Elsa Hunter: “Hopefully this World Cup can bring a lot more people into the sport in Malaysia”
Media release
History-maker Elsa Hunter hopes her Malaysian compatriots seize their opportunity to show what they can do on home soil at the upcoming ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
Hunter, 19, shot to prominence in 2019 when she made her senior Malaysia debut at the age of just 13 – making her the youngest-ever international cricketer.
The top order batter has continued on an upward trajectory since, making her Women’s Big Bash debut for the Sydney Sixers in this season’s competition and representing New South Wales in Australia’s Women’s National Cricket League.
Hunter is ineligible to feature in the upcoming U19 Women’s T20 World Cup as she turns 20 two weeks after the final but is delighted to see it being played in Malaysia and hopes it will raise awareness of cricket in the country.
“I would have loved to play in this U19 World Cup,” she said. “I played the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers for Malaysia before the 2023 competition, which was a really good experience.
“Playing people your age, you see how hungry everyone is to get to that next level and play for their country.
“It’s really good for these girls to learn at this young age. In the past, a lot of girls probably haven’t had that opportunity. Now they have a springboard, it’s really useful for them.”
Hunter names captain Nur Dania Syuhada, an opening batter who has 'really been developing her off-spin’, and ‘unreal’ 16-year-old left-armer Suabika Manivannan as two names to keep a particularly close eye on for the hosts.
“Last year, we went to the Asia Cup and she (Suabika) got some wickets against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which was crazy,” she said. “She is really, really good.
“This competition is definitely going to give the girls a lot of exposure. These girls are the future of Malaysian cricket and associate cricket, so it will be great experience to play these high-class teams and see this standard of cricket which they may not have seen before.
“They will be able to aspire to be like that and hopefully bring Malaysia forward in the future.
“Cricket has grown a lot there since I started, they are playing more in schools and people are starting to become more aware of the sport. Hopefully this World Cup can bring a lot more people into the sport in Malaysia.”
Hunter’s own cricket journey began in Sydney, where she moved from the country of her birth aged 10.
Having grown up playing badminton in Malaysia, she struggled to find a club in her new home and gave cricket a go having been inspired by the 2015 edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
“I found it very interesting to begin with,” she said. “With badminton, there’s a lot of hand-eye co-ordination so batting came quite easily to me. I tried bowling, which I was not bad at, but I thought ‘what is this?!’
“Once I started meeting new people, I made a lot of friends and that’s how I started loving the sport.”
Almost in the blink of an eye, Hunter was gracing the international stage, Malaysia Cricket’s interest piqued by an enquiry from her father surrounding training facilities his daughter could use on a family holiday.
Far from being overawed by the experience and attention that came with it, Hunter instead took everything in her stride.
“I was in a state academy here in Australia, and they (Malaysia) asked if he could send them a video of me batting,” she said. “They asked if I’d like to play for Malaysia – I still had the passport, so I still qualified for them. That’s how it all started.
“At such a young age, it was probably hard to understand how amazing that was. I was just living my best life at 13, I didn’t really think much of it. Looking back now, it was definitely a really surreal experience to have my name out there so early on.”
Hunter still has reason to pinch herself on a regular basis as she continues her ascent.
Whether sharing the field with Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues when Malaysia played India in the 2022 Asia Cup – “I was like, ‘this is the best day of my life’” – or opening the batting with Ellyse Perry in the Big Bash, Hunter is soaking up experiences most teenage cricket fanatics could only dream of.
“I’ve looked up to Ellyse for my whole cricket life, so I was just starstruck at the non-striker’s end while still trying to focus on my job,” she said.
“I always try and ask as many questions as I can and one time I asked her what her prep was when she goes out to bat – my thinking was that maybe I could copy it. She told me that, at this level, it is really important to find what you are comfortable with.
“I was like ‘that’s so true, I am at this level now – I need to not copy others and stick to my strengths’. That’s something I’m still working on but that has stuck with me.
“I just want to keep taking all the opportunities coming my way and working my way up.”
ENDS