KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia won cricket’s first-ever Sea Games gold medal after beating Indonesia by 251 runs at the Kinrara Oval on Thursday to finish top of the men’s 50-overs standings.
Captain Anwar Arudin smashed 162 runs to steer Malaysia to a massive total of 320 before the hosts bowled Indonesia, who finished the tournament without a win in four matches, out for 69 in 22 overs.
Malaysia took a big step towards winning gold on Wednesday with a six-wicket win over strongest rivals Singapore, who settled for silver, with bronze going to Thailand.
After fellow opening batsman Fikri Makram Rosdi was dismissed for seven, Anwar took it upon himself to pile up the runs by smashing an astonishing 21 boundaries and four sixes off 108 balls.
Virandeep Singh weighed in with a patient 58 in a 133-run partnership with Anwar while Suharril Fetri Shuib added 25 before Malaysia were all out with two balls remaining.
Indonesia advanced to 45-1 in 11 overs but once opener Anjar Tadarus departed leg-before to Anwar Rahman, their innings fell apart as they lost their next eight wickets for 24 runs.
Anwar Rahman ended with figures of five wickets for 29 runs while Rashid Ahad (3-8) and Suharril (2-8) shared the remaining five wickets.
Malaysia begin the pursuit of another gold medal in the Twenty20 competition on Saturday.