THAILAND: Women’s cricket is developing fast in Asia.

Nine teams, divided into three groups, started the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia qualifier in Bangkok on May 9. On Sunday, May 18, UAE Women will face Thailand Women in the first match in the Super Three phase. This involves the three group winners, Thailand, UAE and Nepal, playing off for the prize of two places in the global qualifier, the next stage of qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup to be held in England.

At the outset of this qualifying event, Mohideen Kader, CEO of the Cricket Association of Thailand, welcomed the competing teams to the Land of Smiles. The ICC has chosen Bangkok to host Asian qualifier events for the Women’s T20 World Cup on several occasions in the past.

This reflects Thailand Women’s dominance of Asian cricket at this level over the past decade and more. Its team has reached the main ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifier on every occasion since 2013 when the squad traveled to Ireland. In 2020, the team qualified for the main Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia by reaching the final of the previous qualifier held in Scotland.

The current team faces strong opposition from UAE Women, who are the defending champions of the Asia qualifier, as they beat Thailand in the final of the last event held in Malaysia. This was in September 2023, the UAE winning by six runs, when they defended a total of 70 in a match dominated by the bowlers. The UAE also has a good overall record in this tournament, having reached the global qualifier three times since 2018.

Additionally, the UAE beat Thailand in the semifinals of the ACC Premier Cup, also held in Malaysia in February, when a remarkable 16 Asian teams played to qualify for the Women’s Asia Cup. The four group winners were UAE, Malaysia, Thailand and Nepal with UAE beating Thailand and Malaysia overcoming Nepal.

The current tournament introduced an exciting new format of three groups of three teams. Top seeded Thailand was drawn with Kuwait and Bhutan in Group A. UAE faced the improving Malaysians and Qatar in Group B, while Nepal took on Hong Kong, China, and Bahrain in Group C. Prior to the tournament, Thailand looked to be too strong in Group A, Malaysia looked like they might surprise the UAE in Group B, whilst Nepal and Hong Kong, China, in Group C, were only separated by one place in the world rankings, so posing a difficult outcome to predict.

Unfortunately, the first week of the tournament was badly affected by rain. Sixteen out of the 18 group matches were either abandoned or played over a shortened format. This has led to final placings which may well have been different had all matches been played to conclusion. Thailand managed to qualify from Group A even though two of their matches were rained off, while UAE won Group B, also with two wins and two no results.

The fear of rain also brought some notoriety to the tournament. The UAE coach, Ahmed Raza, brought a halt to his team’s innings after 16 overs by instructing 10 of his players to retire out in quick succession. The score had been on 192 for no wicket after Esha Oza had scored a brilliant hundred in partnership with T Sathish. However, rain was threatening and the UAE wanted to ensure that the match against Qatar was completed. The time saved by closing the innings early, enabled the UAE the chance to bowl out Qatar for 29 in 11 overs.

Group C was the last one to be decided on May 16. Hong Kong, China, seemed to have gained the advantage when they beat Nepal in a five-over match after the teams’ earlier encounter had been abandoned. It was not to be, as Nepal managed to beat Bahrain twice. As a result, both Nepal and Hong Kong, China, had five points. Crucially, Nepal had two wins compared with Hong Kong, China’s single victory, which meant they joined Thailand and UAE as group winners in the Super Three.

The matches will be played on May 18, 19 and 20 with the points from the earlier stage carried forward. Thailand and the UAE have six each and Nepal, five. The UAE has a slight advantage, courtesy of an impressive net run-rate. Thailand will play the UAE on Sunday, UAE face Nepal on Monday and Thailand play Nepal on Tuesday. The two successful teams will progress to compete against teams from the other regional qualifiers and the lower ranked teams who played in the previous Women’s T20 World Cup, held in 2024 in the UAE.

It has been evident during the tournament that several teams from the Gulf region are improving. Bahrain, fresh from playing a series against Oman, pushed Nepal hard in both matches, Kuwait and Bhutan generated a wonderful match which displayed the best in women’s cricket at this development level. Bhutan won with two wickets in hand and four deliveries remaining. Kuwait has three or four players girls who have been visiting Thailand for more than a decade for various tournaments. Bahrain and Kuwait have expressed their wish to play regular international cricket with the other Gulf nations.

Given that the UAE women’s team gained ODI status earlier this month, there could be regular women’s ODIs played in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There is a real possibility that the UAE could eventually qualify for the next Women’s T20 World Cup and even the 50-over version in the future.