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Prem takes gold at CMAC cross country meet
Prem International student Hasun won
a gold medal for his age group of age 12 -13 years old at the
annual CMAC cross country meet at the American Pacific
International School in Chiang Mai recently. He is seen here on
the podium with the silver and bronze winners.
Prem Junior Cricket goes to Mae On
The Prem Junior cricket team
traveled to Mae On and performed well, giving coaches hope that
the team will surprise the opposition at the National
tournaments next month.
Last week the Prem Junior Cricket team journeyed out to Mae On
District to play in the Northern Thailand cricket softball
tournament. It was a bit of a nostalgia trip for Coach David
Buck as the Mae On school was one of the first schools
introduced to cricket by David back in 2004. It was also fitting
that he was present with the team for the opening of the new
cricket nets eleven years later by the Governor and other
signatories.
A very hot day welcomed the schools from Mae On: Sahagon 1 and
2, Sankampeng, the eventual winners Buacrognon, and the youngest
team by far from Prem. It was a special day for the boys as this
was their first trip away from the facilities of Prem to the
very different surfaces at Mae On. This was illustrated with the
difficulty of lack of pace and plenty of bounce that caused the
downfall in the narrowly contested games against Sahagon 1 and
Sankampeng. When it came down to the last game, the boys had got
to grips with the surface and comprehensively beat Sahagon in
the play off.
Splendid performances from all the team, with special mentions
going to Cal and Andy for their powerful batting, and James and
young Tom (on debut) for the bowling. Coach Mark was confident
the team may surprise a few in the National tournaments to be
held at Prem on 7 March.
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Juniors outclass Lanna B to lead the Chiang Mai Senior League
Bunchuai and Chanchai prove their
mettle as Bunchuai made the only second century ever for the
League.
Richard Lockwood
Bunchuai and Chanchai ensured that the record books for the
Chiang Mai Senior League had to be torn up and thrown away by
sharing an opening partnership of 194 as Bunchuai made only the
second century ever made in the league and Chanchai again
improved his career best score with 76. The two boys gave the
Lanna B fielders the run around at Prem and the only surprise
was that Lanna B managed to take a wicket at all. Taran Persaud
finally induced Chanchai to hit the ball straight to cover and
somehow Martin Papworth held the catch.
Lanna Juniors' final total was a mighty 234 for one from 30
overs but there was little else their opponents could have done
given how well the two openers played. Eddie Joyner found it
hard to run into the wind and some grass at one end of the pitch
proved something of an illusion. Martin Papworth and Hamish Weir
also bowled tidily but after the three main bowlers had finished
their spells the runs began to flow at more than 10 an over.
Lanna B's batting wasn't quite as fluent even though they did
well to reach 59 for two before the wickets started falling more
rapidly as nine young bowlers each took a wicket and Martin
Papworth and Eddie Joyner with a combined age of more than Lanna
B's total managed a school boy run out.
Lanna B were bowled out for 109 as Lanna Juniors won by a mighty
125 runs to prove once again that the best of the Juniors had
outgrown this level of cricket in Chiang Mai as the young team
went top of the league with two wins in two matches. Well played
boys.
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Lanna Spirits conquer Bangkok with victory at Southerners Sixes
Lanna Spirits took the trophy home.
Richard Lockwood
Lanna Spirits returned from a wonderful weekend's
cricket at the Southerners Social Sixes in Bangkok with four
juniors joining forces with more experienced cricketers not only
to take part in but also to win the main competition by beating
a strong Southerners Gold team in the final.
Lanna Vagrants had made a good impression in the 2014
competition and were given a generous donation to support junior
cricket so it seemed only fair to make a return visit in 2015.
With only two players confirmed with a week to go a brilliant
solution to the selection problems was devised: take the juniors
to play and show off their talents to a new audience.
All the arrangements were put in place with Jun, Chanchai and
Cher invited to play in the two-day event. Phone calls were made
to Walter Persaud who runs a team in the Bangkok League and Jun
and Chanchai were able to play a 45-over match on the Saturday.
Luckily Max Coombes had a day off from his studies and football
training in and two more reserves were found for the first day
while the league match was being played.
All the careful planning almost came to nothing on Saturday
morning as a car breakdown almost saw the early morning flight
from Chiang Mai missed but a helpful batman came to Lanna's aid
in the final dash to the plane. The taxi then made it from the
airport to Harrow School in time for the first match and Cher
was already in action playing for another team.
The Lanna Spirits assembled with Parvais and Javed joining Cher,
Max, Rich and Locky for Saturday's matches with simple aim of
staying in the competition until the reinforcements came in time
for Sunday's matches. The tournament format saw seven teams
playing in a round robin league with six matches each before
play-offs for the top six teams with three winners' trophies to
be played for.
Lanna's first match was against Southerners Black and on taking
the field the first two overs were costly as Javed was hit for
five fours in his over. Luckily Locky showed unexpected form
with ball having saved himself for the big occasion and his high
bounce proved almost unplayable. Max and Parvais backed him up
and Black were restricted to 54 for 4.
Max was in powerful form with the bat but Richard Cowles made a
golden duck before Cher and Javed saw Lanna home in the last
over helped by two wides from Leigh Whitten. The battle of the
captains had been decisively won by Locky and Lanna's campaign
was underway in great fashion.
The second match was against the stronger Southerners Gold side
but Lanna almost pulled another victory out of the fire as Rich
made 29 and Javed provided a late flourish as he hit a four off
the last ball to tie the scores but Lanna had lost one more
wicket so had lost by the narrowest of margins.
With Gold, Parrots and Phuket looking formidable opponents it
was important that Lanna Spirits kept in contention by winning
the third match but Pattaya were scoring lots of runs thanks to
man of the tournament Simon Philbrook and they reached 59 for
one in their five overs. Javed had been promoted to open but
didn't last long and somehow Rich made his second golden duck of
the day but Max and Cher held their nerves and smashed the ball
to all parts to win the match with three balls to spare.
Day one had gone according to plan for Lanna and news came
through of the Bangkok Spirits match against Thailand CC. It was
a one-sided affair as Thailand won by eight wickets but Chanchai
had looked impressive as he was very composed with the bat
before being run out and his figures of 1 for 14 in 5 overs were
by far the best for his team. Jun made 11 with the bat but
couldn't get the ball to swing as Titas made a century in a
total of 134 for two. Walter and Martin failed to make an
impression and were very determined to do better on Sunday.
The boys all stayed in Walter's apartment and Martin, Rich,
Martin and Locky tried a new approach when staying in Bangkok by
planning the strategy for the next day and having an early
night. Walter's hospitality was tremendous and the boys cleared
their minds of cricket by watching Spiderman.
A smooth ride into the ground allowed for yet more warming up as
Lanna continued their new professional approach but the expected
opponents had not arrived and it was discovered there were two
different schedules for the second day's play. The Parrots had
not left their nest but Black Swans obviously prefer an early
start to the day so they were Lanna's next opponents.
Again Lanna bowled first and restricted the Swans to 43 for 2 to
claim a bonus point with Locky keeping his place in the side and
keeping Walter on the sidelines. The Lanna Spirits were
outstanding in the field with Jun, Cher and Chanchai bowling
well and saving countless runs in the outfield. Martin Cardno
was run out but Chanchai and Rich completed a comfortable
victory.
'Leave the Parrots to me', said Walter but the key to winning
the next match was Chanchai's nonchalant catch on the boundary
to dismiss Bobby Raina as the Parrots made only 40 for 4. Walter
was promoted to open and he and Martin raced to victory over
their Premier League rivals. Locky was content to handle the
paper work and noted another bonus point had been achieved.
Four wins in five matches had made a place in the main final
almost a certainty but the captain was not leaving antything to
chance and named an unchanged side against the Phuket Blasters.
He demanded high standards from his team and used the same
recipe for success as he won the toss and put the opposition in
to bat. A total of 49 for 1 was again a good return after a fine
performance in the field and Chanchai and Martin needed only 15
balls to reach the target.
Lanna Spirits would play Southerners Gold in the Jug final as
Lanna's record of five wins in six matches was bettered only by
Gold's six out of six, but two more finals were played first as
Pattaya defeated Black Swans to win the Bowl and Phuket Blasters
beat the Parrots to win the Shield. Southerners Black were
worthy winners of the Wooden Spoon and Leigh Whitten's lovely
little daughter was delighted with her new toy.
Locky, having decided that manning the scoreboard was more
important that any quest for personal glory, again applied the
tried and tested formula in his batting and bowling orders and
by winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Jun and Cher were a
little more expensive than normal but Walter and Martin bowled
steady overs and Chanchai was outstanding as Gold made 51 in
their five overs.
Lanna had been tremendous in the field all day but their batting
had also been impressive as they had lost only one wicket in
three matches. They lost another wicket as Chanchai was called
through for a second run and was just short of his ground, but
the experience of Martin and Rich made sure there was no late
panic and the winning runs came with a wide.
Lanna Spirits had conquered Bangkok and proved that you could
win trophies with kids, at least if they were highly talented
Thai kids. Locky was extremely pleased to receive the trophy but
even more happy with the kind words from tournament organizer
Vaughan McClear who said that the boys' performances had made
the competition very special.
Of course, while the adults reflected on a remarkable success
and made their thank yous for another donation to junior cricket
from the Southerners, the boys went back on the field for some
catching practice and to use the bat that had been won in the
raffle.
On this occasion at least, you get what you deserve..... Thank
you to everybody who has supported the hill tribe kids over the
years. Your generosity is being rewarded magnificently,
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Papworth takes five after Lanna International School enjoy a special morning’s cricket at Gymkhana
Richard Lockwood
The children, parents and teachers had a fantastic time in the
Lanna International School Cricket Match on Sunday 25th January and the
school has recently become a generous supporter of cricket in Chiang Mai
with a new sponsorship of Chiang Mai Lanna CC in recognition of the
club's role in the community and its promotion of junior cricket. Thanks
are due to Hugh Williams for arranging this sponsorship and it is hoped
that the school will soon be running their own junior team and more
teachers and parents will also be playing cricket regularly.
After Lanna International School had finished their game the Gymkhana
cricket members were divided into two teams so that Lanna CC and United
CC players could play together on level terms. The 20-over match saw
Martin Papworth and Ismail competing for honours and it looked like
Ismail would win the battle as 22 came off the first over of the match.
But Papworth showed great persistence and picked up one wicket in his
second over and two more in each of his third and fourth overs to finish
with remarkable figures of 4-0-51-5 which were a career best and it was
the first time he had taken five wickets in a long career.
Ismail meanwhile had retired on reaching 40 in only 16 balls but Tom
Salusbury who had earlier made sandwiches for 60 people took 2 for 10
and Suhail 2 for 23, and it was Taran Persaud who finished off the
innings off by having Ismail who had returned to the crease caught on
the boundary with his only ball. Gymkhana A had been bowled out for 116
in only 14.1 overs.
Gymkhana B would have hoped to seal victory but Shine Thomas and Asif
were both out for ducks as Burhan bowled extremely well and Beer used up
36 balls in his innings of 14. Firdoz made a bright and breezy 30 but
Champ then batted for 34 balls for an unbeaten 10 and the younger boys
will have to learn to go for their shots in this short form of cricket.
Tom tried to show them how with two fours and a three in his 13 and
Imtiaz hit his first ball for six but Gymkhana B were well short of
their target as they reached 87 for 6 in 20 overs as Gymkhana A won by
29 runs.
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Twenty eight years of Sixes Cricket inn Chiang Mai
The Chiang Mai Cricket Sixes will return to the
Chiengmai Gymkhana Club on April 5 and run through to the 12th.
The San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes has become very much
part of the sporting and social calendar in Thailand and everybody will be
made to feel most welcome at Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club from 5th April to 12th
April, 2015. Again in 2015, San Miguel (Thailand) is the official tournament
sponsor. Play will normally be under way by 9.00 am every day and finish by
5.30 pm. The competition concludes with finals day on Saturday 12th April.
The 2015 edition that is being held at Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club is the 28th
consecutive year of a tournament that has built its unrivalled success on a
recipe of enjoyable yet competitive cricket with teams from around the world
returning year after year.
A Sixes competition (six players aside with five-over matches) was first
staged in Chiang Mai back in 1988 and began on a small scale with a handful
of visiting teams competing against the locals but the event quickly grew in
scale to become one of the largest amateur tournaments staged anywhere in
the world.
In 2015, 32 teams will be playing nearly 100 matches during the week. Teams
come from around the world: far afield from England, Australia, New Zealand,
or South Africa, but also from countries closer at hand in the Far or Middle
East, along with local teams from Chiang Mai. The defending Cup champions,
Walton Cricketers, who have won the last three years in a row, come from
Bangladesh.
Walton Cricketers – Cup Winners 2014 Chiang Mai
Cricket Sixes
Teams of all standards have the chance to compete on even terms and every
player who takes part in the competition has the chance of winning a trophy.
The first half of the tournament will see the 32 teams ranked for the second
stage where the teams are divided into five different categories with five
trophies up for grabs.
There will be five teams of winners and five teams of runners up so a third
of the 32 teams will win prizes at this year’s event, and some of the best
junior cricketers in north Thailand will be on show playing for the San
Miguel Thais team who have always given a good account of themselves here at
the Sixes.
As well as almost a hundred short and sweet cricket matches with fours and
sixes galore, spectators will enjoy a festival atmosphere with food and
drink available all days, and there are three official functions during the
seven-day event.
Further details are available on the newly-updated website
www.chiangmaisixes.com. The new website features a highlight video from the
2014 Sixes, and during the 2015 Sixes there will be live video and audio
feeds as well as updated scores from all the matches.
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