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Hong Kong and Bangladesh breeze into semifinals
13th July 2007
HONG Kong, the pre-tournament favourites, and Bangladesh booked their places in the semifinals of the inaugural Asian Women's Cricket championship in Johor Bahru on Friday.
The former British Colony scored a six-wicket victory over Thailand in their Group A match at the Johor Cricket Academy ground while Bangladesh crushed Singapore by 10 wickets in a Group B encounter at the Temenggong Ibrahim Teachers Training Institute.
Their respective wins yesterday has put Hong Kong and Bangladesh on top of their groups and with one more preliminary round match to go, both are assured of a place in the top two, which is needed to make it to the semi-finals.
Hong Kong, who looked so comfortable in their convincing 114 runs win over Malaysia on Wednesday, will play Nepal on Sunday to complete their group fixtures while
Bangladesh who had no problem against Singapore on Friday will take on China.
 While the two teams celebrate their entry into the last four, hosts Malaysia climbed onto a precarious platform after their opening match defeat against Hong Kong on Wednesday and now face mounting pressure to beat Nepal on Saturday (14th July) and Thailand on Monday for a slot in the semifinals.
"Nepal area a strong side too and much will depend on our bowlers like Winnie (Winifred Anne Duraisingam), Zoe (Zoe Anne Landy) and Aishah (Nur Aishah) to get the early wickets. However, we must bat through and score as many runs unlike against Hong Kong," said Malaysian team manager Lt Col Gerard Denis Singam.
Hong Kong's superiority and class was all too much for the young Thai side and even though the Thais put up a creditable fight it was never going to be enough against Hong Kong, a side made up of expatriates drawn from the traditional cricketing power. They won the toss and put Thailand to bat and the Thais, led by skipper Tippo Sonarin and opener Arisa Lennazang had put 20 runs on the board, nine for Arisa and 11 for Sonarin.
 But the Hong Kong bowlers could not be kept out for long and some great bowling from Chan Sau Har and skipper Neisha Pratt provided the touch just when they needed it. In the end Thailand were restricted to 40 all out in 26.2overs.
Thailand marshalled by their inspirational captain Sonarin defended their 40 with pride and determination but once opener Emma Philips hit two boundaries for a total of 15 runs, the wall started crumbling.
Then New Zealand-born Neisha came on and together with Keenu Gill they brought Hong Kong home safe and sound for a place in the semi-finals at 41 for for in 9.4 overs.
"All of our bowlers with the exception of (captain) Neisha Pratt are Under-18 and their lack of experience of bowling on turf showed at the beginning but once they worked things out, they made things happen," said Hong Kong's coach Lal Jayasinghe.
Bangladesh's had it easy against Singapore with a 10 wicket victory. Putting Singapore to bat they pinned the Singaporeans at 26 for eight in the alloted 30 overs before wrapping it all up in just a matter of 7.3 overs with no loss.
Salam Khatun's 17 and Panna Ghosh's six runs was just about enough to put Singapore out of their misery.
Scorecard
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