Hong Kong’s women give coach cause for optimism despite rain-hit defeat in T20 warm-up
- Nepal win final of Malaysia Women’s T20I Quadrangular Series thanks for torrential downpour
- But coach Andy Cottam believes side’s batting and bowling will stand up to tough test in World Cup qualifiers
Hong Kong lost to Nepal by 13 runs in a rain-hit final at the Malaysia Women’s T20I Quadrangular Series, but gave coach Andy Cottam cause for optimism heading into this week’s World Cup qualifying tournament.
Having seen his side put on a competitive 101 for six, he then watched as his bowlers failed to capitalise on the early wicket of Kajal Shresta, who was trapped in front by seamer Iqra Sahar in the first over of Nepal’s chase.
Sita Rana Magar and Indu Barma benefited from some sloppy fielding and loose deliveries to propel the score to 37 in the sixth over, and a torrential downpour on Saturday scuppered Hong Kong’s hopes of a comeback, forcing the game to be called off with Nepal ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target.
The tournament, which also included Kuwait, served as vital preparation ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Regional Qualifier, where Hong Kong are in Group B alongside Thailand, China, Myanmar, and Kuwait.
Group A is made up of the hosts, along with Bahrain, Bhutan, Nepal, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The top two from each group will progress to the semi-finals, and the winners of those will advance to next year’s 10-team global qualifier.
“Had that game continued, it would have been an excellent game of cricket,” Cottam, the Hong Kong coach, said.
Indeed, Hong Kong’s bowling, especially in the middle of the innings, was their strongest suit across their four matches. In their final group stage game, they conceded a mere 26 runs on the way to taking Kuwait’s last nine wickets.
Two days before that, they bowled Malaysia out for 68 in what was arguably one of their best bowling displays in recent times.
“Kary [Chan] as a captain has six or seven bowlers to turn to. We’ve probably never had those options before,” Cottam said.
With five wickets each, Iqra Sahar and Maryam Bibi ended the tournament as Hong Kong’s joint-highest wicket takers. After struggling for consistency in the early stages of their international careers, both have flourished in their respective roles for Hong Kong’s bowling unit in the past year.
While Sahar has found control and regular breakthroughs with the new ball, Bibi has enjoyed most of her success in the middle overs. Bibi took two wickets in each of Hong Kong’s two wins, including that of Kuwait’s premier batter Maryam Omar who had no answer for an outswinger that angled in before straightening to hit her off stump.
Even with Hong Kong’s growth as a bowling unit, questions remain over the batting.
Kary Chan’s 34 against Nepal in an opening day loss was their highest individual score of the tournament, but they lost their last eight wickets for 29 runs. More alarming was their collapse from a score of 34 without loss to 75 all out against Kuwait.
Cottam, however, believes there is plenty of reason for optimism heading into their first game against Myanmar on Thursday, and China the day after.
“For us to get 100 [in the final] was the benchmark we ticked as a batting group,” he said. “It’s a good score on the wickets we are playing on and key players are still not performing. Imagine if they do perform. We’ll be looking at 120, 130, or possibly 140.”
Hong Kong, to their credit, held their innings together in the final through Marina Lamplough and Shanzeen Shahzad, and their contributions should go some way to addressing an over-reliance on their top order, something they need to do before they play pre-tournament favourites Thailand in the last group game.
