EC Roundup – 09 February 2025 – Pathway events resume

Welcome to this week’s Emerging Cricket Roundup, condensing all the major news into one easy-to-digest place. In this week’s wrap:

Headlines

Thailand secure Nepal tri-series win

League 2 and Challenge League B resume

Austro-Hungarian battle in Malta

Thailand secure Nepal tri-series win 

Thailand were the successful side in the Nepal WT20I tri-series, ending the tournament with five wins out of six. The Netherlands were runners-up, on four wins, whilst the hosts went winless.

The Thai team won their first four matches, and might have won all six if not for a dramatic one-wicket defeat to the Netherlands. With three wins over Nepal, the Dutch briefly drew level with Thailand, though the Thais won their final match over the hosts to win the tournament outright.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗔. 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲. 𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬! 🥵🦁#KNCBCricket #KNCBWomen #T20Cricket #NEDvTHA pic.twitter.com/aIWjj2nDuN

— Cricket🏏Netherlands (@KNCBcricket) February 6, 2025

There were notable performances throughout, including Sterre Kalis’s unbeaten 98* against Nepal, in a match where Netherlands completed a chase of 151 without the loss of a wicket. Kalis’s 160 runs was eclipsed only by Nannapat Koncharoenkai with 166. Puja Mahato, Babette de Leede, Phebe Molkenboer, Robine Rijke and Indu Barma also crossed the 100-run threshold. On the bowling side, Thipatcha Putthawong was the standout performer, with 16 wickets, with Iris Zwilling (11) and Onnicha Kamchomphu (10) also making strong contributions with the ball.

Every side will have positives to take away from the event. Despite an ageing side and an increasingly competitive landscape in associate WT20Is, Thailand proved they were still a force to be reckoned with.

The Dutch will have been pleased with their adaptation to largely alien conditions, with four wins, including the victory over Thailand, showing the progress the side has made of late. For the hosts, despite not securing a win in the series, they were far from outclassed at any stage, and will know the gap to the front runners is not insurmountable.

League 2 and Challenge League B resumes 

The second leg of Challenge League has begun in Hong Kong, with the hosts and Italy making bright starts in the first three match days.

The hosts have enjoyed easy wins over Singapore and then Bahrain, the latter by 9 wickets as Anshy Rath and Martin Coetzee made light work of a chase of 183. Meanwhile Italy kept pace, chasing small totals from Tanzania and Singapore comfortably to go level at the top.

The other front-runner in the group, Uganda, endured a more testing effort against Bahrain, though we’re ultimately victorious by 52 runs. The three front-runners are tied on 11 points each at the end of Sunday, though Uganda holds a game-in-hand.

🇮🇹 for the win …. Again pic.twitter.com/1HxQ1loVwD

— Gareth Berg#13 (@Bergy646) February 9, 2025

Ten matches remain in the second leg, which concludes on 16th February.

Meanwhile ODI League 2 has resumed, with Oman hosting the ninth leg, joined by Namibia and USA. The first game was the neutral fixture, where USA dominated. After a local triathlon delayed the teams arrival, shortening the game to 43 overs-per-side, the USA plundered 293/8, before bowling out Namibia for only 179. It was the Milind Kumar show, as the all-rounder backed up 54 off 34 balls with 4/48 and two catches.

The series continues with Oman vs Namibia on Monday, and concludes on 18th February.

Austro-Hungarian battle in Malta

An old rivalry was reborn on the cricket field in the recently concluded Malta tri-series. Austria and Hungary – an alliance that was once a great imperial power in 19th century Europe – joined the hosts for a 6-match series.

A busy afternoon for the Austro-Hungarian Umpire.

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— Jonathan Campion (@jonathancampion.bsky.social) 6 February 2025 at 12:46

The spoils were almost shared, as Hungary and Austria took 3 wins each, the former winning on net run rate. The hosts were unable to claim a victory, finishing a distant 3rd.

Quick Take – Malaysia host successful U19 World Cup 

Malaysia are no strangers to hosting pathway events. The plurality of quality infrastructure has made them a favourite of the ICC for Challenge League legs and T20 World Cup pathway events. All of this is at an associate level, however. A World Cup, even a minor one, is a big step up. More teams, more eyeballs, more pressure, yet the hosts handled things smoothly.

Losing access to the excellent Kinrara Oval was a blow, but the MCA responded with two new venues away from the Kuala Lumpur area – in Johor and in Sarawak – both of which performed well, despite the tropical rains. Malaysia is still struggling to convert good participation figures into high performance players, but more quality facilities will help bridge that gap.

Associate hosting of major events can be hit-and-miss. Infrastructure issues in the USA at last year’s T20 World Cup dirtied reputations. Malaysia’s success will go some way to offset that. Namibia and Nepal are set to co-host the next Men’s and Women’s U19 events, respectively. Both will offer reputation-building opportunities for the associate community

Coming Up

The focus of the coming week is on the Men’s ODI pathway, as Challenge League B and ODI League 2 take the attention of the associate world.