Accidental cricketer Natthakan Chantham targets return trip to T20 World Cup with Thailand

When Thailand attempt to force their way back on to cricket’s biggest stage in Abu Dhabi this week, their quest will be led by a player who only happened on the sport by accident.

At No 16 in the ICC’s T20 international standings, Natthakan Chantham will be the highest ranked batter on show at the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.

The eight-team competition in the capital carries with it two places for the main even in South Africa next year.

It may seem odd to those used to mainstream cricket that Thailand are among the favourites to make it. They are the second-highest ranked side in the event, behind Bangladesh.

How Chantham became to be one of the leading lights of the remarkable rise of the Thai women’s side in cricket is curious.

“I had to pick a club in school,” Chantham recalled of her eight-year-old self. “I wanted to pick movie club, but it was already full. Cricket was still empty, so it was really an accident that I picked cricket. I knew nothing about it. So my English teacher became my first coach.”

Her teacher was a Thai national who picked up the rudiments of cricket during the course of learning English.

“We started playing with a plastic ball,” Chantham said. “At that time I knew nothing about cricket.

“When I grew up a bit I found out cricket was played with a leather ball. It was surprise for me. Catching the leather ball was hard. There was no mercy.”

Since the advent of their women’s programme in 2007, Thailand's national team has advanced rapidly. They made their first appearance on the global stage at the last T20 World Cup two years ago.

They might have done the same in the 50-over version, too, had a series of unfortunate events – including the onset of the Omicron variant - not denied them.

Des