Howzat - Winifred Duraisingam bowls them over in women's cricket
While some equate it with remnants of British rule, it was one of those exciting team sports that brought people together.
This writer's late father was a passionate cricketer, having played for clubs, the state of Negeri Sembilan, and even coached the game at a few schools.
It admittedly has not enjoyed the high profile other team sports such as football and hockey have, and one reason is that it was largely limited to male players in the past.
Now, as with pretty much every other sport out there, women cricketers are carving out a place for themselves and the Malaysian women’s cricket team is no exception.
Winifred Anne Duraisingam, 29, is the current captain of our women's team and she is determined to take women’s cricket in Malaysia to the next level.
Winifred is what they call an all-rounder, which means she is a cricketer who regularly performs well at the two primary skills of batting and bowling.
While all players are required to do both, most players...
MALAYSIANSKINI | Cricket may not be as popular as football, hockey, or badminton in Malaysia but there was a time when it was played regularly on the pitches of various towns with clubs going against clubs.
While some equate it with remnants of British rule, it was one of those exciting team sports that brought people together.
This writer's late father was a passionate cricketer, having played for clubs, the state of Negeri Sembilan, and even coached the game at a few schools.
It admittedly has not enjoyed the high profile other team sports such as football and hockey have, and one reason is that it was largely limited to male players in the past.
Now, as with pretty much every other sport out there, women cricketers are carving out a place for themselves and the Malaysian women’s cricket team is no exception.
Winifred Anne Duraisingam, 29, is the current captain of our women's team and she is determined to take women’s cricket in Malaysia to the next level.
Winifred is what they call an all-rounder, which means she is a cricketer who regularly performs well at the two primary skills of batting and bowling.
While all players are required to do both, most players excel at one or the other. All-rounders are a special breed.
In April 2021, she was one of 15 players to be awarded a contract by the Malaysian Cricket Association, the first time female cricketers for the Malaysian team had been granted contracts.
In November 2021, she was named captain of Malaysia's side for the 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
‘That’s my niece!’
In an interview, this Banting girl revealed she is the middle child in her family of three children and her brother used to play for the Malaysian cricket team.
“I became interested in playing cricket when I was eight years old. People were playing cricket on the street outside my house and I would see the boys hitting the ball so hard that I would ask them if I could bat. They would not allow me to do it because I was a girl.
“I was 10 years old when I got my first chance to play. My uncle David would tell me that whoever gets the wicket will get to bat. So he would teach me how to bowl. I started taking wickets. The boys would be all silent and were embarrassed that a girl was taking their wicket.
"From then on, I enjoyed bowling and kept on bowling," she recalled.
“At age 13, I played for the Kuala Langat Club team. I was bowling well and one day I bowled against Hector Durairatnam, an ex-Malaysian national cricketer. He asked my uncle who the small boy bowling was and my uncle replied ‘that’s my niece!'.”
At that time someone was selecting players for the national cricket team. They asked her to take part in the national team selections and at the tender age of 14, Winifred was selected to represent the country.
She was an avid sportsperson in primary school where she played ping pong and even took up taekwondo. She also played the piano but her passion for cricket eventually eclipsed everything else.
Prolific achievements
“I was the captain of the Malaysian Women’s Cricket team at age 21 and I captained the team at the 2014 Asian Games held in Korea. It taught me a lot and I gained a lot of experience. I have also gained international exposure playing overseas.
“I have trained with the Kensington District Cricket Club team in the South Australian league for six months and also enjoyed playing in the Sri Lankan league (Palink cricket club)," she added.
Not content with just playing, she developed an interest in the technical aspects of the game and has completed level one of the coaching programme under Cricket Australia's National Coaching Accredited Scheme.
She has enjoyed her journey playing cricket which she now balances with her full-time job as a teacher.
Though there is not much support for cricket in Malaysia, when the women's side won the bronze medal at the Sea Games held in Kuala Lumpur in 2017, it helped bring them to more people’s notice.
“After the Sea Games, we could see more support for women's cricket and many people came to know that women's cricket exists in Malaysia.
“The Malaysian Cricket Association has taken many initiatives to develop it. For example, it is focused on a programme called Adiwira that is targeted at a new generation of cricketers.
"Plus, they have held many competitions among schools around Malaysia. Moreover, a few schools have collaborated with the Malaysian Cricket Association to become centres where pupils can train in a proper training programme during school hours," she said.
According to Winnifred, the efforts are paying off.
"The women's cricket pool has got rather big. We can see the results as Malaysia has recently sent U19 (under-19) girls to China for a tournament.
“We are fully taken care of by the Malaysian Cricket Association. It is hard to get sponsors or help from the Sports Ministry. Most of the players buy their equipment using their own pocket money."
Despite her achievements, Winifred does have to put up with comments from unsupportive people.
“Many people have asked me why I choose this sport as I have to play under the sun for a long time. I also always get asked if there are other women playing cricket as well.”
When asked who her favourite cricket players are, Winifred says, “I liked to watch Kumar Sangakkara from Sri Lanka. He is a left-handed batsman but I liked to watch the way he bats in the centre. He is a very calm and humble person. In women’s cricket, I like watching Heather Knight, the captain of England women’s team.”
Winifred has her ultimate goal as a cricketer.
“My goal is to one day play in the World Cup and also start playing franchise league with higher-level women cricketers.
But for now, she has other plans. “This year will be a good year for us as we all just finished the Commonwealth Games qualifiers.”
The Commonwealth Games qualifiers were held from Jan 18 to 24 in Kuala Lumpur. There went up against teams from Sri Lanka, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Scotland.
The Malaysian squad consisted of Winifred, Nik Nur Atiela, Sasha Azmi, Aisya Eleesa, Mas Elysa, Ainna Hamizah Hashim, Jamahidaya Intan, Wan Julia (wk), Dhanusri Muhunan, Nur Arianna Natsya, Nur Natasya Nazira, Amalin Sorfina, Nor Dania Syuhada, Yusrina Yaakop, and Wan Nor Zulaika.
“We as a team played really well-against top-ranking teams. We will be in more tournaments this year and it will be a really good experience for us as we can also start improving our ranking,” said Winifred.
Malaysianskini is a series on Malaysians you should know.
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