Captain Sornnarin Tippoch hopes they would be remembered for their cricket as well as their character
Andrew McGlashan in Sydney03-Mar-2020Thailand had already left an indelible mark on this tournament with their smiles, spirit and graciousness. They were a wet Sydney afternoon away from potentially signing off with a landmark victory.Having not reached three figures in their first three matches – scores of 78, 78 and 82 against West Indies, England and South Africa – they put together an imposing 150 for 3 against Pakistan, their highest score in T20Is, which arguably made them favourites only for the drizzle to start and not relent.However, despite the damp finish, their captain Sornnarin Tippoch believed they had made a statement and would be remembered for their cricket as well as their character.”It was the last game of the World Cup. We just knew we had to put it all out there and try to play our best cricket,” she said. “It’s also a game that we want people to remember us by, not just through press conference and saying like we didn’t rock up. But I think this game really put things into perspective of how well we can deal with situations and how well we prepared for the tournament.””Obviously very disappointed with the result because of the rain, but you can’t really control the rain. But really happy how we controlled the innings and built that innings and made a statement of how we can play cricket.”The innings was led by Nattakan Chantam, who struck 56 off 50 balls with 10 boundaries. She had shown throughout the tournament that she had a solid technique and a strong off-side game, but here took it to a new level with four boundaries in six balls against Anam Amin while also showing a leg-side game that had not been as evident in the previous matches.In an example of how Thailand have tried to make the most of every experience they could absorb at this tournament, Tippoch said that Chantam had been watching Marizanne Kapp when the squad came to the Pakistan-South Africa match a few days ago.”I think a lot more focus went on into her game and it’s one of those days she clicked,” Tippoch said. “I was talking to her right before we walked in and she said, yeah, she came for the Pakistan-South Africa game, and watched [Kapp] hit a few and got a bit of inspiration from that.”Thailand have spoken about improvement throughout the competition as well as how eye-opening it has been to compete at this level. Now Tippoch hopes this tournament can be a springboard to further development and a chance to play against stronger teams more often.”So coming into the World Cup it put a lot of things into perspective, and how much more we have to prepare ourselves to compete at this level consistently,” Tippoch said. “I think we’ve done a lot of the hard work in the past and progress is seen. So we’ve just got to go back and do the same thing over and over again. And also hope to reach out and play with better teams in this level of cricket.”Going home, there’s probably lots of things that are on the itinerary right now. Top of the list, probably go back, share the experiences. Also we’ve got to look into the development programmes, the under-19 programmes get them ready for this type of competitions because we want to be here and I think we’ve made a statement that we’re good enough to be here.”As the rain fell, the players broke into an impromptu dance routine near their dug out, a final show of enjoyment for a tournament where they have produced so many memorable moments.”It’s been massive,” Tippoch said. “We didn’t expect that there would be such a huge following, and just grateful for the fan base, for the following, for the support that everyone has given us.”And, you hope, this is just the start.
