Women’s T20 WC Qualifier: Zimbabwe, Thailand register wins on Day 1

ABU DHABI: Zimbabwe beat PNG while Thailand registered a commanding victory against UAE on Day 1 of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup qualifier, here on Sunday.

In the first match of the day, UAE were reduced to 7/3 with the top three making 0, 2 and 1 after winning the toss and opting to bat first.

A promising half-century stand between Kavisha Kumari Egodage and Natasha Cherriath revived the innings for UAE, but Nattaya Bhoochatham returned to scalp the wicket of Natasha to break the partnership.

The innings seemed to be meandering towards a very ordinary total, but UAE managed 24 runs off the last two overs with Samaira Dharnidharka and Kavisha, in particular, upping the ante to take their team to 92/5 at the end of 20 overs.

The target was very short and Thailand piled on their agony by putting on 32 for the loss of no wickets in the Powerplay. Natthakan Chantham was the aggressor-in-chief for Thailand, racing away to 39 off 37 balls in an opening stand of 55. The partnership was eventually broken by Indhuja Nandakumar in the 10th over.

Opener Nannapat Koncharoenkai continued to push Thailand towards the target and remained unbeaten on 34 as they completed a dominating win on day one of the qualifiers.

Match 2: Zimbabwe v PNG

In the second match of the day, a three-wicket haul from Kelis Ndlovu and good spells from Nomvelo Sibanda and Precious Marange helped Zimbabwe bowl PNG out for 83 after being asked to bowl at the Tolerance Oval.

Tanya Ruma top-scored for PNG with a 25 off 35 balls from No 3, but none of the other batters managed to cross single digits as PNG struggled against some top-quality bowling.

In the run chase, Zimbabwe came out all guns blazing, the openers racing to 57 inside nine overs. Ndhlovu completed a brilliant all-round performance with her opening partner Sharne Mayers making an attractive 28-ball 33.

Zimbabwe sealed the run chase with eight wickets to spare with Ndhlovu unbeaten on 25 off 33 balls.

Brief scores:

UAE Women 92/5 in 20 overs (Kavisha Egodage 40 not out, Natasha Cherriath 26; Nattaya Boochatham 2/17) lost to Thailand Women 96/3 in 16.2 overs (Natthakan Chantham 39, Nannapat Koncharoenkai not out; Suraksha Kotte 1/4) by 7 wickets

Papua New Guinea Women 83 all out in 18 overs (Tanya Ruma 25; Kelis Ndlovu 3/18; Nomvelo Sibanda 2/9) lost to Zimbabwe Women 87/2 in 14.4 overs (Sharne Mayers 33, Kelis Ndlovu 25 not out; Kaia Arua 2/21) by 8 wickets