Hong Kong, China vs Italy, ICC CWC CHALL B, Today Match Prediction

HKG vs ITA Match Prediction & Analysis

Hong Kong and Italy cricket team will lock horns in the 42nd game of the ICC CWC Challenge League B 2024-26 on Monday, 17th August. The venue for this match is University of Dar es Salaam Ground 1, Tanzania and the scheduled start time is 11:30 IST. 

Hong Kong are coming off an impressive winning run in the Tanzania leg, while Italy enter the contest with a clinical victory over Singapore. Both teams would eye to go for the back-to-back victory. 

H2H history: Hong Kong and Italy have played two international matches against each other. Italy won both games convincingly. 

Current Standings: Hong Kong are standing at the third spot with 20 points and Italy are placed at the top spot with 22 points. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Hong Kong, China Preview

Hong Kong, China head into the contest with a 38-run victory over Bahrain. They posted 228 runs while batting first with Babar Hayat scoring 88 runs. Captain Yasim Murtaza delivered a magnificent half-century. The duo had a 117-run stand for the 4th wicket. Meanwhile, they lost the last seven wickets in the span of 36 runs. Hong China are unbeaten in the Tanzania league. It was their second win against Bahrain in the CWC League. Last time, they chased down 183 runs with the loss of just one wicket.

They earlier defeated Uganda where they bowled out the opposition for 119 runs while defending a total of 170. They also  outclassed Tanzania by six wickets after bowling them out for just 99 runs. Hong Kong made a statement by winning all four games convincingly. In the opening game, they beat Singapore by 163 runs in the first game, scoring a huge total of 289 runs.

Anshuman Rath is the leading run-scorer in the CWC Challenge League B, having scored 529 runs in 12 innings at an average of 44.08. He has scored three half-centuries in the competition, with a best score of 90. Yasim Murtaza has also contributed 336 runs at an average of 42.00 and picked up tournament-high 25 wickets. He is the highest wicket-taker in the league. Ayush Shukla has also bagged 12 wickets in seven innings at an average of 16.58. Meanwhile, he is injured so he won't play in the upcoming contest. 

Hong Kong, China Predicted Playing XI:

Martin Coetzee, Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Yasim Murtaza(c), Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali(w), Nasrulla Rana, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Ateeq Iqbal

Italy Preview

Italy enter the tournament with a dominating victory against Singapore. They bowled opposition out on 170 runs and chased down the total in 38.3 overs. Anthony Mosca scored 57 runs and Marcus Campopiano contributed 48. Jaspreet Singh bagged three wickets for 17 runs and Crishan Kalugamage also had three scalps. They moved to the top of the table in the CWC Challenge League. 

Earlier, they secured a big win over Uganda. They batted first and scored 192 runs while batting first. In reply, Uganda were bundled out for just 79 runs. They also defeated Bahrain by 68 runs. They are now ready for the big task against Hong Kong, whom they defeated earlier by eight wickets. The winner of this game will take the top spot in the points table. They bowled out Hong Kong China for 146 runs and the Italian side chased down the total in 23.2 overs. 

Italy also posted the highest total of the tournament, scoring 342 runs against Hong Kong. Italy have ten wins from 13 games, and one more victory could push them to the top of the table. Captain Marcus Campopiano could be a player to watch out for. He has scored 385 runs in 10 innings at an average of 42.78. 

Emilio Gay has contributed 269 runs in just four innings at an average of 134.50. He has scored fifty-plus in each game. However, he won't play due to injury. CJPF Kalugamage is the leading wicket-taker for Italy with 23 wickets at an average of 13.78. Gareth Berg has 14 wickets to his name in eight innings at an average of 12.43.

Italy Predicted Playing XI:

Justin Mosca, Marcus Campopiano(w/c), Anthony Mosca, Wayne Madsen, Nicholas Maiolo, Gareth Berg, Grant Stewart, Gian Meade, Crishan Kalugamage, Jaspreet Singh, Thomas Draca

Weather Conditions

The weather at Dar es Salaam on 17th August is expected to be cloudy with a high of 29°C and a low of 22°C, along with a 30% chance of rain and north winds at 19 kph. 

HKG vs ITA Pitch Report

The surface at Dar es Salaam Ground 1, Tanzania is a decent surface for the batters. However, it showed challenges to the batters in the last five games where teams failed to get 100 runs twice. 228 remains the highest score and it was defended very well. Spinners can take advantage during the middle overs. In the last five matches at this ground, the average first batting score in the List-A is 155. It is a decent ODI batting surface where batsmen need to play sensibly. 

Score prediction: 

If Italy bat first - 220-230 runs 

If Hong Kong bat first - 210-220 runs 

Toss: To Bowl

In the last five Men's ODIs played at this venue, chasing sides have won three matches. The surface has been quite challenging to bat in the first innings. Even a score of above 200 runs won’t be enough to chase. Both teams have enjoyed success while batting first in the past, so they are likely to prefer setting a target in this fixture as well. 

Toss Prediction: Hong Kong to win the coin toss.