KOWLOON: Theertha Satish scored a brilliant fifty before Marizanne Kapp and Sornnarin Tippoch starred with the ball to help Falcons women beat Tornadoes women by 41 runs in the opening match of the FairBreak Invitational tournament 2023 on Monday. 

UAE’s Satish top-scored with an excellent 57 from 40 balls while local star Mariko Hill hit 38 from 25 balls as the Falcons made 150 for 6 in the 20 overs after they were invited to bat.

Tornadoes batters, in reply, struggled to fire in as South Africa international Kapp and Thailand’s Tippoch bagged three wickets each to restrict the opposition to 109 for 9 in the chase. 

Kapp’s compatriot Sune Luus held a fightback for Tornadoes as she scored a valiant 48 under pressure but without any meaningful support from the other end.

Apart from Luus, only three other batters – captain Stafanie Taylor, Winifred Duraisingam and Chanida Sutthiruang – barely crossed into double figures as the Tornadoes’ batting line failed miserably during the chase.

For Falcons, Kaia Arua (2-10) and Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapathtu (1-11) also etched their names to the wickets list. 

Earlier, Satish and Hill led the batting charge for the Falcons as the two gathered a 62-run stand for the fourth wicket after cheap dismissals of  Danni Wyatt (0)  and captain Suzie Bates (5).

Wicketkeeper batter Nannapat Koncharoenkai also contributed a useful 17 off 12 in the dying overs of the innings to steer the Falcons to a respectable total.

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