Justin Moseley – Chiang Mai

Irish Pub slam winning six as Thai Thevada lads impress again

Today sees the finals of the San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes at the Gymkhana Club with action starting at 9.00 am, and presentation of trophies at about 5.00 pm.  Yesterday’s play required an extremely unsociable 8.00 am start, with low sunlight sparkling through the morning dew greeting the players as they walked on to the field for the first game, a Cup match involving the Perth Postels and Lik Lik Wombats. With 69 to chase the Postels’ lost a wicket on the first ball and the score proved too much to beat and the Wombats advanced. The next Cup game saw the Gloucestershire Gipsies take on the local Irish Pub. The Gipsies’ batting was restricted by determined fielding and bowling, with victory for the Irish ensured by accurate batting from the partnership of Zeshan and Maki. In the Spoon Blythswood progressed further by beating the local Stuffed Beavers. The highlight of the next Spoon match was the opening batting appearance of little Bob Phillips of Awali in full Bahraini attire; fortunately he was spared any running as he was bowled out first ball, and opponents Ios Malakas went on to win comfortably. In the Plate Sa Pa put up a great chase of the 83 set by Almar, but a fine catch and a run-out in the last over thwarted any chance of victory. The next Plate game saw the Bangkok Postels lose a wicket on the first ball, which no doubt made Jenny the Duck Lady and their opponents the local Gymkhana Cavaliers happy.  The game ended with the Postels requiring 2 to win off the last ball but they just failed, leaving Eric Little and his Cavaliers popular winners. The first Bowl match saw the Tokyo Dingbats advance after easily defeating the Floggers & Robbers. The next Bowl bout with Thai Thevada taking on the Maythais, is a day Thai lad Tong will not forget as he not only caught out ace Aussie test cricket legend Trevor Chapell, but he also hit 3 consecutive sixes from Trevor’s deliveries, which went part way to securing a memorable victory for his team.  Super batting from Yarrambat, in their Shield encounter with the Divine Felons, saw them progress to the semi-finals. In the next Shield game, more fine batting by the Yorkshire Puddings ensured victory against the Lanka Lions. In the Cup, against the Australian Lik Lik Wombats, Bashundhara from Bangladesh opened with typically fine boundary-bashing batting to score 77. The Lik Liks responded with some excellent batting and great running under pressure from the fast bowling and superbly quick and accurate fielding by Bashundhara.  However, this was not quite enough to prevent another victory for the Bangladeshis, who look promising to retain the Cup. In the next Cup game against the local Irish Pub, the Surrey Vagrants scored 68 with classy batting including a retirement from Graham Crawford.  The Irish Pub dropped two catches but third time lucky as Maki (Player of the Tournament in 2009) caught Steve Naylor.  The Irish Pub batsmen responded magnificently and, despite some tight bowling from the Vagrants, managed to just eclipse the score with Zeshan slamming a six off the final ball to give themselves a chance of winning the Cup. The Spoon semi-finals saw victories for the Armadillos from England over the Awali Taverners from Bahrain, and for the Ios Malakas from Greece over Blythswood from England. The Tokyo Dingbats won the first of the Bowl semi-finals from the Southerners from Thailand.  The other Bowl semi-final between Thai Thevada and the Darwin Dilettantes saw Tong up to his tricks again as he provided the perfect end to a memorable day for him as he scored several boundaries to help ease his team to victory.