Malaysia scored an exciting five-run victory over Kuwait in the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Group A encounter yesterday. Kuwait chasing 237 to win, needed six runs off the last over, but their hopes were dashed when their skipper Taher Bastaki was clean bowled by medium pace bowler Munusamy Muniandy off the second delivery of the over.

The victory has brought a huge relief for Malaysia who were on the verge of being knocked out of a berth in the semi-finals. Malaysia had lost their opening match to Hong Kong by 17 runs on Wednesday.

"We are staying alive. The match slipped away from us at one stage but the team fought back well," said Malaysian manager Karu Selveratnam. Kuwait after the quick exit of Zahir Noor Butt (1) got off to a good start.

Former Kerala Ranji Trophy player Hanees Babu hit a quick 28 with three boundaries off 32 balls. Mohammed Nawaz with a sedate 36 gave good support to Asif Saeed. After Nawaz's departure for 36 Ahmed and Saud Qamar led the run chase and at one stage Kuwait were well placed on 168 for three.

But a collapse, triggered by good fielding and tight bowlin from skipper Suresh Navaratnam and Arul Suppiah, both of whom took two wickets each, brought Malaysia back into the game. Navaratnam had earlier played a key role with the bat, top-scoring with 56 while wicket-keeper batsman Shankar Retinam (45) and Arul Suppiah (31 not out) also chipped in with useful contributions as Malaysia totalled 236 for nine.

Malaysia will now have to defeat Singapore in their final group game and hope Hong Kong keep their unbeaten record against Kuwait, if they are to progress into the knockout stages.


Scores:
Malaysia 236 for 9 in 50 overs (Shankar Ratinam 45, Rakesh Mahadevan 27, Suresh Navaratnam 56, Arul Suppiah 31 not out, Zahid Noor Butt 3 for 36, Abdullah Hussain 2 for 31) bt Kuwait 231 (Mohammed Nawaz 36, Hanees Babu 28, Asif Ahmed 66, Saud Qamar 32, Waheed Iqbal 26 not out)

Dubai. Hong Kong scored their second successive victory scoring an emphatic 53-run win over Singapore. Put into bat, Hong Kong piled up 270 for eight with Rahul Sharma (95), captain Stewart Brew (50) and Saleem Malik (55) playing major roles.

They then restricted Singapore  to 217 for six in their 50 overs. Andrew Scott, who hit an unbeaten 108 against Kuwait, once displayed his form, top-scoring with 58 while Joshua Dearing scored 42. Zheng Rengchun (48) and Kiran Deshpande (41 not out) were also among the runs.


Scores:
Hong Kong 270 for 8 in 50 overs (R. Sharma 95, S. Malik 55, S. Brew 50, Rishi Kaul 3 for 48) bt Singapore 217 for 6 (A. Scott 58, Joshua Dering 42, Zeng Renghun 48, Kiran Deshpande 41 not out), A. French 3 for 43)

Sharjah. Japan were shot out for 59 in just 26 overs in a Group B encounter here.
Maldives scored the required runs in 12 overs to score a big victory. Japan batting fell to the pace of Imad Ismail who picked up three for 11 and Ahmed Amir, who bagged three for seven.

Scores:
Japan 59 (A. Amir 3 for 7, I. Ismail 3 for 11) lost to Maldives 60 for 2.