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Hong Kong join PNG in Division Two as US are relegated

Steve Massiah in happier times following his side's ICC Americas win in Bermuda last June.

Hong Kong’s win over Papua New Guinea means they complete the line up for the ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Dubai.A comprehensive 93-run win over PNG, who had already been promoted, gave Hong Kong the second spot and means that Bermuda now know who they will have to beat in April.In a low socring affair, Hong Kong were bowled out for 221, with Hussain Butt’s 68 giving the hosts a respectable total.Unbeaten going into the game, PNG struggled from the start in reply, and Kila Pala’s 22 was his side’s highest score as they were bowled out for 128.Nadeem Ahmed was the pick of the Hong Kong bowlers, taking three wickets for 36.The two sides will face each other again in today’s final to determine the winner of the Division Three event, and Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke isn’t looking any further forward than that match.“We talked about how we could beat PNG today and knew if we batted first it would be important to make as many runs as possible before our bowlers could get to work on the PNG side,” he said.“The important thing for us was to remain focussed and we knew by putting PNG under pressure the side would become vulnerable which they did today.“We beat them in a warm-up game without our full strength squad so we knew we had the ability today to beat them, and our ability and strength showed today.“There are plenty of quality sides in Division Two, but my focus since taking this role has been about securing promotion.“We have the promotion but this league isn’t over and we want to win the entire tournament in front of our home crowd before we focus our attention to the new challenges and teams Division Two will throw at us.”Meanwhile, USA’s defeat to Italy yesterday meant that not only did they fail to make it into Division Two, but they also finished in the bottom two and, alongside Denmark, were relegated to Division Four.The pre-tournament favourites, the Americans lost three of their five –matches, and skipper Steve Massiah admitted it was time for the country to take a long, hard look at the future of the team.“Along with the entire team, I am hugely disappointed to be relegated back to Division Four,” said Massiah.“We didn’t prepare for this tournament as well as we have done in other events, and our performances here were nothing like what we know we are capable of when we play cricket.“Certain things didn’t go our way this tournament and we now need to go back to the USA and rethink our strategy, and how we are going to bounce back from this and rebuild our team to climb back up the leagues.”