HONG KONG GIVE QATAR NO QUARTER
In what was a virtual knock-out match for a place in the semi-final of the ACC U-19 Women's Championship, Hong Kong beat Qatar by 23 runs to advance to the real knock-out stage.
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| Hong Kong's captain Keenu Gill lets fly |
Qatar won an important toss on what was a cold Prem morning and made good use of the conditions to put Hong Kong under pressure. Fielders were close in, with only fine leg on the boundary and the use of a short third man really blocked a run-route for Hong Kong.
Erratic Rishika Reddy - a sugar and spice – got the initial breakthrough, having Weeraya Ho caught at first slip and then with extra pace and bounce, Jaswinder Kaur was forced to play on. Her run-up was short and long, fast and faster. Her length and line all over the wicket but she got it right enough times to trouble all the batsmen she bowled to. Even when she lost rhythm she got away with it, one delivery bouncing twice on its way to castling Chan Sau Har. (Yes, out, according to the Laws of Cricket)
Hong Kong's captain Keenu Gill was the big wicket, of course, averaging 83 before the start of the match at a run a ball, and she batted knowing that a lot, maybe too much, depended on her. She was positive from start but as wickets fell it became a question of who could stay with Keenu while Qatar kept plugging away.
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| Qatar's Safa Patel bowls |
Safa Patel's another one of Qatar's Dayville's kind of bowlers, bowling off-spin and off-cutters at varying pace. When she had Keenu Gill dink a delivery off the leading edge to square leg where Anjali Nair took an excellent catch, Safa Patel lay down in ecstasy and Qatar were on top.
Mariko Hill fell to an excellent caught and bowled by Patel, Ishiita Gidwani was bowled off her pads and with half the overs gone and half the side gone the only thing in HK's favour was high run-rate of four an over.
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| Rishika Reddy gets Godiva Li after her breezy 17 |
It became game of survival for Hong Kong as Qatar fielded and bowled well (in between the mounting wides). Godiva Li, making a comeback after a hamstring injury, broke the shackles with two pulls in two overs off Akshata Sanguelkar and Hong Kong's last five overs brought 25 runs.
Hong Kong might be a largely one-woman batting side but they are undoubtedly a multi-woman bowling attack with Godiva Li back. But Godiva pulled up again with a recurrence of her pulled hamstring five deliveries through her third over. The first ball by her replacement, spinner Dominique McCusker, bowled Ishaani Mittal through the gate and Hong Kong were on their way.
Hong Kong had a more conservative field than Qatar but the way Aysha Mohammad plays, at her best, it doesn't matter where they are, she has the ability to find the gaps whenever she plays a positive stroke. One particular pull, played off Mariko Hill, came on to the bat fast and came off even faster. It simply raced to the boundary. She has but one weakness apparently: she plays across the line
Hong Kong's talisman Chan Sau Har has the priceless ability to make things happen – took a wicket with her third ball and Qatar were 44-3 in the 14th over. Both sides are unsure against spin but Qatar were particularly troubled by Chan Sau's slow-left arm. She took the 4th wicket and when Ishitaa Gidwani bowled Yasmeen Gul for 0, playing across the line, Hong Kong had wrested control.
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| Chan Sau Har gets a wicket and Nahan Arif's face says it all |
Qatar passed 50 in the 19th over for the loss of five wicket as Hong Kong slowly turned the screws. With five overs left 43 were wanted. Mariko Hill came back from the Garden End and with her third ball Safa Patel was bowled and it was pretty much over for Qatar. At 13, Hill is quite a bowler. Qatar's U-19s have surprised many with their ability and if they maintain their rate of progress will be serious challengers for Asian honours in the near future.
"It was 50/50 for a long time," Hong Kong's captain Keenu Gill said afterwards, "Qatar really bowled and fielded well and until we got their opener (Aysha Mohammad, 16 off 36 balls)we could not be sure of winning. We won because of mental strength as much as anything, our batting failures made us try even harder with the ball."
ACC U-19 Women's Championship 2008
Hong Kong v Qatar at Prem Oval
HONG KONG WON BY 23 RUNS
Qatar won the toss and elected to field
Hong Kong: 99 for 8 off 25 overs (R.Reddy 4-22, S. Patel 3-16)
Qatar: 73 for 8 off 25 overs )K.Gill 2-15, C.S. Har 3-8)
Player of the Match; Chan Sau Har (Hong Kong)
Scorecard
Filed December 19 2008
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