Hong Kong suffer second defeat in women’s World Cup Asia cricket qualifier as China earn first victory
Thailand lose for the first time but still lead the standings in the race to reach the global qualifying event
Hong Kong fell to their second defeat of the ICC Women’s World Cup Asia T20 qualifiers, going down narrowly to Nepal as the second phase of round-robin matches began at Mission Road on Thursday.
The home side’s hopes of reaching the global qualifiers were helped, though, by Thailand’s loss by three wickets to China, who gained their first victory of the four-team tournament yesterday.
Chan Ka-man took three wickets as Hong Kong restricted the Nepalese to 75 for eight in their 20 overs. However, Hong Kong faltered in their run chase, losing wickets regularly and were finally all out for 69 in 17.4 overs to lose by six runs.
“It was disappointing today. I thought we bowled and fielded really well. We just panicked on the bat. It was uncharacteristic of the girls today,” said Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke.
“Credit to Nepal, they kept fighting and fought really well. It shows how close this competition is. These are four sides which competed very well.