Three of those teams have appeared in every tournament and will be there again this year when the Sixes takes place as usual in the grounds of the 106 year-old Chiengmai Gymkhana Club, from Sunday April 4th to Saturday April10th.

The three stalwarts reflect the broad international reach of Chiang Mai's longest running international sports event _ they are Darjeeling CC out of Dubai, the Drifters from the UK, and the perennial Wombats from Australia.

A potential 32 teams have registered for the 2004 Sixes, which would make this the biggest tournament yet, and has caused the organising committee to make it officially a full 7-day event this year.

Participating teams are expected from Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh (for the first time), China, England, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, the UAE and Wales.

Other teams this year include four former Sixes Cup winners (Gloucestershire Gipsies, Lords Taverners, Drifters and Perth Postels) as well as many other returnees to what has become one of the amateur cricket world's most popular events.

But far from looking back, the 17th Chiang Mai Sixes will take as its theme "Building a Future for Cricket in Thailand," celebrating development of the sport of cricket in Thailand, which has already begun successfully among Thai school children. Chiang Mai Sixes's participants, sponsors and organizers were responsible for funding the first initiative to introduce cricket into junior schools around Chiang Mai starting in the year 2000.

Since then, under the auspices of the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance (CMSCA), this programme has grown by leaps and bounds and now has the recognition and support of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), the cricket world's governing body for this region.

Already, four Thai schoolboys from the CMSCA's programme have represented Thailand at junior age levels at tournaments in Dubai, Singapore, India, and Malaysia. And this year the CMSCA gained an award from cricket's world governing body the International Cricket Council (ICC), for "The Best Junior Development Initiative" in the Asia Region.