Thailand successfully defended the lowest score a women’s team has ever achieved in international competition on Thursday, May 4. This created women’s T20I cricket history. When batting first, the team under Naruemol Chaiwai only managed to score 53 runs as Malaysian pacer Winifred Duraisingam took three wickets and Mahirah Izzati Ismail and Nur Dania Syuhada each took two.
Malaysia lost their first three wickets in the chase in just four runs. After that, one end kept losing wickets, but Elsa Hunter persisted, scoring 19 runs off 32 deliveries. Notably, five of their batters failed to start their tally, and no other batter scored in double digits besides her.
In the end, Thailand defeated Malaysia by 12 runs after being able to hold them to just 41 runs. Thipatcha Putthawong, a 19-year-old slow left-arm orthodox pitcher, took three wickets, and Nattaya Boochatham took two.
Thailand destroyed the Philippines in their opening SEA Games match before the Malaysia match.
Thailand completely destroyed the Philippines in the second game of the current SEA Games Women’s Twenty20 Cricket Competition, winning by a score of ten wickets. When Josie Arimas’ team batted first, they only managed to score nine runs thanks to Thipatcha Putthawong’s four wickets and Onnicha Kamchomphu’s three. Seven Philippines hitters were unable to begin their innings, and Thailand finished off the total in just four pitches.
Thailand is now in first place in Group A after two straight victories, while Malaysia and the Philippines have yet to record a victory. In group B, Indonesia leads the standings with two points, while Singapore is in second place with the same number of points. Cambodia is last since they haven’t opened an account yet.
Notably, this is the second time that cricket has been a competition in Southeast Asia. The 50-Over and T20 formats of cricket were first played in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, which were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AZ Group Cricket Oval in Phnom Penh is the site of the current SEA Games 2023, in which both the men’s and women’s teams are competing.