Hong Kong won toss and elected to bowl

Hong Kong began their final game of the T20 Smash by winning the toss and choosing to bowl first against Myanmar once again. The first game resulted in a 7-wicket win and once again Hong Kong had their preferable option of bowling first. Only one change to the winning line up, Shanzeen Shahzad in as a straight swap for Jaswinder Kaur.
Myanmar opened up with captain Lin Lin Htun and new partner at the top Theint Theint Soe. It was up to Jasmine Titmuss and Hong Kong Captain Mariko Hill to show them no quarter. Up front the Myanmar batsman looked to struggle against the pace, however some wayward extras got them on the scoreboard. But another tight over from Titmuss saw captain Htun back in the pavilion after agonisingly watching the ball hit her pad and roll back onto the stumps removing the legside bail.
However, danger was never far away as Myanmar’s big hitting Zar Lin Win was the next one in. But a quick inswinger from Hill for Soe quickly got the second wicket. It was going well for Hong Kong as Win was out next due to another run out with Yasmin Daswani, fielding a poorly thrown ball, to take off the bails. A few balls later Hong Kong appealed loudly for LBW but it was turned down. Nevertheless Hong Kong remained unfazed and rightly so as Daswani’s throw to keeper Haya Cheung caused the 2nd runout leaving Myanmar 6/4 after 5 overs.
As the openers finished their spells, Hong Kong turned to Kary Chan to keep up the good fortune who pinned Zin Tharapy Khaw in front for LBW to keep the foot on the throat of Myanmar who were 8/5 at the end of the Powerplay.
Alison Siu looked to keep the pressure up with the combination of spin and seam from both ends Hong Kong, loud and jubilant from the success of the early overs, only appealed louder to both umpires and teammates for every ball hitting the pads or missing the bat.
As they reached the halfway mark of the innings, they only added 8 runs after the powerplay, getting to 16/5 after their 10 overs faced. Myanmar continued to play within themselves as their intent and positivity left them, drained by the consistent line and length from the Hong Kong bowlers. Yet Myanmar remained firm, until the return of Betty Chan who quickly dismissed May Poe Poe San by finding the gap her defence. This left Zon Lin and Thae Thae Aung to shepherd the tail for the next 6 overs with Myanmar 28/6.
Myanmar managed to dig in and build a relatively stable partnership and reached 37/6 after 17 overs. Eventually Myanmar finished their innings with 46/8 after 20 overs.
Hong Kong opened up once again with the successful partnership from the last game, Bella Poon and Yasmin Daswani. Zin Tharapy Khaw and Zon Lin opened the bowling for Myanmar. Hong Kong started with intent with both batsmen looking to strike the wider balls hard.
Khaw drew first blood with Poon top edging a pull shot to Lin at backward square. Shanzeen Shahzad came in to join Daswani at the crease and try to keep the intent up. Hong Kong played well up to the end of the powerplay reaching 28/1 after 6 overs. Lin and Khaw quickly bowled out their permitted overs as Hong Kong reached 44/1 after 8 overs and with the very 1st ball of the 9th over, Hong Kong won the match with a 4 from Daswani. Hong Kong secured 5th place with a 9 wicket win against Myanmar.
Scorecard
Notable Performances
Yasmin Daswani – 24 off 26 ballsThae Thae Aung – 14 off 22Shanzeen Shahzad – 13 off 13Jasmine Titmuss – 4-2-5-3Kary Chan – 4-0-9-1Mariko Hill – 3-0-8-1Betty Chan – 2-0-2-1
Up next for the Hong Kong Women’s team is the ICC Women’s Asia Qualifier in February, where Hong Kong will look to progress to the World Cup Qualifiers against the likes of Thailand, UAE, Nepal, China, Malaysia and Kuwait - be sure to follow and show your support!