HONG KONG’S KEENU AND MARIKO LIGHT UP ASIA QUALIFIER

HONG KONG’S KEENU AND MARIKO LIGHT UP ASIA QUALIFIER
Hong Kong beat China by 52 runs on the third day of the ICC Women’s World T20 Asia Qualifier in Bangkok thanks to a wonderful century partnership between Keenu Gill and Mariko Hill. Hong Kong now have five points from three matches as they matched Thailand who crushed Malaysia by nine wickets after restricting them to 33 for 9 in 20 overs. Thailand top the table on net run-rate and UAE are in third place after surprising Nepal by five runs.

China started well at AIT after Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat as Yasmin Daswani was caught behind from the bowling of Lyu Zhongyuan for nought in the first over. This brought captain Mariko Hill to the crease to join Keenu Gill and the pair gave a dazzling display of batting as they matched each other stroke for stroke. They shared a partnership of 108 for the second wicket as they were both content to wait for the bad balls and punish them severely as Gill hit five boundaries and Hill hit four. Both of them missed out on fifties as they were both out bowled for 48, Gill facing 50 balls and Hill 54.

The Chinese kept going well in the field and were rewarded for their efforts as they picked up a wicket from the last ball of the innings but Hong Kong had recorded an imposing total of 129 for 4 in their 20 overs.
China struggled with the bat in their last match as they were bowled out for 33 by Malaysia but although they lost a wicket to a run out in the second over, Zhou Caiyun hit out well to score 34 from 40 balls and shared a second-wicket stand of 47 with Liu Xiaonan.
Hong Kong were never under any real pressure from their opponents but China can take heart after reaching 77 for 6 in their 20 overs. Marina Lamplough put the seal on a 52-run win by taking two wickets in an over as she finished with figures of 2 for 9.

Thailand headed the table at the start of the day and they made sure of maintaining their position ahead of Hong Kong on net run-rate by cruising to victory over Malaysia by nine wickets at TCG after allowing them to score only 33 for 9 in 20 overs.
Thailand chose to field first on winning the toss and gained immediate reward as Chanida Sutthiruang took a wicket with the first ball of the innings but Malaysia’s batting effort was undermined during a period of eight balls when they lost three wickets all to run outs without scoring a run as eight for one became eight for four. Their batting line-up was constantly under pressure from some excellent bowling and it appeared at one stage that Ratanaporn Padunglerd would achieve the unique feat of bowling four consecutive maidens but, having bowled three maidens in her first spell, she conceded a single in her final over as she bowled a total of 23 dot balls.

Nattaya Boochatham was equally impressive as she only conceded two runs in her four overs and claimed two wickets as Malaysia did not manage a single boundary in their innings. Nadhirah Naruddin top-scored at number nine as she made 10* from 25 balls after coming in at 13 for 7. Thailand needed only 5.2 overs to record a convincing victory as Nattakan Chantam made batting look easy with an unbeaten 21 from 22 balls as the Thai girls reached their target for the loss of only one wicket.
Thailand and Hong Kong are clearly the early pacesetters in the Asia Qualifier but Nepal were still very much in contention for one of the two places available in the World T20 Qualifier if they could win their last three matches.
Nepal faced United Arab Emirates in the second match of the day at AIT and UAE had given a good account of themselves so far in their first ICC competition as they had some dangerous hitters at the top of the order and had beaten China in their first match.
UAE were soon in trouble against the new ball as they were reduced to 10 for 4 as Rubina Chhetry and Ritu Kanoujiya both took two early wickets.Opener Esha Oza led the recovery with Natasha Cherriath who had first played for her country when she was 12 years old and after the Oza was out for 22 from 27 balls, Nisha Ali also batted well in a sixth-wicket stand of 37 as UAE made a determined 79 for 7 in 20 overs.
Nepal needed to bat sensibly to chase down a target of 80 but they were the higher ranked team and were favourites to win. UAE are a confident side and sensed they had a chance of victory when Nisha Ali took two wickets in the second over and Nary Thapa was then out first ball as Nepal slipped to 11 for 3.
Nepal are the more experienced side at this level and knew if they could build a partnership they could still win the match, but they lost wickets regularly as all Humairia Tasneem’s bowling changes seemed to bring a wicket The captain herself took two crucial wickets as she claimed 2 for 10 and Nisha Ali returned to bowl two economical overs to keep the pressure up.
The match still went down to the final over and Ritu Kanojiya was still capable of winning the match for Nepal as she had hit two boundaries and was on strike with 10 needed from the last six balls. She hit a two from the first ball and kept the strike even though a wicket was lost to a run out. Tasneem then dropped a catch as she stretched at mid-wicket but the number 11 could not score from the last three balls as Nepal finished on 74 for 9.
UAE had beaten the fancied Nepal side by five runs and Nisha Ali was named player of the match for her 17 runs and figures of two for 10. Nepal are still looking for their first win of the tournament but UAE now stand in third place on four points after winning two matches out of three.
With Nepal losing today, Hong Kong and Thailand can now reach the final in this competition and book their places in the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier in Netherlands in June if they both win their next matches on Friday. Thailand face China at TCG while Hong Kong face UAE at AIT who will be looking to cause another upset that would keep them in contention for a place in the top two.