Hong Kong vs Nepal
Tournament hosts Hong Kong began the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – Asia Qualifiers tournament and their very first international match on home soil with a victory after a calm run-chase saw them defeat Nepal.
Nepal won the toss and elected to bat, but did not have the perfect start losing opening batsman Jyoti Pandey to the fourth ball of their innings. Nirmala Kumari Shahi, who top scored with 18, steered the innings through the first ten overs before being fourth out with the score on 42.
Hong Kong’s bowlers were able to limit the run rate throughout Nepal’s innings with good tight bowling and by taking regular wickets. Nepal’s highest partnership was just 16, and they were all out for 77 with four balls left of their 20 overs.
Skipper Mariko Hill, Ka-Man Chan and Sau-Har Chan each took two wickets for Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s response got off to a strong start thanks to opener Sze-Wan Yip who scored 33 runs off just 39 balls. Yasmin Daswani added 15, while Player of the Match Mariko Hill (10 not out) and Shanzeen Shahzad (11 not out) completed a comfortable chase in the 17th over.
Captain Mariko Hill was extremely proud of her team’s performance. “It’s a massive boost for us, it will give us a lot of confidence as we performed how we wanted,” Hill said “We’ve never played international cricket at home so to see our family and friends here means a lot. We’ve got China tomorrow and it will be a completely different game, the HKCC outfield is so small so we will plan tonight and start again tomorrow.”
Match Summary
Nepal 77 all out (19.2 overs),
Hong Kong 78/4 (16.3 overs)
Hong Kong won by 6 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)
Scorecard: www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1059670.html
China vs Thailand
In the first match of the day, Thailand opened the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – Asia Qualifiers tournament with a big victory over China at Tin Kwong Recreation Ground.
Openers Nattakan Chantam (14) and Sirintra Saensakorat (19) provided a good platform for Thailand. While an unbeaten 24 from Ratanaporn Padunglerd gave Thailand a mid-innings push with 24 not out as they finished their 20 overs with 107 runs.
Zhou Caiyun led China’s bowler with 2/27 in four overs.
It was a one-sided affair when China batted. Zhou Caiyun was caught off the fourth ball of the innings for a duck and they never recovered. The second wicket came in the second over when Song Fengfeng was caught behind for 9 and wickets fell steadily afterwards. China were eventually all out for 32 runs after 12.1 overs without a single player reaching double figures.
Suleeporn Laomi and Wongpaka Liengpraert each took two wickets for Thailand. Player of the Match was Thai Captain Sornnarin Tippocj.
Match Summary
Thailand 107/6 (20 overs)
China 32 all out (12.1 overs)
Thailand won by 75 runs
Scorecard: www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1059669.html
Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket