KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 8

Nepal have faced a defeat at the hands of Thailand in their first semi-final match played today under the ICC Women's Twenty-20 World Cup Asia Region qualifier.

Thailand trounced Nepal by 46 runs in the match held at the UKM YSD Oval cricket stadium in Malaysia. With this defeat, Nepal's dream of reaching the World Cup Global Qualifiers has been dashed.

Nepal, who were chasing a victory target of 106 runs posed by Thailand, were contained in 59 runs all-out in 19.3 overs. Kabita Kunwar made the highest number of 11 runs for Nepal while Apsari Begum and Kabita Joshi each collected equal 10 runs. The rest of the Nepali batters could not make runs in the double digit.

Onicha Kamchomphu and Thipachcha Puthawang of Thailand each took three Nepali wickets while Nataya Buchatham took two wickets, and Phanita Maya and Sunida Chaturangaratna each took one wicket.

Thailand, who were invited to bat first after losing the toss before this, collected 105 runs in the allotted 20 overs at the loss of two wickets. For Thailand, Nanapat Koncharoenkai hit the highest 59 runs, including four fours, off 63 balls. Similarly, Nathakam Chantham made 31 runs and Chunida Sutiruang made 11 runs not-out.

Kabita Kunwar and Puja Mahato took one wicket each for Nepal.

With this victory, Thailand have reached the final of the tournament and booked a berth in the World Cup Global qualifiers. Nepal had reached the semi-final as the runner-up in Group 'A' and Thailand as the winner of Group 'B'.