Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat

Looking to string together some wins, Hong Kong were up against home and T20 Smash favourites Thailand. Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bowl first with 3 changes to their playing XI. Annie Ho, Jasmine Titmuss and Haya Cheung come in for Alison Siu, Shanzeen Shahzad and Jaswinder Kaur.
On a fresh wicket at the muggy Terdthai Cricket Ground, skipper Mariko Hill and Betty Chan took the new ball against the experienced opening partnership of Natthakan Chantham and Naruemol Chaiwai.
Both Chaiwai and Chantham looked to pressure the inner ring fielders by punching the ball back down the ground. By the end of the Powerplay, Thailand looked firmly in control as they reached 36 for no loss. Skipper Hill turned to Jasmine Titmuss and Kary Chan to stem the flow of runs and regain control of the scoreboard. However Thailand continued to be dominant as Hong Kong continued to bowl too short as Chantham and Chaiwai continued to hit the straight and square boundary sweepers with ease.
At the midway point, Thailand were 58/0 and the Hong Kong bowlers could not stop the opening pair as they continued to rotate and accumulate. Misfields and fumbles continued to plague the Hong Kong innings as Thailand moved to 77/0 after 13 overs.
Ruchitha Venkatesh, a key performer in the last 2 games in the T20 smash, brought about the breakthrough with Chantham caught LBW off her off spin. Chaiwai on 47 was joined by Nattaya Boochatam and continued in the same fashion to punch the ball down the ground. With 5 overs left, Thailand looked in control at 85/1 and ready to take the game away from Hong Kong. But Hong Kong’s spinners Betty and Kary Chan had other ideas. B. Chan claimed the wicket of Chaiwai who was bowled 5 short of her half century, this was quickly followed 2 overs later by Kary Chan who spun one past the outside edge of Chanida Sutthiruang only for Haya Cheung to take a quick stumping.
The innings ended as Thailand captain Sornnarin Tippoch was run out in the last ball of the innings with her team scoring 107/4 off their 20 overs.
Hong Kong’s opening batsmen Yasmin Daswani and Mehreen Yousaf looked to start solidly at the top against Thailand’s Chanida Sutthiruang and Ratanaporn Padunglerd, however Yousaf was bowled facing her first ball. Former captain Emma Lai joined Daswani at the crease looking to improve upon her fortunes from yesterday. Looking once again for a base from which to build the innings, Hong Kong carefully looked to see off the powerplay overs from which only 1 wicket fell. Lai found herself stumped, unable to get off strike as captain Tippoch and Sainammin Saenya continued to put pressure on the Hong Kong batting line up as Hong Kong were 14/2 off the powerplay.
Daswani continued to rotate and vice-captain Kary Chan continued to support her as Thailand’s bowlers struggled to find their lines. Chan and Daswani added some momentum to the scoreboard as we approached the halfway mark moving the score to 26 after 8 overs.
Thailand introduced spin soon after in the form of Nattaya Boochatham which worked as Daswani was bowled trying to pull a full ball. Hong Kong found themselves 27/3 at the halfway mark as the leadership group of Mariko Hill and Chan looked to keep the Hong Kong score moving along. But a run out ended their partnership before it really began. Bella Poon came in to replace Mariko Hill and reignite any lingering hope in Hong Kong’s chase.
Onnicha Kamchophu joined her fellow spinner Boochatham, as Hong Kong continued to collapse as both Poon and Jasmine Titmuss fell quickly in succession leaving Hong Kong 34/6 in the 13th over. Betty Chan joined Kary as her 4th batting partner of the day. But only lasted a few balls as mid-on moved around to take the catch.
With 3 wickets left, Ruchitha Venkatesh came in to try and support Chan in trying to get Hong Kong to their total but once again was caught, this time at extra cover. With both Annie Ho and Haya Cheung left to bat, Hong Kong’s last hopes didn’t stay for long as Ho was bowled on her first ball and Chan was eventually bowled as Hong Kong finished 42 all out after 16.1 overs losing by 65 runs.
Scorecard
Hong Kong’s next game on the 16th is up against Myanmar once again at Terdthai Cricket Ground.
Notable Performances
Nattaya Boochatam - 13*(18 balls) and 4-1-4-4 (Thailand)Naruemol Chaiwai - 45 (52) (Thailand)Natthakan Chantham - 36 (41) (Thailand)Arriya Yenyueak - 0.1-0-0-1 (Thailand)