AFGHANISTAN LIFTS ACC ELITE TROHY 2010 |
All Photos by : Salman Hussain Kazm |
| Kuwait City 9 April 2010. |
Afghanistan once again proved to be the number one cricket nation amongst the non-test playing nations in the Asian region and added another feather to their cap by capturing the ACC Elite trophy. In the final played at Hubara ground on April 9, 2010, Afghanistan defeated Nepal by 95 runs to be the new champions. A record capacity 0f 7000 Afghan supporters had gathered from the early hours of Friday to watch their favorite team in action and the mighty Afghanistan cricketers never let their supporters down. |
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Nowroz Mangal of Afghanistan Getting the Winning Trophy |
The Nepal team, equally talented and experienced put the Afghanistan team to bat first and was right on top after capturing 4 of their top notch batsmen. Opener Kabir Khan played a patient innings, contrary to his flamboyant style and with former captain Raees Ahmadzai consolidated the Afghan innings by posting 79 runs for the sixth wicket. |
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Crowd on final day of ACC Trophy elite 2010 Kuwait |
The Nepal bowlers delivered a convincing performance and the batsmen were forced to treat them with a bit of respect. Karim Sadiq's knock of 58 runs contained 2 sixes and 2 boundaries. |
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Paras Khadka getting the runner up trophy from Mr. Zakir Khan |
Meanwhile, the injured Raees dominated the Nepal bowling and along with Afghanistan's super star Mohammed Nabi who once again took the responsibility to play a scintillating knock of 48 runs which enabled Afghanistan to score 225 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Raees scored an enterprising 52 runs. Binod Das bowled well for Nepal to take 3 for 35 while Paras Khadka and Rahul claimed two wickets each. |
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Raees Ahmadzai gettiing the Man of the match award from Mr. Haider Farman |
Chasing 225 runs to win the match and the coveted ACC Elite trophy, Nepal openers were greeted by some fearsome hostile fast bowling from Mirwis & the giant 6 footer Shapura Zardan. Even though, highly experience and talented, the Nepalese openers Anil Mandal & Mahesh Chettri were no match for the Afghani speedsters. |
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Afghanistan happy to getting early wickets |
The highly inspired Afghanistan bowlers removed the openers quickly and none of the Nepal batsmen could counter the fearsome attack launched at them and were skittle out for 129 runs. The Afghan bowlers stamped their authority in such a manner and along with the cheering support from the large Afghanistan contingent completely overshadowed their opponents and it was the stylish Ghyanendra Malla and Sharad Veswakar who put their heads down and slowly withstood the hostile attack of the Afghanistan bowlers. |
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Hameed power, bowled with stump breaker ball |
Malla scored 30 runs while Sharad stayed till the end to hit a valuable 35 runs which was still not enough to overcome Afghanistan total. Mirwais Ashraf & Nawroz Mangal took two wickets each for Afghanistan. |
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Nepal's Supporters |
The final was witnessed by Bangladesh Cricket Board President Mr. Mustafa Kamal, Pakistan Cricket Board Director cricket operations and former test cricketer Mr. Zakir Khan, ACC, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Syed Ashraful Haque and Mr. Haider Farman, Secretry General, Kuwait cricket and many other cricket lovers. |
HONG KONG FIGHT BACK TO CAPTURE THE THIRD PLACE |
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In the battle for the third place, Hong Kong prevailed over the spirited Malaysian challenge to remain as the third best team in the ACC Elite trophy. Riding on an unbeaten 72 by Nizakhat Khan & Ilyas Gul who stroked a wonderful 75 runs, HONG Kong piled up 251 runs and Malaysia replied spiritedly through their opener Rakesh Madhavan who played a brilliant knock of 129 runs with 4 sixes and 8 fours. Fiaz the diminutive openers excelled in his drives to score 42 runs. Needing just 16 runs in the last 4 overs, Malaysia ran out of players and the experienced Hong Kong captain Najeeb Amar accounted for 4 wickets. Nizakhat Khan was declared man of the match for his brilliant innings. |
AFGHANISTAN TO CLASH WITH NEPAL FOR ACC ELITE TROPHY OMAN PREVAILS TO SECURE 5th PLACE IN ACC ELITE TROPHY
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| Kuwait City April 8, 2010 [Scorecard] |
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Oman standing on 5th in ACC Trophy (Elite) 2010 - Kuwait |
In a rain affected match, Oman prevailed over fancied UAE to finish 5th in the ACC Elite trophy at Unity ground in Ahmadi. The match interrupted by rain, Oman won the match by Duckworth Lewis method Oman won the toss and invited UAE to bat first. Oman fast bowler Hemin Desai struck two quick blows by removing Indika Sampath & Abdulrehman but seasoned campaigner Arshad Ali & Khurram Khan batted beautifully to establish a firm partnership of 98 runs for the 4 th wicket. Arshad Ali scored a quick 35 and Khurram Khan stroked a splendid 90 runs which included 11 fours and 2 sixes. The stylish left handed batsman danced down the pitch to smack the spinners and stroked with great authority for fabulous batting display. Sakib Ali & Shoiab Sarwar scored 32 and 30 runs respectively to take UAE score to 265 runs. Hemin Desai & Syed Tariq were the main wicket takers for Oman, capturing two wickets each.
Hemin scored a quick fire 31 runs and he along with Deep Trivedi posted 48 runs for the first wicket. It was left handed Vaibhav Wategoankar and Adnan Ilyas who batted sensibly well as the partnership worth 95 runs was worth ton of gold. Vaibhav scored 65 runs and Adnan Ilyas hit a patient 49 runs and when the match was stopped due to heavy shower, Oman had scored 193 runs and was well ahead in the run rate. Vaibhav Wategoankar was declared man of the match for his excellent batting display.
Top favorites Afghanistan will face Nepal in the ACC Elite trophy final to be played at Hubara ground at Ahmadi. In the neighboring ground Unity, Malaysia will meet Hong Kong for the third & fourth position.[Scorecard]
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HOT FAVORITES AFGHANISTAN &
NEPAL MARCH INTO THE FINAL |
| Kuwait City april 7, 2010 |
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---------------Mohammad Nabi, for stylish boundry ------------------Click by Travis Pittman |
Hong Kong chose to bat first after winning the toss and was in trouble soon as Nasir Hameed was back in the pavilion but Roy Lamson and Hussein Butt played enterprising cricket to put 49 runs on board. Roy played well to score 26 runs and Inlays Gull who came next rotated the strike and kept the score board tickling. |
AFGHANISTAN, MALAYASIA, NEPAL AND HONG KONG QUALIFY FOR THE SEMI FINALS |
| Kuwait city April 6th, 2010 |
Malaysia eventually gave their supporters extra cause for celebration, with a two wicket win over fancied UAE to reach the semi finals of the ACC Elite trophy 2010 at Unity ground Ahmadi. It was a flamboyant victory, but a nervy, self-conscious one, and they only secured their place in the semi final in the last over. |
OMAN TRIUMPS AGAINST KUWAIT
HONG KONG DASHES SINAGPORE HOPES |
Kuwait city April 4, 2010 |
Oman & Kuwait both eying for a semi-final spot in the ongoing ACC Elite trophy 2010 put up their best performance so far, a match that sparked quite a lot of interest till the 45 over in which Oman ultimately sealed a victory over the spirited Kuwait challenge. The Oman goal was achieved by a lively, crowd-lifting partnership from Adnan Ilyas & Sultan Ahmed who were engaged in a 124 runs partnership which guided Oman to chalk out a much needed victory.
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AFGHANISTAN SCRAPE HOME NARROWLY
Nepal Coasts To Easy Victory |
| Kuwait City 3rd April 2010 |
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Afghanistan Miraculesly Escaped Being Defeated By Malaysia In The League Round Match Played At Hubara Ground In The Acc Elite Trophy 2010. Needing 237 To Win The Match, Malaysian Tail enders Struck To Their Task Till The Last Moment But The Experienced Afgahnis Pulled All Their Tricks To Notch A Narrow Victory Of One Run To Scrape Home Safely. |
UAE UPSET FAVORITES AFGHANISTAN
NEPAL PREVAIL OVER OMAN
HONG KONG BEAT KUWAIT |
| Kuwait City 2nd April 2010 |
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Celebration by UAE players after getting early wickets- Click by Salman Hussain Kazmi |
UAE upset the applecart of Afghanistan as they narrowly prevailed over favorites Afghanis by 2 wickets in the ongoing ACC Elite trophy 2010 played at Kuwait Entertainment city ground. A large Afghan contingent had come to watch their team in action and this match as expected turned out to be a great thriller and UAE gained a sweet revenge to their loss against Afghanistan in the recently concluded ACC T20 trophy in Dubai. |
OMAN OVERCOME THE SPIRITED SINGAPORE CHALLENGE |
Kuwait City April 1, 2010 |
In the second match played at Hubara ground, Ahmadi, the experienced Oman SIDE, playing professional cricket, prevailed over the spirited Singapore challenge and coasted a marvelous victory. Batting first, Singapore scored 174 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Munish Arora their captain was the top scorer with 43 runs and was a pillar of strength and played some classic square cuts in his brief stay. |
KUWAIT CLINCH A THRILLING 3 RUN VICTORY
OVER SINGAPORE IN THE INAUGURAL MATCH
ACC TROPHY ELITE 2010 KICKS OFF |
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Kuwait Squad with coach Sameer Desai and asst. coach and Physio Ayoub Shaikh |
The ACC Trophy Elite 2010 kicked off at the Kuwait entertainment city cricket ground with Kuwait beating Singapore by a thrilling 3 runs in a nail biting finish in the inaugural match. The day started with the British Ambassador playing the first ball of the tournament bowled by the tournament director Mr. Asad Baig and cheered by the Kuwait cricket board members Mr. Yousuf Bash, Emad Al Jassam , KC executive council Chairman Jeff DeLange , Mr. Shahid Mirza clapped on by both the Kuwait and Singapore teams, match officials and many spectators. |
KUWAIT TO HOST ACC TROPHY (ELITE) 2010 |
Kuwait Cricket has added another feather in their cap as they are all set to host the ACC trophy Elite 2010 for the first time. Incidentally, the ACC Elite trophy is rated as the biggest tournament in the history of Kuwait cricket so far. Kuwait has the tradition of hosting Gulf Cup in 2004, Middle East trophy 2006, first ever ACC T20 trophy in 2007 and the ACC U-19 Elite trophy in 2009.The fixtures have been announced for the ACC Trophy Elite 2010 to be played at KOC grounds, Ahmadi, Kuwait Entertainment City ground & Sulaibiya ground between March 31st and April 9th. The ten-team tournament has Bhutan competing at the senior elite-level for the very first time since they gained promotion from the 2009 ACC Trophy Challenge.
Top ten teams from the non test playing nations from the Asian region will be vying for the prestigious trophy as the finalists of this tournament will qualify for the next ASIA CUP along with test playing nations, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. Defending champions of the ACC Trophy Elite, Hong Kong will have to work out hard as they have to face stiff opposition from the UAE team which were unbeaten in the ACC Trophy from 2000 to 2008, however in the last tournament Saudi Arabia beat them in the group stage and they surrendered their hold on the event losing the Final to Hong Kong by three wickets. Since then Hong Kong have been joined by Afghanistan, Nepal and Singapore as serious contenders.
The star attraction and the crowd favorites will obviously be Afghanistan, the Newest ODI nation which recently became the only Affiliate member to qualify for the ICC World T20 after they won the Qualifier. Afghanistan always have strong support wherever they play and it is expected that the talented Afghanistan team would really be a crowd puller to attract many thousands. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Nepal, Singapore and UAE have been playing regular cricket in ICC tournaments over the past season and surely will have raised their standards. |
Kuwait Cricket all set for prestigious ACC trophy (Elite)2010 |
Kuwait Cricket is highly honored to have got the opportunity to organize the fabulous ACC trophy for the first time and this is the result of its proven track records of its abilities to organize and deliver top-class International tournaments in the past. Kuwait cricket is highly indebted to Asian Cricket Council (ACC) & ICC (International Cricket Council) for providing an opportunity to stage International events. Kuwait and Bhutan’s performance in the last ACC Trophy round sees them playing in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8 which is to be held in Kuwait in December 2010.
Since its inception in 1996 , The ACC Elite Trophy has evolved into a highly competitive tournament and they have been emblematic of just how much cricket has developed in Asia as a whole in the past fourteen years. Without a doubt, the gap between our top-ranked test playing nations and the non test playing nations are quite substantial but if the non test playing nations truly wish to bridge the gap and achieve ODI status one day, this is the stepping stone for them to achieve full fledge International status.
Bangladesh won the first ACC Trophy fourteen years ago and step by step they reached the glory of achieving Test status and so is the story of Afghanistan who started playing in the ACC Elite trophy and now has qualified to participate in the T20 World Cup which is to be played in the West Indies shortly.
The participating teams are Afghanistan, Nepal, UAE, Oman, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Bhutan and host Kuwait. |
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