Skipper's knock in vain as HK head home

It's home sweet home for the Hong Kong women's cricket team after they failed to make the most of a fine knock by skipper Connie Wong Ar-yan to tumble to a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Nepal yesterday.

Wong played a lone hand and almost pushed Hong Kong into bronze medal contention with a lovely innings of 47. But unfortunately no one else followed her example of hitting the ball rather than just pushing at it, as the rest of a tentative batting lineup folded like a house of cards.

Only Yasmin Daswani matched Wong and entered double figures as Hong Kong's choosing to bat first, scrambled to 72 for nine from 20 overs in a must-win game.

It was about 20 runs short of a competitive target and with the bowling not up to the mark, Nepal eased home with almost five overs to spare. This defeat on the heels of an embarrassing 10-wicket loss to Bangladesh in the opener - Hong Kong being dismissed for 25 - ended the Guangzhou dream.

"Connie played a captain's knock but sadly she didn't get enough of the strike and we accumulated too many dot balls," said disappointed head coach Charlie Burke.

Hong Kong's hopes lasted while Wong was at the crease. Pushing herself up the order and opening this time, Wong looked composed and determined as she kept the scoreboard ticking. Her 47 came from 55 balls and included five boundaries, the best being a fluent on-drive.

But she failed to find any semblance of support from the other end. Fellow-opener Keenu Gill conceded a maiden over as she struggled to five from 16 deliveries. Number three Daswani was as culpable as her 10 runs came off 32 balls as Hong Kong inched to 71 for two off 18 overs.

It was then the madness set in. As in the first game against Bangladesh, a rash of run-outs took the wind out of the innings. Daswani went first in a mix-up with Wong, and the skipper followed almost immediately when playing a ball straight back to the bowler, she set off for a suicidal run.

Her departure signaled the start of a collapse as one more run was added for the loss of six more wickets. The worst thing was each of those translated into a dot ball and it cost Hong Kong dearly at the end with their total well short of a challenging score.

"In hindsight a total of 90 might have been enough to build some pressure. But we also bowled badly conceding 18 extras," Burke said.

Hopes will now hinge on the men's team who arrive on Friday. Their first game will be against Nepal on Sunday.