Hong Kong vs Malaysia

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bowl

After a delayed start, Hong Kong looked to end their tournament on a high note with a win against Malaysia. Hong Kong’s Ruchitha Venkatesh came in for Jasmine Titmuss as the only change to the Hong Kong XI.

Captain Mariko Hill opened the bowling alongside Betty Chan as Malaysia’s Wini Duraisingam and Yusrina Yaakop looked to open aggressively against Hong Kong.

Mehreen Yousaf and Kary Chan quickly came on to bowl against the Malaysian pair as they reached 19/0 after the first 3 overs. Chan struck first ball with Yaakop missing her reverse sweep and hitting her front pad for an LBW. Elsa Yee was next in for Malaysia and cautiously continued against the left arm spin of Chan. The next over, Yousaf struck again with the aid of Jenefer Davies and her quick hands dismissing Yee.

Duraisingam didn’t last much longer as she chipped a shot straight to Betty Chan at Mid Wicket off Kary Chan. Christina Baret and Mas Elysa Yasmin looked to stay in but the Hong Kong bowlers gave no quarter as both batters struggled to adapt to the changes in pace. However, the batters dug in and reached 38/3 after 10 overs. The Malyasian pair fought back, pouncing on loose deliveries from bowlers and crept up to 56/3 off 13 overs. With 5 overs left, Malaysia looked to see it through until the end as they kept sweeping the Hong Kong bowlers.

Kary Chan returned and struck once again as Yasmin missed and she struck the stumps. Intan Jaafar came in to bat and tried to keep the scoreboard ticking for Malaysia and again tried to get Baret on strike. Unfortunately, Baret was dismissed in a similar way to Yasmin. Her replacement Intan quickly followed as she was trapped LBW by Betty Chan. This brought Shasha and Zumika Azmi to the crease as Malaysia extended their score to 76/6 with two overs remaining. At the end of their innings Malaysia reached 85/6 off their 20 overs.

Yasmin Daswani and Mariko Hill opened up for the final time this tournament at TCG. Hill was bowled early on as Malaysia Captain Wini Duraisingam looked to bowl full. Nur Nadirah Nasaruddin took the other end and tried to tie up Daswani with her flatter stock deliveries. Duraisingam struck again as Pull To was also bowled, this left Hong Kong 2/2 after 3 overs. Both Daswani and Kary Chan looked to dig in as the Malaysians had done to try chase down their score.

Hong Kong survived the Powerplay with no further loss as Chan and Daswani took HK to 9/2. Intan Jaafar took over from Duraisingam and Arianna Rakquidean from Nasaruddin. Both HK batters looked to rotate as much as possible as the gaps started to appear. At the halfway mark HK reached 35/2 as Malaysia brought in Zumika Azmi to try tie up one end.

Hong Kong kept ploughing on as Malaysia were looking for a way into the Hong Kong batting line up but Chan and Daswani kept plugging away as they kept the scoreboard ticking over. After 13 overs, the score had reached 57/2 as both players had reached their 20 run milestones. Chan however didn’t manage to make it to the end as she chipped to the cover fielder to end her stint at the crease on 26.

Marina Lamplough kept it going in the middle as Daswani kept powering through her innings towards the target. Lamplough fell just short as she mistimed a shot into the Bangkok sky, only to be caught by Mid Wicket. Mehreen Yousaf kept supporting Daswani as Hong Kong needed 7 to win in 14 balls. With 4 needed Yasmin Daswani stepped on her own stumps to end her innings on 31. Ruchitha Venkatesh was tasked with the final few balls alongside Yousaf. Hong Kong won on the penultimate ball as Venkatesh hit through square leg. Hong Kong won by 5 wickets.

Notable Performances

Yasmin Daswani 31 off 56

Kary Chan 26 off 30

Christina Baret 21 off 40

Wini Duraisingam 4-1-10-3

Kary Chan 4-1-11-3

Maryam Bibi 4-0-12-1

*Bold denotes Player of the Match