Banglore Beckons For Thai Girls

THAILAND’S WOMEN CONTINUE THEIR PREPARATIONS FOR THE ASIA CUP

These are exciting times for women’s cricket in Thailand as the national side are now only a month away from heading to Guangzhou in China to take part in the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup where they will be competing against all the best sides in Asia.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will all be taking part alongside Thailand, China, Nepal and Hong Kong. This is the strongest evidence yet that Thailand’s girls are well on their way to establishing themselves as one of the strongest women’s sides in Asia.

The four front-line Asian countries are all on their way to Sri Lanka for the ICC World Twenty20 where the women’s tournament will run alongside the men’s competition but Thailand are also on their travels as they step up their preparations for the Asia Cup.

The girls have been working hard as an initial training camp was held in Burappah University in Chonburi in June and July. Almost half of the national squad came from that University and the CAT have established nets and other training facilities there.

In August the squad moved to Doi Saket in Chiang Mai where new net facilities are also available and the players were also able to make use of the splendid ground and grass nets at Traidhos Oval whenever the rainy season allowed.

But the team are about to embark on the final stages of their training as they leave for Bangalore in India on 20th September for a two week stay at the National Cricket Academy, BCCI’s premier training centre.

The Thai girls will stay in Bangalore for two weeks and will play 20 over matches against Karnataka State Cricket Association women’s team as well as some longer matches. This will be valuable preparation for the team as time in the middle is just as important as net practice.

The squad will also benefit from staying in a country devoted to cricket during a major international tournament so they will be able to watch on television both men’s and women’s international teams playing some first-rate twenty20 cricket. Both the coaching staff and the players will also be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of some of their future opponents.

The Thai women’s team is captained by Sornnarin Tippoch who typifies the enthusiasm and dedication of the whole squad, many of whom have already taken courses in coaching, umpiring and scoring as well as practising as hard as they possibly can.

It is to be hoped that all this hard work will pay off first when the girls take to the field in Bangalore and then again in a month’s time when they face their sternest test in the Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup in Guangzhou.

THAILAND NATIONAL WOMENS SQUAD FOR INDIA (BANGALORE) 2012