Born on 2nd July 1990 in Chiang Mai, Naruemol Chaiwai has played in every one of the 39 matches Thailand have played since the nation gained T20 International status. The right handed batter is one of Thailand’s leading run scorers and has also filled in as a wicket keeper.
In April 2020 Naruemol was appointed as the new captain of Thailand, taking over from Sornnarin Tippoch, but is no stranger to leadership. In 2008/09 she was the captain of the Thailand U19 team and took the team to the semi-finals Asian Cricket Council Under-19s Women’s Championship.
Naruemol has been playing with the senior team since July 2009. In July 2018 Thailand gained T20 International status and the team’s rise to prominence surprised the cricket world. However, when you consider that this team has been playing and performing in unofficial international matches for a decade prior, then it becomes a little less surprising.
Thailand has played 42 T20 Internationals and Naruemol Chaiwai has played in every single match. While she bowls right-arm medium pace she is yet to do so in a T20I. Instead, her work as a top order batter is where she has made her mark. Naruemol has scored 718 runs at 22.43 with two half centuries, 64 not out against Malaysia and 57 against Hong Kong.
Both of these scores were made when it counted: at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Region Qualifier 2018/19 where Naruemol was the leading run scorer for the tournament. We know what happened next for Thailand: a World Cup birth.