Hong Kong finished in third place in the ACC Women’s Premier 2014 as they beat Nepal by seven wickets in their match at Prem which was a repeat of the third and fourth play-off from the ACC Women’s Championship played at Gymkhana last year. On that occasion Nepal were far superior as they restricted Hong Kong to 32 for 9 in 19 overs and won by eight wickets, but Hong Kong have looked to be a far stronger side this year and deservedly finished in third place by beating Nepal by seven wickets.
Marina Lamplough had already returned figures of 5 for 4 against Iran and she had another good day with 4 for 15 as Nepal were bowled out for 103 in 36.1 overs. Hong Kong were guided to victory by Yip Sze Wan who has a temperament ideally suited to 40-over cricket as she can bat long periods of time but rarely misses the chance to hit a bad ball for four. She was already leading run-scorer in the competition and made an unbeaten 30 in 53 balls with 3 fours, but she was out-scored by Lai Wing Ki who made 40 from 39 balls with 6 fours.
Bhutan won the day’s other match as they beat Iran by five wickets at Royals in a competitive match after Iran’s opener Hanieh Golzari had batted two hours for 31 as her side reached 97 but Bhutan claimed fifth place in the competition by reaching 98 for 5 with 3.4 overs remaining.
The only match remaining is tomorrow’s contest between Thailand and China with the title on the line as the two unbeaten sides in the competition meet to decide the first winners of the ACC Women’s Premier.