Nepal 39/10 (Saraswati 11, Neera 5; Tippoch 3/13) lost to Thailand 40/2(Chantam 25, Sita 1/4)
Solace to ACC plans of avoiding mismatches, Nepali Women suffered the ultimate humiliation bowled out for 39, only 9 above their all time worst in International Cricket (set against Bangladesh in ACC Women’s Trophy Final 2007), eventually losing the match by 8 wickets against the mighty Thailand. The match played at newly established RGCC was mostly the recap of Nepal’s previous encounter against Thailand where Nepal bowled out for just 38 runs.
After record shattering batting in the opening match against Iran, Nepal winning the toss chose to bat first. But the Thai bowlers got plenty of early help form the pitch and the Nepali batters were completely at sea against the pace and skills of Boochatham and Sutthiruang.
The immaculate line and length of the Thai bowlers offered no easy runs for Nepali batters were scoring less than a run an over for most of the inning. Opener Chanida Sutthiruang bowled as many 4 maidens in her 6 over spell giving just 3 runs. The very low scoring rate prompted the fall of wickets. Half of Nepal side was back in the pavilion with just 10 runs on board. At that moment it looked as though Nepal would hit their record low-but 16 runs stand between Saraswati Chaudhary and Mamta Thapa for the 8th wicket saved Nepal from added humiliation.
Nepal’s only resistance Saraswati fell as the ninth wicket for 11 runs, which was to be Nepal’s joint top score-along with Extras. None of the other batsmen crossed double digits-with Neera Rajopadhyay being the second highest scorer with 5 runs in Nepal’s innings of misery which lasted 28 overs. For the entire 28 overs-1 hour and 39 minutes-not a single boundary was scored by Nepali batters.
Thailand skipper Sornnarin Tippoch bagged 3 wickets from her 8 overs giving just 13 runs. Chanida Sutthiruang and Nattakan Chantam got two each and Nattaya boochatham got one.
Thailand chased the target in just 13.2 overs. Nattakan Chantam did the bulk of the scoring for the hosts with 25 runs.Thailand to the second victory in a row in another mismatch of the tournament.
