Captain Jamie Atkinson led Hong Kong to a stunning eight-wicket victory over Bermuda by hitting a superb half century in the Twenty20 World Cup qualifying tournament Wednesday. Atkinson smashed 13 fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 87 off 55 balls as Hong Kong raced to 164-2 inside 18 overs to overhaul Bermuda's 161-5. The victory severely dented Bermuda's chances of progressing from Group A after it lost to Denmark Tuesday. Atkinson was well supported by Irfan Ahmed, who scored 50 off 37 balls, and shared a match-winning 113-run stand with his captain. Earlier, Bermuda skipper David Hemp top scored with 43 with Janeiro Tucker (31) and Curt Stovell (29) also making useful contributions. Papua New Guinea suffered a second successive defeat when it narrowly lost to Canada by six runs. PNG was restricted to 161-3 after Nitish Kumar's 57 had lifted Canada's total to 167-5. Former England Test wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, who joined his country of birth just before the tournament, made a fighting 32 in PNG's lost cause. In Group B, Ireland recovered from its loss to Namibia with an easy 10-wicket win over Kenya after bowling out the African nation for just 71 runs. Elsewhere Italy beat the United States by eight runs; Afghanistan beat the Netherlands by four wickets; Nepal beat Denmark by nine wickets; Namibia beat Scotland by 49 runs; and Uganda beat Oman by three wickets. Mathews out of Asia Cup Sri Lanka suffered a blow Wednesday when influential all-rounder Angelo Mathews was ruled out for the rest of the Asia Cup due to a calf injury. Ponting in Test squad Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was included in the Test squad for the tour of West Indies Wednesday. The 37-year-old batsman's successor Michael Clarke is expected to have recovered from a left hamstring strain. Left-arm spinner Michael Beer was a surprise inclusion.
