am not sure if I downloaded
@karolkarol 's team or I kept the Hong Kong from get best. So many all rounders and very few proper batsman. I decided to go spin heavy this time.
1st Innings
As Martin Guptill & Jeet Raval decided to come out to bat, Guptill's wicket would be the most desired wicket. Guptill began the proceeding with how he generally does now a days in limited overs. Short on leg side and flicked it for couple of runs. He then smashed the next legal delivery for four over the covers. Ahmed began the second over and got Jeet Raval out the second delivery. New Zealand 9 for 1 and although it was not Guptill, Raval departed without troubling the bowler. In came the skipper Kane Williamson. Guptill who was now on strike wasnt bothered by the wicket and went on to score a boundary over square leg fielder. With Guptill throwing his bat to every lose ball, Williamson was watchful and played a laid back initial innings. Spin was introduced very early on in the innings as Ehsan Khan came into bowl the 5th over. Guptill saw this opportunity and wanted to unsettle the bowler and instead gave his wicket away. Hong Kong were ecstatic. New Zealand were 38/2 as Henry Nichollas came out to bat. As Williamson was struggling to score big runs, Henry Nichollas took upon himself and smashed Mark Chapman the second spinner introduced in powerplay for 18 runs. New Zealand at the end of powerplay were at 60 runs for 2 wickets.
As soon as the powerplay ended only 3 runs came in the 7th and 8th over as Hong Kong tried pulling things a little. Ehsan Khan was given his 3rd over which proved very costly as he gave away 19 runs. N.Ahmed & N.Khan bowled 8 beautiful overs getting Hong Kong back. First Williamson departed trying to up the ante, and then Ross Taylor. Henry Nichollas too soon walked back to the pavillion on 46 leaving New Zealand on 121 for 5 wickets at the end of 15th over. From 60/2 in 6 overs to scoring only 61 runs in next 9 overs was due to some good bowling from Hong Kong.
Luke Ronchi was the next batsman to be dismissed leaving New Zealand 129 for 6. It did not look as if New Zealand will be able to pull up a big score but Tim Southee's 11 ball 22 helped New Zealand reach 163 for 6 at the end of the 20 overs quota. Hong Kong had pulled the match beautifully and now have to bat nicely.
2nd Innings
Kirit Shah and Babar Hayat opened the innings for Hong Kong and Adam Milne started the bowling proceedings for New Zealand. Hayat and Shah made a wonderful start as they hit Milne for 10 runs in the first over. Trent Boult was the second bowler for NZ and he struck the first ball. Babar Hayat nicked an inside edge onto the stumps. The more experianced Jamie Atkinson came out to bat at number 3. Adam Milne in his first delivery of second over bowled a bounce to get rid of Kirit Shah and the good start now was neutralized as Hong Kong were struggling on 12 for 2 in 3 overs. Ehsan Khan played some good shots before a bizzare run out cost Atkinson his wicket. Hong Kong were really in deep trouble at 23 for 3 in 4 overs.
Ehsan Khan and I Muhammad built a steady partnership with the help of few dropped catches. At the end of powerplay Hong Kong were at 42 for 3. Southee began the proceedings of the 7 over and immediately broke the partnership as Ehsan who was trying to up the ante was caught. Hong Kong back into struggling at 42/4. Muhammad played singles and doubles as score ticked on slowly. Mark Chapman succumbed to the pressure as he tried cutting only to edge it to the wicket keeper. Hong Kong now 50/5 with half the side back.
Score kept ticking very slowly as New Zealand built complete pressure on Hong Kong but it was Trent Boult's final over which started a sort of comeback.He gave 10 runs in the 11th over. Hong Kong struggled at 55/5 at the half way stage 10th over. N Ahmed and Muhammad played so beautiful, kept on scoring 2's in the gap taking Hong Kong close. From 55/5 in 10 overs to 95/6 in 15th over. Although Honk Kong still needed 69 in the final 5 overs Muhammad and Ahmed did not give up. Corey Anderson and Kane Williamson who completed his premier bowlers quota in order to bowl Hong Kong out were hammered and Hong Kong were right back into the match. Although Hong Kong lost Muhammad and Ahmed both the set and dangerous batsman, Williamson was taken out of the park for 18 runs in the 18th over by E.Nawaz.
Heartbeat fast for all the spectator, players and me playing
I needed
27 of 12 delivers which seemed gettable now.
From 10 overs 55 to 18 overs 137 was a remarkable effort by me to get in contention to chase this total down. I scored 8 off the 19th over wanting 19 runs of the final over with 1 wicket in hand
.
Scored a boundary the first ball of the 20th over, hit the next ball was caught beautifully in the deep
. Lost by 14 runs.
My 2 cent : What a match that was. Once again thank you
@BigAntStudios for this amazing game. Patience is the key and this is not your wham bham hit six every ball game.If your batsman gets in he can help you reach that total or set a total just like Real Life. In the middle when Muhammad and Ahmed were running a lot they lost all stamina and werent sprinting, just again like real life.
Huff! What a match Adios friend.. see you next time for a heavy weight clash England vs West Indies
@blockerdave - this is why I love this game, similar to your 1 wicket win. Just one small difference I was on losing side
