Thailand men’s cricket team had endured a disappointing run of results in the Malaysia T20 Tri-series as they had been heavily beaten in both matches against Malaysia and lost off the last ball in their first contest against Maldives. Friday’s no result between Malaysia and Maldives meant that hosts Malaysia had won the tri-series and Maldives had finished in second place, but Thailand had pride to play for and after an uncertain start with the ball, the team came through to record Thailand men’s first ever victory in an official T20 International as they beat Maldives by five wickets with Naveed Pathan seeing them home with an unbeaten 54.
Thailand won the toss and chose to bowl first for the first time in the series and heads could easily have dropped as Maldives raced away and scored 65 for 1 in the first six overs. Ziaul Hoque was back in the team to bowl his off-spin but Thailand still needed another option with the ball. Daniel Jacobs had not bowled in the last two matches but was thrown the ball with Maldives’ total on 80 for 1 after 9 overs. Jacobs bowls leg-spin at a fast pace and he was able to slow the run-rate and take four wickets for 13. His contribution was extraordinary and inspired Thailand’s back up bowlers to also give a good account of themselves in the later overs. Maldives had scored 70 runs from the last seven overs to snatch victory away from Thailand in the earlier match but today they were restricted to 48 in the same period and even though Umar Adam and Nilantha Cooray both hit rapid fifties Maldives’ final total was 153 for 6 in 20 overs.
Thailand’s highest score in three previous matches was 130 but their batsmen had one final chance to show the world what they could do. Thailand’s approach was clear from the start as it was a case of trying to hit as many boundaries as possible. Shafiqul Haque led the way with 38 from 19 balls as he hit two fours and four sixes. Henno Jordaan is the only Thai player at ease with rotating the strike as he made 20 from 24 balls with only two fours. A platform had been laid to allow Navved Pathan to take his time in between hitting four sixes and two fours as Thailand were able to keep the rate at eight runs per over. Ziaul Hoque also made a useful 20 from 16 balls and Naveed reached his fifty from 39 balls with a six from the last ball of the 19th over as Thailand were now on the brink of victory. Sittipong Hongsi hit the first ball of the 20th over for four and Thailand had won by five wickets.
am in the T20 Tri-series at Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur as they gained their third win out of three at the expense of Thailand who suffered their third defeat in a series that also includes Maldives. Thailand had finished level on points with Malaysia in the ICC T20 Asia Qualifier last year but there was no doubt which was the superior team today as Malaysia beat Thailand by eight wickets with five overs to spare.
