Neisha Anne Pratt (born 21 March 1973) is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by s ...

player, born in New Zealand, who played international cricket for both

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bo ...

and also NZ domestic cricket for Northern Districts Spirit. She represented Hong Kong between 2006 and 2011, and captained the side. She made her Twenty20 International debut for Singapore against Malaysia in August 2018, at the age of 45.

Hong Kong career

Pratt captained

in their first official match in 2006, and as a result received cap number 1; the match was an Asian qualifying round match for the

2009 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, held in Australia from 7 to 22 March 2009. England won the tournament, beating New Zealand in the final to claim their third World Cup title. England bat ...

. she took 1/44 from 10 overs and scored 16 runs as Hong Kong lost to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-la ...

. She captained the team in a 2007

Asian Cricket Council The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional ...

30-over tournament in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...

. In the opening match against

, she scored 71 runs in 77 balls, and took 4/4 in 6 overs. In a 2008 series in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, Pratt top-scored in the final two matches, making 35 in the second match of the series, and 61 in the final match. Pratt also captained the side that won the 2009 ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship. She scored a partnership of 76 with Keenu Gill in a group-stage match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, which was the highest partnership in the group stages, and was also the

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the group stage matches against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

and Malaysia. In the final against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, Pratt scored 27 runs. In 2012, Pratt became ineligible to play for Hong Kong, as a change in eligibility criteria meant that only players eligible to play in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

could compete. In protest at Pratt's exclusion, Connie Wong and Keenu Gill withdrew from the 2012 Asian Cricket Council Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, and were subsequently banned for a year.

Singapore career

Pratt returned to international cricket in 2016 by playing for Singapore against Malaysia in the Saudari Cup. She hit 76* and 60* in consecutive games. The 2018 series had Twenty20 International status for the first time. She played in all five matches in the series. Her final appearance came at the age of 45 years, 144 days, at the time only behind Caroline de Fouw of Netherlands as the oldest women T20I player (since surpassed by some others).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Neisha 1973 births Living people People from Te Awamutu New Zealand women cricketers Northern Districts women cricketers Hong Kong women cricketers Singaporean women cricketers Singapore women Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Waikato New Zealand emigrants to Hong Kong New Zealand expatriates in Hong Kong New Zealand emigrants to Singapore New Zealand expatriates in Singapore