KATHMANDU, FEB 17 -
Nepal’s hopes of winning the ACC Women’s Premier cricket tournament
title ended with a 69-run loss to China at the Gymkhana ground in Chaing
Mai, Thailand, on Sunday.
Electing to bat first, China made mediocre 159-8 in 40 overs before
dismissing Nepal for 90 runs in 36.1 overs. China will now play for the
title match against Thailand who have better net run-rate but equal
eight points from four games.
Thailand beat Iran by 161 runs to set Tuesday’s title decider. Nepal,
meanwhile, fell to fourth on four points with a game to spare. Hong
Kong, who also have four points, hold third position on better net
run-rate.
China failed to build a big partnership but, despite the setback, they
were able to put on a competitive total. Zhang Mei top scored for China
with 31 off 57 balls while Liu Xiaonan contributed 65-ball 26. Zou Miao
and Wang Meng also chipped in crucial 15 runs each to their total. Nepal
employed seven bowlers with Saraswoti Chaudhary and Karuna Bhandari
taking two wickets apiece. Sonu Khadka, Rubina Chhetry and Sita Magar
also grabbed one wicket each for nepal.
Neera Rajopadhyay top scored with a painstaking 34-ball 16 in a hapless
Nepali batting. Karuna Bhandari (15) was the next best with the bat
while Mamta Chaudhary (11) was the only other batswoman to score in
double figure.
Yu Miao (3-22) and Han Lili (3-21) were pick of the Chinese bowlers.
Zhou Haijie also claimed two while Wang Meng and Wu Juan snared one
scalp each for China. Nepal skipper Rubina Chhetry (6), who struck a
fastest century in domestic cricket last month, blamed lack of proper
training for her team’s disappointing performance.
Nepal coach Umesh Raj Upadhyaya said the green and bouncy pitch was too
much to handle for his side. “We are used to playing at flat pitches at
the Tribhuvan University ground but it’s just the opposite here,” said
Upadhyaya.
Meanwhile, the former prince Paras Shah was among the handful of fans to cheer the Nepali team.
No comments:
Post a Comment