Hong Kong cricketers lose to Afghanistan in quarter-finals
Eight might be a lucky number in Hong Kong, but not when it is 88 for eight in cricket, the total Jamie Atkinson and his batsmen struggled to post against Afghanistan in the semi-finals of the men's competition.
It wasn't enough to keep alive the dream of playing for a gold medal as Afghanistan reached their Duckworth-Lewis total of 72 from 15 overs with 21 balls to spare for the loss of two wickets. Hong Kong will take on Bangladesh for the bronze today.
"No excuses, our batting let us down and we were about 40 runs short of a competitive total," said Hong Kong head coach Charlie Burke. "The guys are shattered as they knew how important a win and winning a medal could be to them."
Hong Kong would have been assured of at least a silver medal if they had won. That would have meant the resumption of financial support for cricket from the Hong Kong Sports Institute.
No excuses, our batting let us down and we were about 40 runs short of a competitive total
A poor performance with the bat left Hong Kong staring defeat in the face after being put in by Afghanistan. Their only hope was that rain, which interrupted the innings once and delayed the start of their opponent's run chase, would be hard enough to force an abandonment, which would have meant the result being decided on a coin toss.
