THAILAND BACK TO WINNING WAYS WITH A COMPREHENSIVE VICTORY OVER MALAYSIA

THAILAND BACK TO WINNING WAYS WITH A COMPREHENSIVE VICTORY OVER MALAYSIA

The second day of the DP World Asia Cup Rising Stars Women’s 2026 tournament saw Thailand make an encouraging start to their campaign by defeating Malaysia by the convincing margin of 99 runs.

Thailand scored 169 for 7 in 20 overs after choosing to bat and then restricted Malaysia to 70 for 8 as they returned to form against a familiar opponent after struggling to make an impression in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier in Nepal.

The major weakness in the newlook Thailand team is finding an opening partner for Natthakan Chantham following the retirement of the ever-reliable Nattaya Boochatham.

Thailand made a poor start against Malaysia as they were reduced to 18 for 2 but Nannapat Khoncharoenkai and Naruemol Chaiwai responded with a century partnership for the third wicket as Nannapat reached her fifty from 35 balls on the way to 73 from 45 balls with 12 fours.

Naruemol supported her with 44 from 39 balls with five fours and a six while Chanida Sutthiruang took a few balls to get her eye in before making a quickfire 25 from 12 balls so that Thailand were able to set Malaysia a stiff target.

Malaysia lost three wickets in five balls with the score on just four as Phannita Maya took two wickets with successive balls and Thipatcha Phutthawong followed by achieving a significant milestone.

Thailand’s left-arm spinner bowled Wan Julia to move into third place in the list of leading wicket-takers and has a remarkable bowling average under 10 runs per wicket. Only India’s Deepti Sharma (152) and Australia’s Megan Schutt (151) stand above her and Thipatcha is still only 21 years old.

Thipatcha finished with figures of one for 9 to maintain her average while Phannita Maya took three for 14 and Onnicha Kamchomphu two for 14 as Malaysia were never in the contest. Thailand won by 99 runs and now face stiffer contests against Bangladesh A and Sri Lanka A.