Thailand vs Hong Kong – Match Report

Thailand won the toss and elected to bat

On a hot Thursday morning at AIT, Hong Kong came up against tournament favourites Thailand. With an unbeaten record so far in this tournament, Thailand are the hot favourites to qualify and Hong Kong made two changes to the playing XI to try change their fortunes in the tournament. Both Mehreen Yousaf and Annie Ho came in for Alison Siu and Marina Lamplough.

Thailand opened with the Natthakan Chantham and Naruemol Chaiwai with Jasmine Titmuss and Betty Chan opening the bowling for Hong Kong. With the exception of a boundary in the first over, Hong Kong started tightly with Thailand only adding 18 to the scoreboard in the powerplay. Kary Chan and Annie Ho came on to relieve Chan and Titmuss, however, Chan was quickly replaced as too many loose deliveries had allowed Thailand to creep back into the game. Ruchitha Venkatesh replaced Chan and looked to tighten down one end as Thailand reached 45/0 after 10 overs.

Thailand slowly returned to form and were showing why they were the dominant team in the region and continued to threaten the boundaries as Hong Kong stuck to their aggressive tactics. Mehreen Yousaf quickly joined the bowling attack after missing out on the first 2 games of the tournament and Thailand continued to target the boundaries without any resistance.

After a quick drinks break, Betty Chan returned for her final over and got the breakthrough with Chantham hitting a ball straight to Yousaf at Square Leg. With Thailand at 70/1 after 14 overs, Chanida Sutthiruang joined Chaiwai at the crease and looked to steady the innings as Thailand, on 76/1, approached a big score with 4 overs remaining in the game.

Titmuss returned in the 17th looking to limit the damage that Thailand were trying to inflict on Hong Kong at the end of the innings. Pull To looked to tighten up the other side as the batters struggled with her lack of pace. This caused another breakthrough for Hong Kong as Sutthiruang mistimed a big shot straight into the hands of Annie Ho at Long Off.

This brought Captain Sonnarin Tippoch to the crease to help see Thailand to a score over 100. With Thailand on 90/2 after 18 overs, Tippoch and Chaiwai were in a prime position to really extend their score but a great over from Titmuss saw them only add 3 to their total. Pull To was entrusted to keep Thailand from reaching their 100, but poor field placement allowed Tippoch to hammer a 4 to the empty Mid Wicket boundary. Thailand finished on 105/3 off their 20 overs.

Hong Kong opened the batting with Yasmin Daswani and Bella Poon against Chanida Sutthiruang and Nattaya Bootchatham. Looking to guide the ball to third man, Poon instead found first slip and Pull To shortly followed her back to the pavilion as she offered a straightforward catch to the cover fielder. With Hong Kong on the back foot, further mayhem ensued with both Kary Chan and Mariko Hill ajudged run out and LBW respectively.

With Hong Kong 4/4 after the first 3 overs, it was up to Yasmin Daswani and Jasmine Titmuss to find some stability and turn the tide against spinners Sonnarin Tippoch and Suleeporn Laomi. Unfortunately, Thailand struck first with Titmuss bottom edging a pull shot into the keeper’s gloves.

Ruchitha Venkatesh came into bat after a promotion up the order from the last game and struck a four in her first few balls to take the score to 11/5 off 7 overs. Daswani and Venkatesh, wary of the situation, desperately tried to stabilise the Hong kong Kong situation. Lady luck switch sides for a fleeting moment as Tippoch dropped a catch at extra cover to give the Hong Kong batters a reprieve.

This didn’t last long as Thailand struck once again as Venkatesh was bowled for Boochatham’s 3^rd wicket. Hong Kong’s innings didn’t improve as Thailand turned the screw and completed a thorough 82 run victory.

Hong Kong now play on the 25^th of Feb against newcomers Kuwait at the same ground, Asian Institute of Technology.

Notable Performances

Naruemol Chaiwai - 30 off 41

Natthakan Chantham - 57 off 58

Nattaya Boochatham – 3.1-1-3-4

Suleeporn Laomi – 4-1-7-2