Malaysia and Kuwait advance to Asia/East Asia-Pacific final as rain brings heartache for Hong Kong

Malaysia and Kuwait have advanced to the regional final of T20 World Cup 2026 qualification after placing top of the table in a group that included Hong Kong, Singapore, Maldives, Myanmar and Mongolia.

The pair will move to a hybrid Asia/East Asia-Pacific regional final of nine teams, with three World Cup spots up for grabs.

Here is how the teams fared:

By Matt Thomason

1st: Malaysia

Hosts Malaysia once again proved that consistency winning head-to-head games is paramount in group play as they finished with a record of 5-1 from six games, allowing them to finish top of the table despite having the fourth-highest net run rate of the group.

Experienced campaigner Syed Aziz was the star, making 216 runs at a handy strike rate of 174. With the ball, Aziz was canny with his slower balls and cutters, taking 4/9 against Hong Kong, helping the side defend a miserly 124 in a crucial three-run win.

2nd: Kuwait

Kuwait were on the other end of the spectrum, hammering the lesser established nations in order to boost net run rate, showing their batting power smashing Mongolia by 160 runs and then Maldives by 142 runs. Batters Usman Patel, Clinto Anto and Ravija Sandaruwan all finished in the top-five run getters and all at a Strike rate of 160+.

While Kuwait’s batting prowess can not be understated the runs of the board were well complimented by Yasin Patel’s 15 wickets at an economy of 4.85, and Shiraz Khan’s eight wickets at an economy of 4.75.

3rd: Hong Kong

Hong Kong started strong with four wins on the trot to start the tournament, only dropping one close game to eventual winners Malaysia.

They will be cursing the weather gods after their final match showdown with Kuwait having ended in the only no result in the competition, with Hong Kong having the opposition 2/11 after four overs chasing 140.

Such is the nature of Associate cricket, net run rate and a few missed chances will see Hong Kong back to the wilderness for the next two years as they try find their best squad.

4th: Singapore

Singapore will be happy with their efforts, also finishing with four wins, including an upset over Kuwait, with Australian import Will Simpson scoring an impressive 46* to chase down 152 inside 19 overs.

Close games and moments will feel sore long after the sun sets, losing to tournament winners Malaysia by one run in a high scoring-contest. It’s a result the other way would have flipped the entire competition on its head.

5th: Maldives

Maldives continue to make strides in their cricketing journey but sit somewhere between struggling to compete with the more established nations and comfortably beating the likes of Mongolia and Myanmar.

They can be proud of their efforts managing to bat all of their 20 overs in each of their encounters with the stronger group members

6th: Myanmar

Myanmar also enjoyed time in the middle managing to bat out their overs in all but one encounter against Maldives.

One to watch for Emerging Cricket fans would be slow left-arm orthodox bowler Pyae Phyo Wai who finished the tournament with 7 wickets at an average of 11.85 and an economy below six.

7th: Myanmar

Mongolia’s early cricket struggles continued only managing to pass 50 once in the tournament and unfortunately claiming the dubious honour of shared lowest score in a T20I: 10 runs against Singapore in which Singapore Spinner Harsha Bharadwaj claimed the scarcely-believable figures of 6/3 off his four overs.

Mongolia keeps improving and these things tend to happen with teams that are working their way into international competition. After a recent seven-match tour to Japan the Mongolian Cricket Board can be proud of their efforts notching up 15 T20Is in the past 10 months.

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