Thailand registered thrilling one wicket victory over Nepal in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifying region to end Nepal’s chances of 2017 Women World Cup berth. In the match played today at Hong Kong Cricket Club Thailand recorded the biggest chase of the tournament in a seesaw match. Thailad chased 109 run target set by Nepal, thanks to blistering opening from Chatman, and Sutthiraung’s heroics later in the innings. SCORECARD HERE
Batting first Nepal had wonderful outing with the bat. After losing Roshani(2) early in the innings Jyoti Pandey added 33 runs for the second wicket. Jyoti scored 13 runs before getting run out in the 9th over with teams total of 38. Nirmala fell 10 runs later scoring 20 off 20 balls. Indu Verma and Nary Thapa then consolidated and added 33 runs for the 4th wicket. Verma who scored 26 from 36 runs was eventually out in the 18th over trying to up the scoring rate for Nepal.
Nepal scored 34 runs in the last 3 overs to register Nepals highest score in the tournament. Nary Thapa remained not out on 32 off 25 balls with 3 fours and a six, and added 27 runs for the 5th wicket with skipper Rubina Chhetry who made 10 runs from 6 balls which included a six. . .
Sutthiuang bagged 2 wickets for Thailand giving 24 runs. Skipper Tippoch bowled 4 overs for just 13 runs
Chasing a big total Thailand came out all guns blazing as Chantam scored a six and a four in the first two balls of the innings. The first over fetched 19 runs from Thailand, 18 of those coming from Chatnam. Nirmala Shahi dismissed Chatnam in the third over for 23 off 11 balls to bring Nepal back in the game. Saengssakaorat and Boochatham took Thailand past 50 in the 8th over and it seemed Thailand were cruising to victory. But Karuna Bhandari, the player of the match of the previous match against HongKong, turned the tables getting 3 wickets in a single over. Thailand were 54/4 in the 8th over.
Thailand kept losing wickets constantly and were reduced to 62-7 in the 12th over. Sutthiruang who had rescued Thailand from similar situation in the previous match played hero once more. She added 32 runs for the 7th wicket with Liengprasert(11). Number 10 Laomi then added 9 just 7 balls and was dismissed with the scores level. Number 11 Sangsoma got a single off the first ball to take Thailand to a hard fought victory. . Karuna Bhandari ended with 4 wickets while Rubina Chhetry bagged 2 wickets from her expensive 3.4 overs giving away 34 runs.
Sutthiruang who remained not out for 27 runs off 25 balls was awarded the player of the match. Her innings included 2 fours and a six. Sutthiruang had scored unbeaten 23 in the previous match against Nepal to resuce Thailand from 42/7 chasing 76.
Nepal takes on China in the last match of the tournament tomorrow.
