wcricket – bc magazine

Jade Jets Women’s Premier League Champions 2021

Jade Jets 103/5 in 27.3 overs (Mariko Hill 63*, Maryam Bibi 5.3-0-24-2) beat Bauhinia Stars 102 a/o in 35.2 overs (Kary Chan 27, Keenu Gill 4.2-1-6-3, Jasmine Titmuss 7-0-22-3) by 5 wickets

The third and final game of the 2020-21 Women’s Premier League was played on 21st March at Mission Road. Jade Jets skipper Pull To won the toss and elected to field first on an overcast Sunday morning.

To’s decision was vindicated with a pair of early wickets as she held a sharp catch to dismiss Jaswinder Kaur off Iqra Sahar in the 2nd over, after which Jasmine Titmuss trapped Emma Lai lbw. Ruchitha Venkatesh and Kary Chan steadied the innings before Venkatesh nicked the first ball she received from Betty Chan to be dismissed for 5, the Stars 39/3.

Kary Chan was dismissed for 27 on the last ball of Betty Chan’s next over, falling to a clever piece of bowling, and Game 2 POTM Maryam Bibi was caught well by Mariko Hill for a 2nd ball duck. Amanda Cheung stuck around for a while, but was the 6th batter dismissed, bowled around her legs by Keenu Gill, who then ran out a hesitating Alison Siu to leave the Stars reeling at 56/7.

Connie Wong and Dorothea Chan added a much needed 32 runs, but just as she was set to tee off Wong was yorked by Jasmine Titmuss for 26. Titmuss bowled Anum with an identical yorker next ball leaving the Stars 88 for 9. Chan and Maheen Haider added 14 runs in a final wicket partnership that pushed the Stars past 100, before Gill broke through Chan’s defences to bring an end to the innings after 36 overs.

https://youtu.be/Aa1vFpuWXrU

Women's Premier League 2020/21 Game 3 – Highlights (https://youtu.be/Aa1vFpuWXrU)

In response, the Bauhina Stars also nabbed a couple of early wickets, skipper Kary Chan dismissed her opposite number Pull To in the 4th over, and Maryam Bibi struck twice in her opening spell, trapping Titmuss lbw and bowling Keenu Gill with a peach of a delivery.

After 11.2 overs the Jets found themselves on exactly the same score as the Stars – 39/3. But Mariko Hill was hitting well dispatching every poor ball offered. She struck 11 boundaries on her way to an unbeaten 63 off 74 balls, taking the game away from the Stars in the process.

Hill added 43 with Lemon Cheung, in the highest partnership of the game, and despite a late wobble was able to ease the Jets home with 12.3 overs and 5 wickets to spare. A comprehensive win for the Jets to cap off a successful first-ever Women’s Premier League!

Ladies Day @ Kowloon Cricket Club – 17 February 2019

Kowloon Cricket Club hosted its second annual Ladies Day on the 17 February 2019 at it’s Cox Road home. KCC‘s Ladies Day looks to raise awareness of women’s cricket locally and this year to raise money for the McGrath Foundation – a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia.
Click here or any photo for the full gallery of images.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Ladies-Day-Kowloon-Cricket-Club-19-February-2019/n-pnND7f/i-4PC8tpk

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https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Ladies-Day-Kowloon-Cricket-Club-19-February-2019/n-pnND7f/i-LgN4w4R

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Ladies-Day-Kowloon-Cricket-Club-19-February-2019/n-pnND7f/i-msDtddJ

HK Women Beat Malaysia in Super Over

At the Asean Women’s T20 Cup in Thailand, Hong Kong faced Malaysia in their fourth match, still looking for their first win after a disappointing start to the tournament.

The pitch had dried considerably and upon winning the toss Captain Mariko Hill chose to bat first. After several disappointing performances with the bat there was considerable pressure on the team to post a respectable score. Coach Richard Waite rejigged the batting order opting to have Mariko Hill and Shanzeen Shahzad open the batting. With the early loss of Shanzeen Shahzad in the second over, it looked as though the players hadn’t learnt from the previous games and were failing to adapt to the pitch and the situation.

Yasmin Daswani though scored an elegant half-century (56 from 57 balls) as she and Hill put on 59 for the second wicket. Wicketkeeper Bella Bo Yee came in at number five and the pair added an unbeaten 60 runs to lift Hong Kong to 119 for 3 after 20 overs.

Malaysia got off to a good start but lost opener Yusrina Yaakop at the end of the second over bowled by the 14-year-old Maryam Bibi for 1. Allison Siu bowled Winifred Duraisngam for 6 with the score on 38 after 7.4 overs. Hong Kong’s bowlers though were spraying the ball all over the place, conceding 20 wides in the innings, and Christina Baret (44 not out) and Elysa Yasmin (33) looked to have combined for a match winning partnership with Malaysia needing just five off the last over.

With two runs Shahzad bowled Yasmin with the second to last ball, leaving Mahirah Izzati to score two off the last ball for victory. A scampered single tied the scores to create the first ‘super over’ of the tournament.

Malaysia batted first in the super over and Hill conceded just 5 runs while taking 2 wickets. With Hill and Shahzad opening Hong Kong needed 6 runs to win the match. If Hong Kong scored only 5 they would still win based on amount of boundaries scored during the innings (10 against 4).

Hill faced the first ball and got a single, Shahzad had a big swing and a miss at the second. On the third Shahzad steered the ball past third man for 4. Needing just 1 to win, Shahzad smashed another four to lift Hong Kong to their first win of the tournament.

Hong Kong face Tanzania in their final game on the 13 March.

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket, Cricket Thai

ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier: Hong Kong Beat Malaysia by 35 Runs

Hong Kong batting first rallied strongly from 11/4 to score 77/7 in their 20 overs and bowled Malaysia out for 42 to win their opening ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier match by 35 runs.

Hong Kong, who won the the toss, chose to bat first on an overcast day at the Asiatic Institute of Technology in Bangkok. A delayed start did not dampen the occasion, as Keenu Gill and Yasmin Daswani took strike to start the tournament for the Red Dragons.

On what was a good wicket, it became evidently clear it would be a difficult game with the Malaysian attack bowling well from the outset. Winifred Duraisingam and Zayani Syamimi applied pressure to the Hong Kong top order up with some good stump to stump bowling making in the opening power play

The tough early batting conditions and a very slow outfield made scoring hard. In the 3^rd over with Hong Kong on 7 for no loss, Zayani Syamimi had Gill given out LBW for 4. In came in-form captain Mariko Hill who departed for a golden duck on her birthday after a low full toss found the top edge whilst sweeping and was well caught by the keeper going backwards.

With Hong Kong seeking some stability at 7-2, Kary Chan came to the crease and looked busy while scoring a couple of singles, however, her demise came in the next over through a sharp catch at cover. Shanzeen Shahzad joined Daswani at the crease looking to create a lasting partnership but Syamimi once again firmly put Malaysia in the driving seat with another catch coming from a mishit to mid-off to leave Hong Kong in deep trouble at 10/4 after 5.3 overs.

Daswani and new batswoman Jenefer Davies started to rebuild Hong Kong’s innings finding gaps and running hard pushing the score to 24 before Dawwani was bowled by Jannadiah Halim, 24-5 after 9 overs.

Davies was joined by Natural Yip and both players combined well taking singles and putting pressure on the Malaysian bowlers. Both batters saw out the 2^nd half of the innings punishing the bad ball and testing the arms of the Malaysian fielders. Yip was bowled for 18 by Syamimi in the 19th over -71-6.

The return of Duraisingam saw Davies well caught by Syamimi for a game changing 29 from 36 balls. Marina Lamplough saw off the final two balls to see Hong Kong finish on 77-7 off 20 overs.

Betty Chan (4-1-9-1) and Mariko Hill (2-0-6-1) opened the bowling against the Malaysians who had a tough time against the combination of pace and spin resulting in an early wicket for Hill with her 2nd ball of the game with Davies, who was in the process of putting together a player of the match performance, taking the catch behind the stumps.

Tight bowling and sharp fielding continued to restrict the Malaysian batswomen who played high risk shots resulting in key dismissals to leave the innings stuttering at 14-3 after 6 overs. With pressure mounting, Hong Kong took control of the game with dot ball pressure creating a number of run outs.

Annie Ho (3-0-5-0) and Keenu Gill (2-0-4-1) stifled the Malaysian reply with a clinical partnership in the middle of the innings. Marina Lamplough and Chan Sa Ha combined to finish off the Malaysian tail. Both created havoc with yet another seam/spin combination which finished off the Malaysian innings inside 17 overs.

Hong Kong (77/7) beat Malaysia (42 all out) by 35 runs.

Player of the Match: Jenefer Davies

Hong Kong coach Richard Waite said “Delighted with the character shown by the team after a tough start at the beginning of the Hong Kong innings. The skill and game awareness of Jenefer Davies was crucial to Hong Kong edging up towards a score of 75/80 which ultimately proved to be 35 too many in tricky conditions”

Additional reporting and images: HKcricket

Hong Kong Women Tour India Ahead of T20 Qualifier

The Women’s Hong Kong National Team depart for their T20 World Cup qualifying journey on Sunday the 12th of November 2017. Arriving in Mumbai, India on Sunday the squad will be put through their paces in a grueling 5-day pre-tour before flying directly to Thailand to compete against hosts Thailand, Nepal, the UAE and China.

Coach of the National Women’s team, Richard Waite had this to say about the pre-tour in India “The next week provides a fantastic opportunity for the players to train in conditions not dissimilar to those we will encounter in Thailand, batting on turf wickets at world class facilities will hopefully give us an edge and something we inherently struggle to get in Hong Kong”.

Confidence is high in the camp following the success in the recent East Asia Cup tournament held in Hong Kong, where the hosts went through undefeated. “In the 6 weeks since the East Asia Cup we’ve taken time to analyse what we did well and looked at areas where we can improve in the hope it stands us in good stead to finish in the top two of qualifying in Thailand” Waite continued.

The Asian qualifiers in Thailand will see teams play each other once before the top two play off to decide who will finish top of qualifying in the Asian region.

“Recent stand out performances from opener Yasmin Daswani and the rapid improvement of vice-captain Kary Chan’s bowling lead us to believe we are in a great space to compete against strong opposition to hopefully book our place in the T20 World Qualifiers in the Netherlands to be held in the middle of 2018” said the coach.

Hong Kong will take on Malaysia in their first match of the Asian Qualifiers on Monday the 20th of November 2017 in Thailand.

Tour to India: 12-18 November, 2017

Mariko Hill, Captain, (HKCC), Kary Chan, Vice Captain, (CCC), Yasmin Daswani, (HKCC), Pull To, (CCC), Shanzeen Shahzad, (DSLW), Jenefer Davies (KCC), Natural Yip (HKCC), Annie Ho (HKCC), Bella Poon (KCC), Chan Sau Ha (HKCC), Marina Lamplough (HKCC), Emma Lai (HKCC), Ruchi Venketesh (HKCC), Lemon Cheung (HKCC)

World T20 Asia Region Qualifiers: 18-28 November, 2017

Additional reporting and images: HK cricket

Hong Kong Win East Asia T20 Cup

Amidst the showers Hong Kong beat Japan in the final to win the East Asia T20 Cup by 5 wickets on Sunday at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

Japan Captain Mai Yanagida won the toss and elected to bat first. For Hong it was their first time fielding first having won their pool matches batting first. Mariko Hill took the new ball and bowled with good pace with Japan and Kanno in particular looking to take advantage of anything short and wide.

Chan Ka Man made the opening breakthrough with Kanno well caught at mid-off by Ho for 8. Back to back maidens during overs 5 and 6 by Ho and Chan Ma Kan left Japan under pressure at 14-1 after 6 overs. Shirashi set out to kick start the innings with a flowing drive through cover for 4.

Shirashi was then comprehensively bowled by K Chan for 8 and Hong Kong were very much in the ascendency. The Japanese captain Yanagida was still at the crease but was struggling to break the shackles of some disciplined bowling and excellent fielding inside the circle. 17 runs off the 12^th over kick started the Japanese innings with some lusty blows being struck by Endo. The Japanese counter-attack continued in the next over with 9 coming off the bowling of Chan Sau Har including some excellent straight drives through and over mid on/off.

Chan Ka Man was bought back into the attack and struck instantly bowling the dangerous Endo for a well-made 16. Chan ended up with figures of 2-3 off her 4 over spell including 3 maidens. Yanagida continued to Japan innings together and played some exquisite drives both through and over cover. 74-3 off 17 overs, the Japanese were trying everything to get close to 100 If not beyond. Yanagida finished unbeaten on 35 off 55 balls and Japan’s inning s closed on 90-4.

Hong Kong set off chasing 91 with in form openers Daswani and Gill striding out to the middle. The impressive left arm spinner of Miyaji started off with a maiden and the intensity of the Japanese fielding unit within the inner circle was evident from the first ball. Daswani with her favored square cut and back foot drive tried to get the innings flowing while Japan looked to continue to build pressure. Gill eventually got off the mark with 2 cultured strokes through the leg side. 32-0 after the initial 6 over power play, 58 needed off 84 balls with the full complement of wickets in hand.

Rain bought the players off the field at the start of the 9^th over with Hong Kong well placed on 44-0. No overs were lost and the players returned to the middle with play resuming with a free hit that Daswani duly obliged by slashing once again through backward point. The 50 partnership came up in the 9th over and with that the heavens opened once again. Play resumed for a 3rd time with a revised target of 83 off 18 Overs. Miyaji returned and made the breakthrough bowling Gill (53-1). Ishimoto claimed the wicket of K Chan caught by Wicket Keeper Yamaguchi for 2.

A late flurry of wickets including Daswani, Hill and Shahzad added some late drama but Hong Kong went on to win by 5 wickets and are the 2017 East Asia T20 Champions.

Hong Kong are deserving winners of what has been an excellent tournament. All 4 teams at various stages of the week have shown high levels of skill, passion and commitment. The future of Women’s cricket within the region is in good health.

Hong Kong (85/5) beat Japan (90/4) by 5 wickets (Duckworth/Lewis method)

Player of the Tournament: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)

Batter of the Tournament: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)
Bowler of the Tournament: Etsuko Kobayashi (Japan)

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

Daswani Scores 77 as Hong Kong Rout Korea

Hong Kong fresh from their opening day win against China took on a Korean team looking for their first win of the competition. Captain Mariko Hill won the toss and elected to bat first in humid conditions on what looked an excellent pitch at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Yasmin Daswani, who top scored in Hong Kong’s impressive opening win, is in a rich vein of form and quickly set out to pressure the Korean attack with a number of back foot cuts and pulls. Hong Kong progressed smoothly to 35 for no loss after 6 overs.

Korea made the initial breakthrough with Gill finding herself short of her the crease after being sent back by Daswani and then struck quickly again with Chan being caught off the bowling of Park. Captain Hill strode to the crease at 45-2 with plenty of overs left to bat. Daswani continued to punish any error in length particularly through the leg side. At the halfway stage Hong Kong were nicely placed at 65-2 with Daswani on 34 and Hill on 12.

The Hong Kong innings then accelerated with 50 runs coming in the next 4 overs and Daswani reached her second successive half century with a beautiful shot through mid-wicket. With 4 overs to go Hong Kong were 121-2 with Daswani on 60 and Hill on 30 and looked set for the second successive 160+ score.

Tight Korean bowling kept the score in check. The 100 partnership arrived in the 19^th over before Daswani was run-out in the final over for an excellent 77. Hong Kong finished on 151-3 with Hill unbeaten on 40.

The Korean opening pair of Kim and Baek hoped for a strong start to the chase. Ho opening the bowling from the far end picked up 2 wickets in the opening over dismissing Baek caught and bowled for 0 and Choi first ball. The Korean batswomen struggled to score in the face of some tight bowling by Ho and Chan.

The introduction of left arm spin in the form of Chan Sau Har proved an instant success with 2 quick wickets reducing Korea to 29-4 inside the first 9 overs. Shahzad was bought into the action and instantly got amongst the wickets dismissing Song.

Kary Chan added some icing to the cake by picking up two late wickets to hand Hong Kong a comfortable victory by 92 runs. Hong Kong go into tomorrow’s dead rubber, and final preview, against Japan full of confidence.

Result: Hong Kong 151-3 beat Korea 59-8 by 92 runs

Player of the Match: Yasmin Daswani (77 runs)

Full scorecard here

East Asia T20 Cup: Daswani Stars as Hong Kong Beat China

Game 2 of the 2017 East Asia T20 Cup saw the hosts Hong Kong take on China. Matches between these two fierce rivals have traditionally been keenly fought contests.

Birthday woman Yasmin Dawani ensured that this latest contest played at the Hong Kong Cricket Club was only ever going to end in a Hong Kong victory.

China’s captain Li Haoyue called correctly and China elected to field first.

Hong Kong’s opening pair of Daswani and Gill strode out purposefully and proceeded to take the attack to the Chinese bowlers during the initial power play period. Some fine attacking strokes from Daswani accompanied by some smart batting from Gill saw the partnership reach 50 in the 8^th over. Daswani in particular was keen to seize on any errors in line and length from the Chinese attack.

Hong Kong were well set at 80 for no loss after 11 overs with a total of 170+ looking possible given the hosts talented attacking middle order. The 100 partnership between Daswani and Gill coincided with an excellent half century for Daswani.

Chinese final broke the opening partnership at the start of the 17th with the score on 130 when the impressive Zhongyuan comprehensively bowled Gill for a well-made 35. China’s bowlers battled through the full 20 overs and did well to restrict Hong Kong 161-3.

Yasmin Daswani with an excellent 71 not out held the innings together for Hong Kong and China will be happy with the way that they bowled and fielded in the last 5 overs where at one stage 180+ looked likely.

China’s opening pair of Caiyun and Yanling started off positively against the experienced new ball pairing of Chan and Hill. Chan was the first to make the breakthrough with Caiyun well caught by Ho at mid-off with the score on 14.

Chan picked up hers and Hong Kong’s second wicket with an excellent diving catch by Chan Sau Har at extra cover with the score on 16. Annie Ho grabbed the 3^rd wicket after Yanling chipped the ball to captain Hill at short mid-wicket.

Ho was again in the action taking an athletic catch at mid-off to gift Gill a wicket in her opening over reducing China to 20-4 after 8 overs.

Some excellent batting from Z Chan (35) in the middle part of the innings kept China moving forwards as they finished on 75-5 after 20 overs and her form will be a plus for the team as they move into the later stages of this tournament.

Hong Kong’s fielding display was full of energy throughout with some excellent catches taken and high standards within the inner circle.

Overall, a comprehensive and clinical win for Hong Kong with Daswani the star. For China, they are lessons to be learned from today’s performance and much is expected of them over the weekend.

Result: Hong Kong 161-3 beat China 75-5 by 86 runs

Player of the Match: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)

Full scorecard here: