Hong Kong break China

Hong Kong defeated China by eight-wickets in the show-piece match of Day 2 in the ACC Women's Twent20 Championship. "The gap is still there between us," said China's coach Rashid Khan, "the China players are a little intimidated by the Hong Kong team and when that ends they will be a lot closer."

Connie Wong hit a testing line and length at pace from the start, good duel with Sun Mengyao China's opener. Godiva Li was not quite as rhythmical and fast as she was before her hamstring tear last December, Sun Mengyao cashing in with a top-class cover drive on the up for China's first boundary.

Ishitaa Gidwani got the breakthrough for Hong Kong, inducing Hu Ting Ting to play away from her body to be caught well at point. And from then on Hong Kong just put the brakes on, chipping away at the Chinese.

Sun Mengyao looks a good player though, as does Mei Chun Hua but Neisha Pratt took a stunner, diving to her left at cover to get rid of Mei, plucking the rasping flat-bat drive one handed. "Worth two wickets, not one", said Hong Kong's coach Aftab Habib.

Yu Miao playing with confidence at the moment, she's been making runs, taking wickets, holding catches and she hustled and bustled her way through the late middle-overs as China looked to set a score but the overs just ticked away. Hong Kong were always in control.

The only flaw in Hong Kong's performance were their bowlers erratic deliveries. When they were good they were very good but they did bowl 20 wides. China finished on 74 for 9, a little below par but nevertheless made up of some quality strokes and running.

China's bowlers are better than their batters, the new-ball pair of Mei Chun Hua and Wang Meng up there as among the best in the tournament. As must be Neisha Pratt and Keenu Gill among the opening bats. Keenu Gill very strong square of the wicket, Neisha Pratt with all the shots and the class to know when to play them. It takes some force and timing to get the ball across the lush outfield, but these two did.

After 5 overs Hong Kong were 43-0, more than half-way there with only a quarter of the the overs used up. Keenu Gill lost a bit of her fluency against the slower bowling from then on, but anything short was sent away to the boundary.

Neisha Pratt and Keenu Gill put on 76 undefeated, the biggest partnership of the tournament so far.

Hong Kong get closer to a semi-final spot whereas China have a must-win game against Malaysia next.

Scorecard: HKG Women beat China Women by 10 wickets