KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Riding on Suleeporn Laomi’s magnificent leg spin bowling, Thailand scaled to the final of the ACC U-19 Women’s championship. In the semifinal played at KOC Hubara ground at Ahmadi, Thailand comfortably defeated host Kuwait by 71 runs. Winning the toss, Kuwait elected to field first. Left arm bowler Sabreen Zaski bowled a tight spell of medium fast bowling and got two wickets in her first spell. Nattakan Chantan the opener played well to score 33 runs and Chanida Suthiruang scored 15 runs for Thailand. Sabreen Zaki bowled well for Kuwait and captured 3 for 16 runs while Afia Khan’s nagging line got her 3 wickets and Priyada Murali accounting for 2 wickets.
Kuwait openers Khansa Irfan & Priyada took the score to 18 when Priyada was beautifully caught at first slip. Thereafter it was Suleeporn’s fantastic spin bowling which resulted in the downfall of Kuwait batswomen like nine pins. Afia top scored for Kuwait with 15 runs. Suleeporn took 6 for 3 runs in her 3 overs and was declared player of the match for the second successive time.

Nepal, playing in front of more than 800 hundred supporters lived up to their reputation and managed to overcome Bhutan’s total in the last over of the match. Batting first, Bhutan scored a challenging 97 runs, mainly through a dashing 49 runs from Dechem Wagmo who hit 5 boundaries. Yesney Wagmo supported her and scored a polished 26 runs. Saraswati picked up 2 wickets for Nepal.
Excellent bowling by Anju Gurung & Tsering tied down the free scoring Nepalee batswomen but Rubina Chettry stood among the ruins to score 20 runs while experienced Sonu Khadka proved her experience as she stood till the last over to take Nepal to the final. Anju Gurung took 2 for 19 runs. Dechem Wangmo was adjudged as the player of the match for her dashing batting qualities.
Malaysia defeated Hong Kong by 65 runs to finish 7th in ongoing ACC U-19 Women’s championship. Batting first, Malaysia posted a challenging 111 runs and that was mainly due to a late order onslaught of 29 runs by Nurshyazwina. Mariko Hill & Koi Hoi Ki took 2 wickets each for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong were shot out for a paltry 46 runs. Malaysian captain Winifred Anne wrecked the Hong Kong batting with a rich 4-wicket haul. Mariana Lakie 2-8 & NurNadhira 2 for 8 were the other wicket takers.
China took the 5th position by defeating Qatar by 50 runs in a match played at Unity ground. China batted first to score 156 runs and then shot out the spirited Qatar for 106. China’s batting power horse Ding XiuXiu scored a quick fire 42 runs while opener Li Yang Ying hit a painstaking 36 runs. Middle order batswoman Ruan Xiang’s attacking 31 runs helped China to post a mammoth total. Akansha Anil was the pick of Qatar’s bowling as she took 5 wickets for 23 runs.
Qatar’s captain Huda Mallik responded well to score a dashing 37 runs and along with Manali Kadam the duo added 45 runs for the 5th wicket. But the experienced Chinese wrapped up the innings to win comfortably. For China, Qing Yi Qian took 2 for 26, Chan Hiu 2 for 23 & Ding Xiu 2 for 22. Ding Xiu Xiu was declared Player of the match for her all round performance with bat & ball.
3rd / 4th Playoff – Kuwait vs Bhutan at 8.00 am. Final - Nepal vs Thailand at 1.00 pm