Thailand’s Nattaya Boochatham says her side can set the tone for the future of their nation’s cricket as they bow out of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup against Pakistan.

Defeats to West Indies, England and South Africa have made it a challenging debut at the tournament for Sornarrin Tippoch’s outfit.

But with a final opportunity to clinch an historic win over already-eliminated Pakistan, Boochatham hopes Thailand can show the way for a whole country with their closing performance at the Sydney Showground.

“It would be a big statement if we were to win the last game,” said Boochatham.
“We want to play our best cricket and show how well we’ve prepared. In the past few games, we haven’t been firing and haven’t demonstrated how well we’ve been working.

“Some of the games have been a wake-up call for us that motivates us to go home, improve our skills and various areas of cricket, so the world can see that we can play.

“It’s a good motivation for us to set the benchmark for the new generation of Thai cricketers coming into the team, that this is the level you have to be performing at. Hopefully we can set a good role model.

“We have got off to good starts in games and we’ve learnt about the need to capitalise on that, because if you don’t, teams like England and South Africa run away from you.

“We’ve been exposed, but that’s not a bad thing. We have room to improve and come back stronger.”

Pakistan can ultimately look back on an opportunity missed after an opening victory over West Indies plunged them into contention for the knockout stages.

But defeats to England and South Africa scuppered their hopes of reaching the knockout stages for the first time as they fell at the opening hurdle for the seventh time.

All-rounder Iram Javed says Pakistan have soaked up every second of the World Cup experience and will go all out to end on a high note against Thailand.

“We won’t take Thailand lightly, we will play our fearless cricket in the last game and hopefully we’ll manage to get the win,” said Iram.

“There is always a chance of improvement in any sport and we are improving day-by-day. We’ve learnt so many things at this World Cup.

“We’ve watched and played against big teams like Australia and England and we can take a lot from them.

“We’ll come into the next World Cups in good spirits and to play good cricket.”

This article was first published on the ICC site