Brilliant Hong Kong despatch of Nepal by nine wickets to book a final berth against China

A superb bowling performance followed by a clinical chase allowed Hong Kong to despatch Nepal by nine wickets in their ACC Women's Twenty20 semi-final at Kuwait today.

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field at the Hubara Oval on a fine day with a cool wind blowing. The Hong Kong players, sporting black arm-bands in respect of the victims of the Christchurch earthquake that had struck the home nation of their captain this week, faced the unbeaten Nepal team that was receiving plenty of local support with over 100 Nepali spectators ringing the ground.

The Nepali openers, the right-handed Neera Rajopadhyaya and the left-handed Sita Magar were in good knick but Hong Kong's bowlers were looking strong following dominant performances against Oman, Bhutan and Singapore. Ball dominated bat in the early exchanges and although no wickets were lost, the Nepali batters found scoring difficult. Connie Wong finished her first spell with only 8 runs coming off three overs. Hong Kong weren't helping their cause with a number of dropped catches and missed stumpings, but they continued to restrict the flow of runs and only 44 runs were conceded off the first 11 overs.

Chan Sau Har finally got the first breakthrough when she bowled Sita Magar for 18 as Nepal reached 46-1 from 12 overs. Neera was next to fall when she was run-out by Connie Wong for 25, leaving Nepal at 59-2 in the 15th over. Rather surprisingly, Nepal's star player Nary Thapa was kept in the tent as Rashmi Sharma and Janaki Bhatta strived to increase the run-rate. This played into Hong Kong's hands as the two Nepal batters struggled to connect with the big hits. They finally started to find their target as 21 runs were scored from between the 16th and 19th overs but a tight final over by Mariko Hill restricted Nepal's final total to 96-2 from 20 overs. Chan Sau Har was the only successful wicket-taker, finishing with figures of 1-17 from her four overs.

Hong Kong's regular openers, Keenu Gill and Neisha Pratt, started in positive fashion with Keenu crunching a boundary through point from the first ball of the innings. Where the Nepali batters had struggled to hit boundaries, Keenu Gill was finding them with ease. She scored four boundaries in a quick-fire 17 that lifted to Hong Kong to 25 in the third over but she fell when she was trapped LBW from the bowling of Rubina Chhetri. Connie Wong joined her captain at the crease and the pair batted in a composed manner - pushing the ball into gaps for singles and dispatching the bad balls to the boundary.

The burgeoning crowd of Nepali spectators, now estimated at over 200, willed their team on but their noise failed to produce the required affect as Hong Kong pushed on to 77 for 1 after 14 overs - with the partnership between Wong and Pratt having realised 52 runs from 70 balls. Two more powerful boundaries from Connie Wong lifted Hong Kong to the brink of victory and another Wong boundary took them past their target with 25 balls to spare.

Neisha Pratt finished unbeaten on 31 not out while Connie Wong scored 34 not out. Wong was later named Player of the Match - her second award in successive games. She received her award from special guest and former British Prime Minister John Major, who is visiting Kuwait to attend the nation's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Match Summary: Semi-final 2: Hong Kong Women v. Nepal Women

Nepal Women 96-2 from 20 overs (N. Rajopadhyay 25, R. Sharma 20*, J. Bhatta 21*) lost to Hong Kong Women 97-1 from 16.5 overs (N. Pratt 31*, C. Wong 34*) by 9 wkts

Hong Kong will face China in tomorrow's ACC Women's Twenty20 final where they will have the opportunity to avenge their defeat at the hands of China in opening match of the tournament. China made it to the final after beating Thailand by 53 runs in the other semi-final, which also proved to be another fairly low scoring affair.

Match Summary: Semi-final 1: China Women v. Thailand Women

China Women 109-6 from 20 overs (H. Zhou 39; N. Chantham 2-21) beat Thailand Women 56-9 from 20 overs (W. Meng 3-2, Y. Miao 2-11, Z. Jingjing 2-8) by 53 runs