Bahrain Beat Bhutan by 66 Runs — Ali Dawood's Four for Eight Leaves the Chase in Ruins Before It Begins

This was a meeting of the two sides who had won on the opening day, and early in the Bhutan chase it stopped being a contest. At 5 for 0 in the third over, nothing much had happened. By the end of the fourth, Bhutan were 5 for 3, and the match was effectively decided.

Bahrain had chosen to bat and made 139 for 5, which on the evidence of the morning match at this ground — Qatar and Thailand made 156 runs between them — was a solid total rather than a big one. It turned out to be far more than enough. Ali Dawood took four wickets for eight runs, Asif Ali and Shujaat Rasool cleaned up the rest, and Bhutan were all out for 73 in the 19th over. Bahrain won by 66 runs.

Bahrain's innings had a clear shape. Asif Ali and Prashant Kurup got them to 30 in five overs, Asif Ali with two fours and a six in his 22 from 17, and then both fell inside five balls to leave Bahrain 38 for 2. What followed was the innings' spine: Junaid Aziz and Fiaz Ahmed added 65 from 60 balls for the third wicket. Fiaz's 25 took 30 balls, and that was fine, because Junaid was scoring at the other end. His 45 from 35 included two fours and two sixes, and he was retired out on that score in the 19th over, at 122 for 5. Asif Javed's unbeaten 10 from seven helped bring 17 more from the last 11 balls.

Then came the bowling, and it was relentless. Ali Dawood's four overs cost eight runs, with a maiden and four wickets. Imran Khan's three cost eight with a wicket, Shujaat Rasool's 3.4 overs went for seven with two, and Abdul Majid gave away 11 in three. Asif Ali, who had already contributed with the bat, took the three wickets that helped close the innings, and held a catch too. Across the two matches so far, Bahrain have now defended totals of 104 and 139, and won both.

Bhutan's bowlers did a decent job. Tashi Phuntsho bowled four overs for 21 and took the first wicket, and nobody went for more than 9.4 an over. They held Bahrain to 139 when the third-wicket stand might have taken them a good deal further. The problem lay in the first seven overs of the reply: Bhutan were 17 for 5 in the seventh over, and their top four in the order made six runs between them.

What happened next deserves to be recorded. From 17 for 5, Namgang Chejay and Tashi Phuntsho took Bhutan to 53 before the sixth wicket fell. Chejay made 26 from 31 with two fours and a six, Phuntsho 18 from 26, and for a while they batted as though the scoreboard had nothing to do with them. Then two wickets went at 53, and the last three after that fell for 20 runs. Sonam Yeshey's 11 from five balls was a defiant last word. Bhutan beat Myanmar on day one; this was a hard day, but it was one day.

The scores suggest batting was not straightforward at Bayuemas Oval on October 6. Across two matches on the ground, the four innings produced 76, 80, 139 and 73. Bahrain's 139 was the only total above 100, and it needed the day's best partnership to get there. The bowlers who kept it simple — Dawood, Imran Khan, Rasool, Majid — conceded under four an over. Bhutan's sixth-wicket stand showed that runs were available to those who survived the new ball; very few of their batters did.

Four overs, one maiden, eight runs, four wickets. Two bowled, one caught and bowled, and one caught by Asif Ali. Tenjin Rabgey, Tshering Tashi and Ranjung Mikyo Dorji made two runs between them, and Thinley Jamtsho two more. Bhutan's top four in the scorecard accounted for six runs, and Dawood's hand was on most of that damage.

On day one against Thailand, he had bowled four overs for 15 and taken a single wicket while Asif Javed and Abdul Majid took the headlines. That is the quiet economy of a good attack: one day you are the bowler who holds an end, the next you are the one who opens it up. In two matches he has bowled eight overs for 23 runs and taken five wickets. Some spells are loud; Dawood's are the kind you only fully hear when you read the scorecard afterwards.

CricIntel did not publish a preview for this match, so there is no prediction to review.

Qualifier A is a seven-team single round robin running from October 5 to 14 in Malaysia. After six matches, Bahrain and Kuwait have won both their games. Bhutan and Qatar have one win and one defeat each. Thailand have lost two, and Myanmar and Mongolia have lost one each.

Bahrain and Kuwait are the only unbeaten sides, and with both having won comfortably on October 6, their eventual meeting already looks like a significant fixture. Bhutan, level with Qatar on one win, will want to put this collapse behind them quickly.