![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsTime for another look into the local cricket scene in Thailand, with some relevant international news...
"I feel like ICC in general doesn't give much thought to Women's ODI cricket, otherwise we would have had Thailand and Scotland at the World Cup already." -- Dizzydan015
I would have settled for a spot in the 2022-26 Women's Championship cycle, or even a chance to have that last spot decided on the field by playing Ireland; Thailand weren't supposed to simply miss out on that and the World Cup in one fell swoop immediately after making the Super 6's in 2021 :-\ (That the ICC didn't offer this same opportunity in 2025, thus keeping the Championship a closed-shop for full members, just feels like an extra insult to injury; I would have even been okay with Scotland qualifying for the Championship instead of just giving the new spot to Zimbabwe) Anyways, here's what's been going on in the local scene lately:
We begin with the national U18 cricket tournament...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/1mneeft/scenes_from_the_opening_ceremony_of_the_2025/
Scenes from the opening ceremony for the national U18 cricket tournament, held at a school and a district education office's soccer fields, and running 10 overs per match, weather permitting :-)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122141225222636557&set=ecnf.100046864040433
Associate Chronicle quipping about the cricket term "cow corner" over a photo from the tournament of a Cricket Association of Thailand umpire gazing at an actual cow :-)
Overall extra statlines from this tournament and the earlier Youth Games tournament mentioned in the last post, showing the (rather low) quality of bowling in these tourneys :-\
- U18 Boys: 511 wides and 185 no balls out of 2,064 balls (33.72%), plus 157 6's
- U18 Girls: 672 wides and 604 no balls out of 2,064 balls (41.94%), plus 14 6's
- Youth Games, Boys: 857 wides and 244 no balls out of 3,600 balls (30.28%), plus 236 6's
- Youth Games, Girls: 958 wides and 660 no balls out of 3,494 balls (46.31%), plus 4 6's
On to another national tournament...
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02tPxyDGkksrZ6toQ1NPE41MrRTQaaJd4cv8PV1h78c3xDR1vpw53VQo2Fk3i6hDSCl
Announcement of a national (supposedly, more on that in a bit) U10 tournament at Soidao Witthaya and Ban Suan Som schools in Soidao district of Chanthaburi province, the latter just a few kilos from the Cambodian border
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThailand.Thai/posts/pfbid02b4aT7WfYJqC8Nay8bKrswQ7mMohheZErZoZreWqf7bV7UYGKJNgTMKcB8nkA79g1l
Pictures from the U10 tournament (no results are available since no data was reported to the Association's CricClubs site, but the photographer made a mention of the finalists, all of which were from schools within Soidao district, so I suspect most of the participants were within Chanthaburi province, if not within the district)
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1097746911997901/
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1503648610773400/
Reels from the U10 tourney
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02z2qGFZbX1NQPEFWoPnUv77vZnk3CRKUg6jy8SidpPU5YusCw5Yrz8u9Z1fYdQWHtl
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02YdXEZxyFADxamj3Mg7rxgoGJP3MTA6PX2Wra26Xpb6EjNjBqN6DzTFMWYXuHDvCl
The Thailand women have gotten a new coach, and headed to South Africa for a High Performance Camp (including games against local sides Titans, Lions, Eastern Storms and Dolphins) in preparation for their next tourneys (including the T20 global qualifiers), and their Facebook promised "updates from training, matches, and life on tour"...
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18101686027589357/
which they ended up posting their camp photos/videos on Instagram, and the matches were used as prep for local sides if this scorecard is of any indication
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThailand.Thai/posts/pfbid02sHejBYZvDiwBV5rvAi8fBGwHXnvXT9rBMHFnBH1TPwr4aVwaXMWNteVWm4J5k3iEl
And more pictures from their FB...
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid0xVcmEg2iv3n7TMnZsvTBMtfMs7FyapokeSagEECyJyS7oUHiftjBeU2ZJF5Qj9DUl
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02VFEk57e8iut1fq3QJDrALeu6kgWQGTU5L8tCs95eLCbfuNQRgqjtnqQk2y97dTqml
as well as dinner at a Thai restaurant in Pretoria, and a visit to the Royal Thai Embassy
https://www.facebook.com/reel/757818630487050
Reel of women's U19 Training... Gotta step it up if we wanna catch up to the UAE and Nepal :-)
Women's T20 regional qualifiers have completed, so let's see how my so-called predictions held up:
- Europe: 6 teams will compete in a "Division 2" in May before the top 2 compete against Ireland and Netherlands in "Division 1" in August to decide the two teams going through, and it's probably not stretching believability to suggest Ireland and Netherlands will make it through (last time Scotland and Netherlands came from the Europe qualifiers)
No surprises, Ireland and Netherlands indeed made it through
- East Asia-Pacific: Fiji will host the qualifiers in September; last time around Vanuatu made it through, defeating the usual regional powerhouse Papua New Guinea (who received Women's ODI status alongside Thailand, but didn't play an ODI until 2024) so probably one of those two
PNG over Vanuatu, indeed
- Africa: still no indication of participants, date and format, but last time the qualifiers were Zimbabwe and Uganda, beating Namibia and Tanzania in their respective semis, so probably Zimbabwe and any one of the other 3
Zimbabwe and Namibia made it through, with the Lady Chevrons of Zimbabwe beating Namibia in the final
And at the same time, the ICC also announced the groupings for the qualifiers :-)
Calling it from group A: Ireland, Scotland, and winner of Zim/Thailand for the Super 6's (Zims don't play the Women's Championship until after qualifiers, though they have been getting some matches in to prepare); group B is a bit more interesting with Bangladesh likely topping the group, but I'm guessing hosts Nepal, Netherlands and PNG are fighting for the other two spots
Assuming we make the Super 6's, we'd probably have to pick up wins against two of the group B qualifiers (most likely the Associates) to have any real shot of qualifying; but if we can pick up either Ireland or Scotland (tall order I know), that'd be even better because then we'd have points carried over
notthathunter quipped that "we (Ireland) can, and will, lose to any team and F up any Qualifier event" Cases in point, not just losing two games from winnable positions in this year's ODI qualifiers, but also the 2019 T20 qualifiers, where they lost to Thailand and gave them their first (and still only) World Cup qualification :-) It seems that Ireland only qualified for the previous Women's Championship cycle because Covid/the ICC cancelled the 2021 ODI qualifiers before they could F that one up too (presumably against Thailand again), and with the experience gained from participating in the Championship, they're now safely above all Associates except for Scotland (thus making Ireland's qualification on ranking arguably the most consequential technicality in sports history :-\)
Fun fact: Although the finals have been branded as being hosted by England and Wales (as both nations share their national cricket association), all of the venues are in England, so what's the point of pretending the two nations are co-hosting? :-\ (Not like Wales doesn't have international standard venues either, as they have Sophia Gardens and St Helen's; okay, so St Helen's might be a bit on the small side capacity-wise, but Sophia has the same capacity as Bristol, just across the river from Wales :-\)
Back in the first Howzat, I mentioned the ICC offering "two annual T20 International tournaments between 2025 and 2028 which would offer structured cricket with context to 24 teams in the pathway ahead of the 16-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2030"... We now know what those tournaments will entail, and the first of these, the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, will be hosted by Thailand themselves ahead of the SEA Games, featuring the 5 associates with ODI status (Netherlands, PNG, Scots, Thais, UAE), plus the next top 3 teams: Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda, so this will give an indication of our skill levels with respect to the other participants at the global qualifier; the other will be the Women's Challenge Trophy, for the top team in each region not already in the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy as determined by regional qualifiers
Cricket Europe, however, notes that "Notable by its absence at this stage though are any mentions of ICC organised ODI tournaments for the five teams with ODI status who are still left to organise their own matches and a pathway which currently excludes two regions - Americas and Africa - from even trying to qualify for the World Cup." And here's a Reddit post on a Criccodile posting confirming the host, dates, and team line up for the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, with notable responses from Spockyt and Itrlpr at the top :-\
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid0tddSqwdNBeKJgm32wVAU1kdCCrE3jfWJZXK5S71hh9W7j7FLZ8U1j3WLwqvgFFqGl
Let it not be said that the men have been forgotten, for on the men's side, they've been training in Pune, India
Also giving the men's team some time in the spotlight is this Sea Games promotional reel, featuring Phiriyaphong Suanchuai and Chaleumwong Chatpaisan, in which they explain the game, and Phiriyaphong reveals that he won 3rd place in a national tournament after playing for just one week (!)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1254120650087688&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1254122770087476&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
Announcement of a national men's T20 league, held at "Soidao Cricket Ground", i.e. the school grounds at Soidao Witthaya (notably, there was no livestream coverage, just the scores)
Based on the scorecards, this tournament didn't count extras as good balls, thus incentivizing better bowling, and the overall statline shows a lower ratio of wides and no-balls than in the other tourneys: 239 wides and 34 no balls out of 2,235 balls (12.21%, about half of other tournaments), plus 177 6's
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/the-cricket-association-of-thailand-would-like-to-express-our-heartfelt-apprecia/1260016186164801/
"Despite the challenges brought by rain throughout the tournament, every team gave their best and demonstrated remarkable determination and sportsmanship that reflect the pride of Thai cricket", said the Association after the end of the tournament; that said, only one match out of 12 was completely abandoned, with another match shortened to 7 overs
Brief detour back to the women: Heather Siegers, one of the Netherlands women's more prolific batters and former captain, is stepping back from international cricket due to other professional commitments, so that should improve our chances in Nepal; that said, she only managed 5 runs in Netherlands' win over Thailand earlier this year, OTOH, that match was decided by one run on the last ball
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1264049459094807&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
Late October saw a 40 overs U19 men's league at Terdthai and AIT, but we didn't get any action until the 5th (!) of the 12 matches scheduled due to rain outs, and on top of that, most of the subsequent games were played at least one day ahead of the originally announced schedule... Again, extras were not counted as good balls, and the statline shows 328 wides and 31 no balls out of 2,338, 15.36%, about 33% more than the senior men, which is still quite less than the Youth Games tournaments from earlier (plus 20 6's)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1505052187733568&set=pb.100046864040433.-2207520000&type=3
Immediately following the men's final was a T20 Women's U19 league, with the same policy of not counting extras as good balls, with the statline showing 439 wides and 85 no balls out of 2,471 balls, 21.21% (plus 3 6's)
And to finish this post, schedule for "The Quad Cup" from the 14th-17th of November at Terdthai, featuring Thailand vs PNG, Namibia and Scotland:
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02XxdxrEvsxUQewoanqh2ydZ2n5TjJwb2JJ6s4HZB1ALz5YN6ctQPp6TiujET47hDPl
Which will apparently immediately be followed by the aforementioned Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, playing at both Terdthai and AIT (with hopefully more action at the latter than we got in May :-))
"I feel like ICC in general doesn't give much thought to Women's ODI cricket, otherwise we would have had Thailand and Scotland at the World Cup already." -- Dizzydan015
I would have settled for a spot in the 2022-26 Women's Championship cycle, or even a chance to have that last spot decided on the field by playing Ireland; Thailand weren't supposed to simply miss out on that and the World Cup in one fell swoop immediately after making the Super 6's in 2021 :-\ (That the ICC didn't offer this same opportunity in 2025, thus keeping the Championship a closed-shop for full members, just feels like an extra insult to injury; I would have even been okay with Scotland qualifying for the Championship instead of just giving the new spot to Zimbabwe) Anyways, here's what's been going on in the local scene lately:
We begin with the national U18 cricket tournament...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/1mneeft/scenes_from_the_opening_ceremony_of_the_2025/
Scenes from the opening ceremony for the national U18 cricket tournament, held at a school and a district education office's soccer fields, and running 10 overs per match, weather permitting :-)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122141225222636557&set=ecnf.100046864040433
Associate Chronicle quipping about the cricket term "cow corner" over a photo from the tournament of a Cricket Association of Thailand umpire gazing at an actual cow :-)
Overall extra statlines from this tournament and the earlier Youth Games tournament mentioned in the last post, showing the (rather low) quality of bowling in these tourneys :-\
- U18 Boys: 511 wides and 185 no balls out of 2,064 balls (33.72%), plus 157 6's
- U18 Girls: 672 wides and 604 no balls out of 2,064 balls (41.94%), plus 14 6's
- Youth Games, Boys: 857 wides and 244 no balls out of 3,600 balls (30.28%), plus 236 6's
- Youth Games, Girls: 958 wides and 660 no balls out of 3,494 balls (46.31%), plus 4 6's
On to another national tournament...
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02tPxyDGkksrZ6toQ1NPE41MrRTQaaJd4cv8PV1h78c3xDR1vpw53VQo2Fk3i6hDSCl
Announcement of a national (supposedly, more on that in a bit) U10 tournament at Soidao Witthaya and Ban Suan Som schools in Soidao district of Chanthaburi province, the latter just a few kilos from the Cambodian border
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThailand.Thai/posts/pfbid02b4aT7WfYJqC8Nay8bKrswQ7mMohheZErZoZreWqf7bV7UYGKJNgTMKcB8nkA79g1l
Pictures from the U10 tournament (no results are available since no data was reported to the Association's CricClubs site, but the photographer made a mention of the finalists, all of which were from schools within Soidao district, so I suspect most of the participants were within Chanthaburi province, if not within the district)
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1097746911997901/
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1503648610773400/
Reels from the U10 tourney
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02z2qGFZbX1NQPEFWoPnUv77vZnk3CRKUg6jy8SidpPU5YusCw5Yrz8u9Z1fYdQWHtl
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02YdXEZxyFADxamj3Mg7rxgoGJP3MTA6PX2Wra26Xpb6EjNjBqN6DzTFMWYXuHDvCl
The Thailand women have gotten a new coach, and headed to South Africa for a High Performance Camp (including games against local sides Titans, Lions, Eastern Storms and Dolphins) in preparation for their next tourneys (including the T20 global qualifiers), and their Facebook promised "updates from training, matches, and life on tour"...
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18101686027589357/
which they ended up posting their camp photos/videos on Instagram, and the matches were used as prep for local sides if this scorecard is of any indication
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThailand.Thai/posts/pfbid02sHejBYZvDiwBV5rvAi8fBGwHXnvXT9rBMHFnBH1TPwr4aVwaXMWNteVWm4J5k3iEl
And more pictures from their FB...
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid0xVcmEg2iv3n7TMnZsvTBMtfMs7FyapokeSagEECyJyS7oUHiftjBeU2ZJF5Qj9DUl
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02VFEk57e8iut1fq3QJDrALeu6kgWQGTU5L8tCs95eLCbfuNQRgqjtnqQk2y97dTqml
as well as dinner at a Thai restaurant in Pretoria, and a visit to the Royal Thai Embassy
https://www.facebook.com/reel/757818630487050
Reel of women's U19 Training... Gotta step it up if we wanna catch up to the UAE and Nepal :-)
Women's T20 regional qualifiers have completed, so let's see how my so-called predictions held up:
- Europe: 6 teams will compete in a "Division 2" in May before the top 2 compete against Ireland and Netherlands in "Division 1" in August to decide the two teams going through, and it's probably not stretching believability to suggest Ireland and Netherlands will make it through (last time Scotland and Netherlands came from the Europe qualifiers)
No surprises, Ireland and Netherlands indeed made it through
- East Asia-Pacific: Fiji will host the qualifiers in September; last time around Vanuatu made it through, defeating the usual regional powerhouse Papua New Guinea (who received Women's ODI status alongside Thailand, but didn't play an ODI until 2024) so probably one of those two
PNG over Vanuatu, indeed
- Africa: still no indication of participants, date and format, but last time the qualifiers were Zimbabwe and Uganda, beating Namibia and Tanzania in their respective semis, so probably Zimbabwe and any one of the other 3
Zimbabwe and Namibia made it through, with the Lady Chevrons of Zimbabwe beating Namibia in the final
And at the same time, the ICC also announced the groupings for the qualifiers :-)
Calling it from group A: Ireland, Scotland, and winner of Zim/Thailand for the Super 6's (Zims don't play the Women's Championship until after qualifiers, though they have been getting some matches in to prepare); group B is a bit more interesting with Bangladesh likely topping the group, but I'm guessing hosts Nepal, Netherlands and PNG are fighting for the other two spots
Assuming we make the Super 6's, we'd probably have to pick up wins against two of the group B qualifiers (most likely the Associates) to have any real shot of qualifying; but if we can pick up either Ireland or Scotland (tall order I know), that'd be even better because then we'd have points carried over
notthathunter quipped that "we (Ireland) can, and will, lose to any team and F up any Qualifier event" Cases in point, not just losing two games from winnable positions in this year's ODI qualifiers, but also the 2019 T20 qualifiers, where they lost to Thailand and gave them their first (and still only) World Cup qualification :-) It seems that Ireland only qualified for the previous Women's Championship cycle because Covid/the ICC cancelled the 2021 ODI qualifiers before they could F that one up too (presumably against Thailand again), and with the experience gained from participating in the Championship, they're now safely above all Associates except for Scotland (thus making Ireland's qualification on ranking arguably the most consequential technicality in sports history :-\)
Fun fact: Although the finals have been branded as being hosted by England and Wales (as both nations share their national cricket association), all of the venues are in England, so what's the point of pretending the two nations are co-hosting? :-\ (Not like Wales doesn't have international standard venues either, as they have Sophia Gardens and St Helen's; okay, so St Helen's might be a bit on the small side capacity-wise, but Sophia has the same capacity as Bristol, just across the river from Wales :-\)
Back in the first Howzat, I mentioned the ICC offering "two annual T20 International tournaments between 2025 and 2028 which would offer structured cricket with context to 24 teams in the pathway ahead of the 16-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2030"... We now know what those tournaments will entail, and the first of these, the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, will be hosted by Thailand themselves ahead of the SEA Games, featuring the 5 associates with ODI status (Netherlands, PNG, Scots, Thais, UAE), plus the next top 3 teams: Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda, so this will give an indication of our skill levels with respect to the other participants at the global qualifier; the other will be the Women's Challenge Trophy, for the top team in each region not already in the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy as determined by regional qualifiers
Cricket Europe, however, notes that "Notable by its absence at this stage though are any mentions of ICC organised ODI tournaments for the five teams with ODI status who are still left to organise their own matches and a pathway which currently excludes two regions - Americas and Africa - from even trying to qualify for the World Cup." And here's a Reddit post on a Criccodile posting confirming the host, dates, and team line up for the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, with notable responses from Spockyt and Itrlpr at the top :-\
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid0tddSqwdNBeKJgm32wVAU1kdCCrE3jfWJZXK5S71hh9W7j7FLZ8U1j3WLwqvgFFqGl
Let it not be said that the men have been forgotten, for on the men's side, they've been training in Pune, India
Also giving the men's team some time in the spotlight is this Sea Games promotional reel, featuring Phiriyaphong Suanchuai and Chaleumwong Chatpaisan, in which they explain the game, and Phiriyaphong reveals that he won 3rd place in a national tournament after playing for just one week (!)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1254120650087688&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1254122770087476&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
Announcement of a national men's T20 league, held at "Soidao Cricket Ground", i.e. the school grounds at Soidao Witthaya (notably, there was no livestream coverage, just the scores)
Based on the scorecards, this tournament didn't count extras as good balls, thus incentivizing better bowling, and the overall statline shows a lower ratio of wides and no-balls than in the other tourneys: 239 wides and 34 no balls out of 2,235 balls (12.21%, about half of other tournaments), plus 177 6's
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/the-cricket-association-of-thailand-would-like-to-express-our-heartfelt-apprecia/1260016186164801/
"Despite the challenges brought by rain throughout the tournament, every team gave their best and demonstrated remarkable determination and sportsmanship that reflect the pride of Thai cricket", said the Association after the end of the tournament; that said, only one match out of 12 was completely abandoned, with another match shortened to 7 overs
Brief detour back to the women: Heather Siegers, one of the Netherlands women's more prolific batters and former captain, is stepping back from international cricket due to other professional commitments, so that should improve our chances in Nepal; that said, she only managed 5 runs in Netherlands' win over Thailand earlier this year, OTOH, that match was decided by one run on the last ball
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1264049459094807&set=pb.100064692940666.-2207520000&type=3
Late October saw a 40 overs U19 men's league at Terdthai and AIT, but we didn't get any action until the 5th (!) of the 12 matches scheduled due to rain outs, and on top of that, most of the subsequent games were played at least one day ahead of the originally announced schedule... Again, extras were not counted as good balls, and the statline shows 328 wides and 31 no balls out of 2,338, 15.36%, about 33% more than the senior men, which is still quite less than the Youth Games tournaments from earlier (plus 20 6's)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1505052187733568&set=pb.100046864040433.-2207520000&type=3
Immediately following the men's final was a T20 Women's U19 league, with the same policy of not counting extras as good balls, with the statline showing 439 wides and 85 no balls out of 2,471 balls, 21.21% (plus 3 6's)
And to finish this post, schedule for "The Quad Cup" from the 14th-17th of November at Terdthai, featuring Thailand vs PNG, Namibia and Scotland:
https://www.facebook.com/CricketThai/posts/pfbid02XxdxrEvsxUQewoanqh2ydZ2n5TjJwb2JJ6s4HZB1ALz5YN6ctQPp6TiujET47hDPl
Which will apparently immediately be followed by the aforementioned Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, playing at both Terdthai and AIT (with hopefully more action at the latter than we got in May :-))
