The second leg of Challenge League Group B got underway today in Hong Kong with the hosts taking on Singapore at the Mission Road ground in Mong Kok.

Challenge League Group B forms part of the pathway to the 2027 Men's Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The top two teams will join the top two from Group A and the bottom four from League 2 in the World Cup Qualifier play-off.

After the first leg in Uganda three months ago, the Ugandans were on top with nine points from a possible 10. Hong Kong and Italy were close behind on seven points, Bahrain in fourth on five points and Singapore and Tanzania bringing up the rear on one point.

Hosts Hong Kong won the toss in the opening game of this second leg and asked Singapore to bat first. The visitors soon found themselves on the back foot on 36-4 as Hong Kong took the early advantage.

Number six Janak Prakash helped bring a little more respectability to the Singapore total with a knock of 58, but the next highest score was 23 and Singapore were bowled out for 171. Nasrulla Rana was the pick of the bowlers for the home team, taking 3-45.

Hong Kong started their reply with a 47 run opening partnership between Martin Coetzee and Anshy Rath, which ended when Manpreet Singh removed Coetzee and Babar Hayat with successive deliveries to end the ninth over.

Anshy Rath top scored with an unbeaten 90 (Cricket Hong Kong)

Anshy Rath provided the bulk of the runs for Hong Kong, scoring an unbeaten 90 from 116 balls as his team completed a seven wicket win with 13.2 overs to spare. Nizakat Khan and captain Yasim Murtaza both contributed 27, the latter as part of an unbroken 73 run partnership with Rath.

The tournament continues tomorrow with Bahrain playing Uganda and Italy taking on Tanzania.