It’s used to be a rare occasion for countries from different continents to come together for bi-lateral series, other than the scheduled ICC tournaments in the past. However, with the uniform T20I status to all ICC members, such arrangements are possible if countries from differnet continents come together for an ICC event, and the stay can be extended to facilitate such bi-lateral series with the host nation of the ICC event.
It is what happened with Vanuatu visiting Malaysia for the first round of ICC CWC Challenge League Group A tournament, and then extending their stay in the country to play a 5-match T20I series against the host’s. And a strong showing enabled Vanuatu to register their maiden T20I series win against Malaysia, with the series scoreline reading 3-2 in favour of the visitors.
Vanuatu had wrapped up the series win in the 4th match of the series itself, winning three matches, with Malaysia winning the final game of the series to bring the scoreline to a respectable 3-2. For Vanuatu, Patrick Matautaava registered a maiden T20I century in the 2nd game of the series. Matautaava (195 runs in 5 innings) and Joshua Rasu (191 runs in 5 innings) were the top scorer’s for Vanuatu, while Ariff Jamaludeen (159 runs in 5 innings) and Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak (140 runs in 4 innings) were the top scorer’s. Virandeep Singh (127 runs) and Nalin Nipiko (121 runs) were the other batsmen to score more than 100+ runs in the series.
Among the bowlers, Pavandeep Singh of Malaysia was the highest wicket-taker in the series with 10 scalps from 5 matches, whereas Nalin Nipiko (9 wickets from 5 innings), Andrew Mansale, Sharvin Muniandy and Simpson Obed (6 wickets each) were the other successful bowlers during the series.
Brief Scores
01st T20I: Vanuatu 151/5 in 20 overs (Joshua Rasu 74, Clement Tommy 24, Andrew Mansale 23, Nazril Rahman 2/28, Pavandeep Singh 2/31, Fitri Sham 1/30) beat Malaysia 134/9 in 20 overs (Ariff Jamaludeen 33, Virandeep Singh 26, Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak 17, Nalin Nipiko 4/21, Andrew Mansale 2/1, Simpson Obed 1/22, Wesley Viralilliu 1/28) by 17 runs
02nd T20I: Vanuatu 188/6 in 20 overs (Patrick Matautaava 103, Nalin Nipiko 43, Jamal Vira 19 n.o, Sharvin Muniandy 2/26, Pavandeep Singh 1/27, Syazrul Idrus 1/33) beat Malaysia 137/7 in 20 overs (Virandeep Singh 34, Ariff Jamaludeen 28, Nazril Rahman 24 n.o, Simpson Obed 3/23, Andrew Mansale 1/20, Jelany Chilia 1/21) by 51 runs
03rd T20I: Malaysia 134/8 in 20 overs (Sharvin Muniandy 27, Ahmad Zubaidi 22, Ariff Jamaludeen 17, Nalin Nipiko 3/22, Andrew Mansale 3/34, Simpson Obed 1/30) beat Vanuatu 108 all out in 17.1 overs (Nalin Nipiko 42, Clement Tommy 18, Muhammad Wafiq Zarbani 3/10, Pavandeep Singh 3/12, Fitri Sham 2/22) by 26 runs
04th T20I: Malaysia 144/7 in 20 overs (Ariff Jamaludeen 52 n.o, Virandeep Singh 31, Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak 21, Apolinaire Stephen 2/15, Jelany Chilia 1/23, Patrick Matautaava 1/29) lost to Vanuatu 145/4 in 19.1 overs (Joshua Rasu 50, Andrew Mansale 38, Nalin Nipiko 23 n.o, Sharvin Muniandy 2/18, Muhammad Wafiq Zarbani 1/30, Pavandeep Singh 1/34) by 6 wickets
05th T20I: Malaysia 206/5 in 20 overs (Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak 87, Virandeep Singh 35, Ariff Jamaludeen 29, Sharvin Muniandy 17 n.o, Nalin Nipiko 1/31, Zechariah Kalo 1/36) beat Vanuatu 184/9 in 20 overs (Patrick Matautaava 66, Joshua Rasu 43, Ronald Tari 28, Pavandeep Singh 3/32, Syazrul Idrus 2/31, Sharvin Muniandy 1/23, Fitri Sham 1/41) by 22 runs
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