Bowlers make quick work of Myanmar

MALAYSIA needed just four overs to knock off the required runs and bury hapless Myanmar by 10 wickets in a short Sea Games men’s 50-overs round-robin match yesterday.

After dismissing Myanmar for 45 runs in 22 overs, opener Shafiq Sharif belted 37 runs off 16 balls to steer Malaysia to the victory target inside 30 minutes at the Kinrara Oval.

The entire match lasted just over two hours, much shorter than a regulation Twenty20 game as Malaysia recorded a second win to go top of the table on a better run-rate than Singapore, who they face in a crucial match to decide the gold medallists on Wednesday.

Derek Michael Duraisingam was Myanmar’s chief tormentor as he dismissed their top three batsmen before wiping up the tail for figures of five wickets for 26 runs.

Wafiq Irfan Zarbani claimed four wickets for 13 as only two Myanmar batsmen reached double figures with Min Wai’s 12 runs the top score.

Shukri Rahim was Malaysia’s other wicket-taker.

Shafiq wasted little time in getting Malaysia’s run-chase away, hitting four of his five boundaries in the first over for 20 runs, leaving captain Anwar Arudin (5) to face just eight balls at the other end.

Singapore, in contrast, lost six wickets in scoring 100 runs to beat Myanmar by four wickets on Sunday.

For Myanmar, they ended the round-robin stage with just one win after playing all four of their fixtures.

Meanwhile, the women’s Twenty20 competition has been reduced to four teams following Myanmar’s withdrawal. The event was to have started yesterday in a match between Malaysia and Myanmar which means Indonesia and Thailand will open the competition when they meet on Tuesday. Devinder Singh