KUWAIT CITY, Feb 3: Kuwait added one more feather in their cap as the ACC U-19 women’s championship was flagged off in a grand style in the presence of many dignitaries. At KOC cricket grounds in Ahmadi, the British Ambassador to Kuwait, HE Frank Baker inaugurated the tournament by striking the ball and then cut the cake to declare the tournament open. The ceremony was attended by the Nepal Ambassador to Kuwait Madhuban P. Paudel, Jeffe Delange, Chairman, Kuwait Cricket Council and officials of KOC cricket committee.
In the first match of the tournament, defending champions & richly talented Nepal women’s U-19 team scored a facile 7 wicket victory over new comers China played at Unity ground Ahmadi.
Winning the toss, Nepal sent China to use the green top Unity wicket and China were soon in trouble as they lost two wickets in 2 overs.

Zhu Lia (14 runs) and Ying Li (13 runs) were the only batters who stood the Nepal attack and China were bundled out for 61 runs in 24 overs. KabitaGautam was the most successful bowler for Nepal as she accounted for 3 wickets for 11 runs while SonuKhadka, SantoshiChaudhary and Sangeeta Gauchan took two wickets each. China got rid of both the Nepal openers quickly but Player of the match KabitaGautam again stood for Nepal by scoring a polished 25 unbeaten runs to guide Nepal to a deserving victory. InduVarma scored 16 runs for Nepal and assisted Kabita very well in posting a quick victory.
A brilliant all round performance with the bat & ball by Kuwait Captain Priyada Murali rocketed Kuwait’s morale as they notch a hard earned win against a talented Qatar team. Bowling with accuracy &swinging the ball both ways, Priyadaran through the Qatar battling line up to notch up five wickets and then scored an unbeaten 38 runs for Kuwait and rightly earned “Player of the match” award.

Thailand also notched a brilliant victory over the fancied Malaysian team at Hubara ground. Nattakan Chantam was the architect of Thailand’s victory. Thailand batted first and scored 120 for theloss of 6 wickets in allotted 25 Overs. In reply Malaysia could muster only 86 runs after losing 9 wickets in their allotted 25 overs losing by 34 runs.
On a chilly and windy afternoon, Kuwait winning the toss let Qatar bat first. Sabreen Zaki & Priyada Murali opened the bowling for Kuwait and both bowled a hostile 6 over spell in which Priyada accounted for both the Qatar openers Yasmeen & Hiral. Sabreen bowling with tremendous speed bowled her heart out to give ample support to Priyada. Midway through, Qatar had lost 5 wickets for 43 runs. It was the tall & lanky Huda Mallikwho scored 20 runs and Manali & Khadija Imtiaz scored valuable 13 runs each for Qatar to post a total of 87 runs.

Chasing 88 to win the match, Mariyam Omar & Priyada Murali opened for Kuwait and posted 40 runs for the first wicket. Kuwait lost two quick wickets but Priyada and Afia Khan took Kuwait to the victory stand without any further loss. Priyada played a scintillating knock to remain unbeaten with 38 runs.
Bhutan upset the applecart of Hong Kong as the wily & canny Bhutanese girls won by a handsome margin of 71 runs. Batting first, Bhutan posted a mammoth 156 runs in 25 overs. One drop batswomen Denchen Wangmoscored the first half century of the tournament by hitting an enterprising 52 runs with the help of 7 fours. Yeshey Wangmo also played well to remain unbeaten with 16 runs. Mariko Hill, Chan Sau ha, Chan Ka Ying took a wicket each for Hong Kong.
The fancied Hong Hong were soon in trouble as they lost both the openers soon but captain Mariko Hill stood among the ruins to score a valiant 22 runs. AnjuGurung&UgyenDema took two wickets each for Bhutan and Hong Kong were made to struggle in making 84 runs.