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A record year for
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Published on Feb 29, 2004 [CRICKET] Legendary Australian bowler Merv Hughes and former Australian Test Player of the Year Colin Miller are rumoured to be coming to this year's Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. The two former stars will certainly add some colour to an already colourful event and will come up against other former Australian greats such as Trevor Chapell, who is making a return visit this year along with Tom Hogan and a group of legendary Sri Lankan players. Negotiations are still underway to bring Hughes and Miller, but Chapell and Hogan have confirmed. The annual event, now in it's 17th year, could be the biggest ever staged with a possible 32 teams taking part, forcing the organisers to extend the tournament to run over seven days. The Sri Lankan stars, who will arrive with some help from Sri Lankan Airlines, are former star Test opener Sidath Wettimuny, record-breaking batsman Roshan Mahanama, former fast bowler star and now ACC regional development official Rumesh Ratnayake, ex-Test wicketkeeper and opening bat Amal Silva and international Test umpire K T Francis. Chapell, now a regular in Chiang Mai and a full member of last year's Bowl winners the Warathais, loves coming to Chiang Mai and spends a lot of his time coaching and helping the junior players in Thailand, who have made great progress in the game in the past two years. The first six-a-side cricket tournament was held in 1988 with 16 teams and three of those original teams still come every year to play on the historic 106-year-old Chiangmai Gymkhana Club grounds - the Darjeeling CC out of Dubai, the Drifters from the UK and the Wombats from Australia. This year's tournament will start on Sunday, April 4 and wind up on Saturday, April 10. Other teams taking part this year are expected from Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh (for the first time), China, England, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, the UAE and Wales. There will also be four former Sixes Cup winners this year - the Gloucestershire Gipsies, Lords Taverners, Drifters and Perth Postels - as well as many other returnees to what has become one of amateur cricket's most popular events. This year's 17th Chiang Mai Sixes will take as its theme "Building a Future for Cricket in Thailand", celebrating the development of the sport in Thailand, which has already begun successfully among Thai schoolchildren. Chiang Mai Sixes participants, sponsors and organisers were responsible for funding the first initiative to introduce cricket into junior schools around Chiang Mai in the year 2000. Since then, under the auspices of the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance (CMSCA), this programme has gone ahead in 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. 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. However, the success of the CMSCA's development efforts among schoolchildren in Chiang Mai, despite official recognition and encouragement, continues to rely heavily on private donations and funding. Ambitious plans are afoot to expand the coaching programme to include more schools and to develop a local cricket ground for coaching and tournaments among young Thai cricketers. The CMSCA continues to seek a major private benefactor who recognises the huge potential of Thai cricket. In the meantime, its "Baht for Bats" funding drive will be asking Chiang Mai Sixes participants and sponsors to continue their generous and vital support. This year, during the 17th Sixes, the 5th Chiang Mai Sixes Sawasdee Cricket Cup will be held - an annual tournament among local school teams playing a junior version of cricket which is being used to introduce the sport to Thai youngsters. The Sawasdee Cup tournament is also played at the Gymkhana Club ground on an adjacent field to the main Sixes event. Several star international cricketers are, as usual, expected to play with the teams in the Chiang Mai Sixes, and negotiations are under way with a number of possible guest stars. It is hoped too that a main sponsor for the 17th Chiang Mai Sixes will be announced shortly. In the meantime, cricket fans are reminded to make a note to join the vibrant social and sporting fun of Sixes week in Chiang Mai this year, from April 4-10. Admission to the cricket is free, although a donation to "Baht for Bats" will be requested to aid Thai cricket development. Refreshments, programs and souvenirs will all be on sale at the ground where sheltered seating is provided, and a new, visitor-friendly "Sixes Boundary Bar" is planned. The action starts from 8:30am every morning. The Nation Chiang Mai ©
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