KATHMANDU, Nov 28: Nepal women’s cricket team ended its ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifying Series Asia Region journey with a win over Hong Kong by 36 runs in the third place playoff on Monday. 

Nepal failed to advance into the qualifying tournament to be held in Netherlands in June next year as it failed to be one of the top two teams. Nepal finished with six points on third while Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) qualified with nine and eight runs respectively. 

At the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, Hong Kong won the toss and invited Nepal to bat first in which Nepal made 94-5 in the allotted 20 overs. 

Player-of-the-match Nary Thapa top scored with 38 runs off 34 balls, which included five boundaries. Skipper Rubina Chhetri Belbashi hit 15 runs off 10 balls with two boundaries, while Karuna Bhandari scored 14 runs off 21 balls. The other double-digit hitter for Nepal was Kajal Shrestha who made 12 runs off 35 balls. 

Openers Jyoti Pandey and Sita Rana Magar contributed two and three runs respectively. Ritu Kanoujiya also got two runs. 

Skipper Marko Hill and Marina Marina Lamplough collected two wickets each for Hong Kong while Chan Sau Har picked one. 

Chan also scored the highest for Hong Kong with 13 runs off 24 balls with a four while Kary Chan hit 11 runs off 13 balls with a boundary. Hill, opener Shanzeen Shahzad, and Emma Lai also contributed seven, five, and five runs respectively for Hong Kong. 

The other opener Jenefer Davies and Bella Poon made a run each. 

Karuna was the pick of the Nepali bowlers as she took three Hong Kong wickets while Sabnam Rai, Sita, Nary, and Ritu pocketed a wicket each for Nepal. 

 
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