Nepal vs Hong Kong

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat

With Hong Kong looking to get their first win of the tournament, their opponents for Game 4, Nepal, would always be a tough game. Hong Kong made one change to their starting team with Marina Lamplough coming in for Ruchitha Venkatesh to sure up the batting.

Openers Bella Poon and Yasmin Daswani were sent in to open up the batting against the left arm spin of Sita Rana Magar and the swing of Kabita Kunwar. After a cautious start into the game by Hong Kong, Daswani and Poon played firmly down the ground as Hong Kong reached 19/0 after the Powerplay.

Nairry Thapa quickly came on to replace R. Magar as Nepal were trying to look for a breakthrough. Thapa got it as a shorter delivery from her was mispulled by Poon into the hands of Square Leg. Pull To came into partner Daswani as Hong Kong looked to steadily accumulate their total. However, Thapa’s second over claimed To as her second victim as she was bowled by a fuller delivery.

Vice-Captain Kary Chan came to the crease as Hong Kong were looking to avoid a repeat of their batting innings against Thailand. With Hong Kong 30/2 at the halfway stage, Daswani and Chan needed to establish the partnership but Daswani was well caught at cover by Sarita Magar.

Once again it was up to the leadership group to get HK to us through to a good total. However, Chan was quickly caught at Mid Off once again off Thapa. Hong Kong’s Marina Lamplough came in to steady the ship and was playing down the ground positively but Hill ran past one as was promptly stumped with Thapa getting her 5^th wicket. Jasmine Titmuss followed immediately after as Thapa got her 6^th wicket as Titmuss missed a straight ball.

Mehreen Yousaf came in to partner Lamplough as Hong Kong reached the 14^th over with a score of 38/6 after 14 overs. Lamplough took charge as she tried to push Hong Kong to a competitive total. Hong Kong reached 52-6 with 3 overs remaining. However, with 13 balls left, Lamplough tried to launch a ball over the bowlers head but missed as the ball struck off stump instead.

With 2 overs remaining, Jen Davies and Yousaf tried to see them off and helped Hong Kong reach 62/7 after their 20 overs as Davies was stumped off the final ball of their over.

Nepal chasing 63 to win opened with Kajal Shrestha and Sita Rana Magar against Hong Kong’s Jasmine Titmuss and Betty Chan. Titmuss quickly found her stride trapping Shrestha LBW in her second over which brought Indu Barma to the crease. Titmuss struck again two balls later with Sita Rana Magar chipping straight to Mariko Hill at Mid On.

Annie Ho and Kary Chan were called upon after the 4^th over to keep up the pressure as Barma and Aspari Begum tried to keep the scoreboard ticking over. After reaching 12/2 after the powerplay, Begum was given a lifeline by Titmuss as she was dropped in the covers.

Pull To replaced Ho and Hong Kong immediately reaped the rewards of sustained pressure as she got the wicket of Barma as she ran past one only for Jen Davies to whip off the bails. This left Nepal 20/3 after 9 overs and Kary Chan piled on the pressure as she spun one past Rubina Chhetry and had her stumped as Nepal quickly fell to 25/4 as the 10^th over came around.

It was up to Begum and Sarita Magar to take Nepal to the end of the game. To and Chan kept up the unrelenting pressure and limited Nepal to the odd single. However, To’s 3^rd over was a positive one as Nepal pushed to 42/4 with 7 overs remaining. Captain Hill brought herself back on as she looked to try make the breakthrough alongside Mehreen Yousaf.

Nepal kept pushing until Begum fell to Titmuss after chipping straight to To at Short Cover. Roma Thapa came in against Titmuss with 3 overs to bowl. Mariko Hill came onto bowl which resulted in a wicket as she had Roma Thapa bowled by a Yorker. Nairry Thapa came in to try see off the final runs with Magar. Nepal won the game by 4 wickets and Hong Kong will face Kuwait tomorrow afternoon seeking to get their first win of the tournament.

Notable Performances

Aspari Begum - 24 off 34

Marina Lamplough – 19 off 24

Yasmin Daswani – 16 off 29

Nairry Thapa – 4-0-8-6

Jasmine Titmuss – 3-0-9-3

Sarita Magar - 4-1-7-2