Bowled over by Winifred

Apr 01, 2022

By Gwen Manickam
Malaysia’s number one female cricketer is the only player chosen to represent Malaysia at the Inaugural FairBreak Invitational T20 next month. Bringing gender equality in cricket to the forefront, this world-first invitational women’s cricket tournament will see six franchise teams comprising players from 36 countries play in an ICC sanctioned tournament. It runs from May 1 to May 15, 2022, in Dubai in conjunction with Cricket Hong Kong.

Klang born Winifred Anne Duraisingam told the HERALD, “This is my biggest achievement thus far. I don’t know which team I will be in, but we will train together for two days before the tournament starts. I am looking forward to playing in a league with women from other countries.”

Cricket batted its way into her life at age eight, when she used to watch the neighbourhood boys play on the street outside her home. However, they would not allow her to bat because she was a girl. The second of three children, she also used to watch her elder brother play the sport in school before he went on to play for the Malaysian team.

When she was 10-yearsold, her uncle, David Mahadevan, who used to coach the boys, taught Winifried that whoever gets the wicket gets to bat. So, he trained her to bowl, and she started taking wickets. She said the boys would be silent and a little embarrassed that a girl was taking their wickets.

Winifred joined the Kemboja (Kuala Langat) Club, a neighbourhood team at 13. At a tournament against another club, she was the only female player on both teams and managed to bowl against ex-Malaysian national cricketer Hector Durairatnam. Impressed with her skills, he asked her uncle who the small boy bowling was, to which David exclaimed, “That’s my niece!”.

At that memorable game, there was also a scouter from the National Women’s team and in 2007, the teenage girl from Banting went on to join the Malaysia Women’s Cricket Team. As captain of the team since 2014, Winifred has played at multiple games, both locally and abroad. David, who passed on last year, was pleased with her achievements.

Winifred, an all-rounder in cricket, meaning a player who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling, was one of 15 players awarded a contract by the Malaysian Cricket Association last April, a first for female cricketers in the country. 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.

The 29-year-old graduated with a Bachelor of Education with honours in sports and recreation from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia two years ago. Due to the pandemic, Winifred only started her first job at SMK Lembah Keramat teaching Physical Education, English and Geography, a month ago.

“We’ve only been having classes online. I am looking forward to meeting my students this week.”

A parishioner at the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, Banting, Winifred played an active role in the youth ministry before sports commitments and work took up her time. “God has guided me and showed me the path. He gave me the patience to wait for my job. He has always been by my side.” Her dream is to start her own women’s cricket team – either in school or as a club and to one day play in the World Cup.