Stats: Vanuatu successfully defends 65 against Malaysia in a One-Day match

The inaugural tournament of the League A in the Men’s CWC Challenge has thrown up some interesting scorecards and the hosts Malaysia were on the receiving end both times. Last week, they conceded a 400+ total to Canada who ended up hitting as many as 28 sixes. Those are the highest number of sixes any team has smashed in a List A match. On Wednesday, Malaysia suffered their 4th consecutive defeat as they ended the tournament with a 13-run defeat against Vanuatu.

After electing to bat first, Vanuatu lost three wickets at the score of 26. From 26/1 they collapsed to 26/4 in five deliveries. On what looked like a green track with moisture due to rain, Vanuatu were bundled out for just 65 as they lost their last five wickets for 17 runs. Pavandeep Singh and Nazril Rahman took 4-wicket hauls as the opposition’s innings was cut short to 25.1 overs. Malaysia found themselves in all sorts of trouble as they were five down with seven runs on the board.

None of the top five scored more than two runs as Patrick Matuataava took a 4-wicket haul by 5th over of the chase. Aminuddin Ramly and Nazril Rahman added 21 runs for the 6th wicket before Nazril got run-out in the 10th over. Apolinaire Stephen took two more wickets in the same over to leave the host 8 down for 32. Aminuddin took Vanuatu past 50 as he scored 25 off 35 balls which was the highest individual score in the game and more than twice by any other player.

He eventually got out in the 17th over trying for a big shot. The last pair kept blocking before the rain came when the home team was 51/9 after 18.3 overs. Their innings finally came to an end in the 22nd over when Pavandeep Singh was dismissed for a 31-ball duck. Pavandeep was caught in the slip only a ball after Anwar Rahman was dropped in the same position. Vanuatu thus got their first win of the tournament while the hosts bowed out with only one win out of the five matches.

The total of 65 is now the lowest total which has been defended successfully in the List A format. The previous lowest was 76 by Middlesex against Northamptonshire during the 40-over competition in 1972. The lowest defended total in a game of 50 or more overs is 82 during the 1993/94 Deodhar Trophy game between South Zone and North Zone in Surat. Overall, this is only the 10th instance of a team winning a List A game despite posting less than 100 while batting first. [Excluding the matches where the scheduled overs were reduced]

Lowest totals successfully defended in List A cricket:

(Stats as on September 25, 2019)