UAE beat Malaysia in final to lift ACC Women's Premier Cup

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) defeated Malaysia by 37 runs in the final of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women’s Premier Cup 2024, a T20 competition among the second rung women’s teams in the continent, at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday (February 18, 2024).

UAE batted first and scored 105/3 in 20 overs with skipper Esha Oza making 53 off 51 balls. She hit three sixes and three fours. Esha added 84 for the first wicket in 16.2 overs with Kavisha Egodage (30) to help UAE get on course to a 100-plus total.

In response, Malaysia were restricted to just 68/9 in the allotted 20 overs.

The Malaysian women were reduced to 41/8 in 12.5 overs before Nur Dania and Aisya Eleesa added 25 to take the team beyond 50.

Left-arm spinner Heena Hotchandani took 2/16 and leg-spinner Vaishnave Mahesh scalped 2/15 for the winners.   

UAE had earlier beaten Thailand by four runs in a very close semi-final while the Malaysia women trumped Nepal by four wickets in a thriller that went down to the second last ball.

As many as 16 teams participated in the competition. They were divided into four groups. The topper of each group made it to the semi-finals.

Thailand (Group A), UAE (Group B), Malaysia (Group C) and Nepal (Group D) went into the last four stage with a 100% record, each winning all three of their matches and getting six points.

Kuwait, Myanmar, Singapore (Group A), Japan, China, Oman (Group B), Indonesia, Qatar, Bahrain (Group C), Hong Kong, Bhutan and Maldives (Group D) were the other teams in the competition.

Esha Oza was the top run-getter with 249 runs (62.25 avg) while Heena Hotchandani was the highest wicket-taker with 13 scalps (3.61 avg).

Cricket, ACC Women's Premier Cup, T20, Asia Cricket