KATHMANDU, Feb 26: Nepal national women’s cricket team has moved up to the third place in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Region Qualifier defeating China by five runs in Thailand on Monday. 

At the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, China won toss, elected to field first, and was presented a target of 78 runs by Nepal for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, China was limited to 72 runs for the loss of six overs in the allotted 20 overs. 

Only three Nepali batswomen reached the double figures with no one hitting more than 18 runs. Opener Kajal Shrestha hit 18 runs off 32 balls with a four, while she was supported by the other opener Sita Rana Magar who scored 11 runs off 25 deliveries. 

Bindu Rawal added 10 runs off 16 deliveries including a four. 

The other batswomen failed to hit big runs for Nepal. Indu Barma scored eight runs off 10 balls, Nary Thapa was not out for seven runs off nine deliveries, Sarita Magar added six runs off seven balls with a six, captain Rubina Chhetry hit five runs off seven balls with a four, while Apsari Begam and Kabita Kunwar hitting three runs each for the team. 

Wang Meng was the pick of the Chinese bowlers as she pocketed two wickets giving away 13 runs in four overs, while she was matched by Han Lili taking two wickets conceding 14 runs in four overs. Also, Wu Juan, Li Jie and Li Haoye all claimed a wicket each for the team. 

In reply, even though Zhang Mei scored the highest 33 runs off 39 balls including two fours, China could not win the match as only one batswoman other than Mei were out hitting single digit runs. 

Mei completed her 33 runs including two fours, while she was supported by opener Caiyun Zhou as she hit 18 runs off 61 deliveries. 

Fengfeng Song added six runs off five balls with a four, Zhang Chan scored three runs off four balls, captain Huang Zhuo contributed three runs off eight deliveries, and Lili scored two runs off three balls. 

Sarita was the standout bowler in the match and she propelled Nepal to an unconvincing win saved by the bowling department as she picked up three wickets giving away 19 runs in four overs. Kunwar was the only other bowler to pick up a wicket as she claimed one conceding nine runs in three overs. 

In the other matches played on the same day, the host Thailand defeated Malaysia by 87 runs, while Hong Kong registered its first win of the tournament beating Kuwait by nine wickets. 

Thailand is at the top of the table with 10 points from five matches, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nepal are second and third with eight points each from five matches. The other teams below Nepal are out of the contention to reach the next round. 

Nepal will now face Kuwait, while the UAE and Thailand go head-to-head. Nepal needs to defeat Kuwait to go through, while the UAE needs to defeat Thailand by big margin to go through, if Nepal is to win its game. 

Only two top teams will reach the next round. 

 
• cricket
 
• icc_women's_t20_world_cup
 
• asia_qualifiers