We didn't need to wait long for an associate win over a full member at the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier in Nepal, with the Netherlands beating Zimbabwe on the opening day.
Put into bat, the Dutch side were bowled out for 122 in 19 overs, with 27 from Phebe Molkenboer and 26 from Sterre Kalis the only contributions of note. Christabel Chatonzwa was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers, taking 5-22.
That low total proved to be enough though, as whilst Zimbabwe batted out their overs, they fell short of their target, scoring 100-8 and losing by 22 runs. Nyasha Gwanzura was their top scorer with 27. The Dutch bowlers shared the wickets more evenly with five of the seven bowlers used taking at least one wicket. Isabel van der Woning was the best of the bumnch with 2-4.
Action from today's Netherlands v Zimbabwe match (KNCB)
The result won't come as much of a surprise despite Zimbabwe being a full member - the Dutch are ranked higher than Zimbabwe and have won two of the previous three matches in this format between the sides.
Thailand - long the standard bearers amongst the associates in women's cricket - got their campaign off to a good start with a dominant win over hosts Nepal.
Put into bat, Nepal were bowled out for 122, with Bindu Rawal's 44 their top score. Thipatcha Putthawong was the pick of the Thai bowlers with 4-27.
Thailand had scored 66 before the first wicket fell in their reply, that of Aphisara Suwanchonrathi for 28. Fellow opener Natthakan Chantham finished unbeaten on 57 and Nannapat Koncharoenkai scored 32 from 25 balls as the visitors completed an eight wicket win with 3.1 overs to spare.
USA won the toss and chose to bowl first in their match against Bangladesh - the second highest ranked team coming into the tournament. Sharmin Akhter top scored for the Bangladeshis with 63 out of their total of 159-5. Nahida Akhter then took 4-24 and Ritu Moni took 3-24 to keep the Americans to 137-9 from their 20 overs, Bangladesh winning by 21 runs.
