Allround Mariko Hill headlines Jade Jets' win in Hong Kong Premier League opener

Hong Kong Women’s Premier League T20 at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Kok on Wednesday (May 19).

Chasing a target of 84 to win, Hill put on a 39-run partnership for the opening wicket with Yee Shan To. Hill started the innings with a boundary off Kary Chan in the second over and went on to hit one more boundary during her 30-ball innings.

Once Shan To was dismissed for 19 off 33 by Ruchitha Venkatesh, Hill added another 34 runs for the second wicket with Keenu Gill to take the score to 73 in the 14^th over. Even though Maryam Bibi dismissed both the set batters in consecutive overs, Hill’s 29 was enough to take Jets past Stars score even as she fell with her side needing only two runs to win.

Post Hill’s dismissal skipper Jasmine Titmuss came in and hit the winning run in the 16^th over to complete the formalities and take Jets to a comfortable win. For Stars, Maryam Bibi took two wickets for 17 runs in 3.4 overs.

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Earlier, opting to bat, Stars found themselves in early trouble when Emma Lai was castled by Betty Chan for just six. Soon they were reeling at 31 for 4 in 8.2 overs with Gill dismissing skipper Kary Chan and Hill striking twice with the wickets of Bibi for a duck and Jenefer Davies for just three.

However, opener Shanzeen Shahzad and Venkatesh added 41 runs for the fifth wicket to take Stars to 72 for 4 in 16 overs. But they lost both the set batters in quick succession with Hill breaking the partnership and Titmuss dismissing top-scorer Shahzad for a well-made 40 off 53 balls.

From there, Stars couldn’t add many in the last few overs and eventually were restricted to 83 for 9 in 20 overs. For Jets, Hill finished with figures of 3 for 15 from her four overs while Betty took two wickets.

Next match of the three-match series will be played June 20 at the same ground.

Brief Scores: Bauhinia Stars 83/9 in 20 overs (Shanzeen Shahzad 40; Mariko Hill 3/15, Betty Chan 2/12) lost to Jade Jets 84/3 in 15.4 overs (Mariko Hill 29; Maryam Bibi 2/17) by 7 wickets