The first junior match of the season was a chastening experience for the CMSCA side made up of players from Mae On High School and Broc Krok Noi School in Chiang Mai as the Lamphun side gave an impressive batting display to set up a comprehensive victory by 97 runs.
Champ and Por have both been playing against the adults in recent weeks and proved a steady combination at the top of the innings as the match got underway on a beautiful day at Prem Oval. They waited patiently for the bad ball but accumulated runs quickly as the new junior season started in style with a fifty-run partnership for the first wicket.
CMSCA’s front line attacked bowled tidily and Champ was bowled by Ti for 20, but Por given the chance to open the innings showed great determination in making the most of his opportunity. He only began to hit the ball in the air in the later stages and was unfortunate to be caught on the boundary one short of his fifty. He had batted 22 overs and left with his side well placed on 124 for 3.
Beer overcame an ankle injury to make an unbeaten 10 and the younger boys also played with a commendably straight bat at the end of the innings as Lamphun reached 130 for 4 in their 25 overs. CMSCA persevered well with the ball and Hloo finished with 2 for 14 as ten bowlers were given a chance. Assistant coach Jun was captaining the side but did not bowl and the wicket-keeper was changed almost as much as the bowling.
CMSCA coach Martin Papworth was confident that his top three would put on a good show having been batting well in the nets at Mae on and Gymkhana but that optimism was short-lived as Beer bowled Daeng in the first over and Khat was caught by Por off the bowling of Chakalak as the newcomer took a wicket with the first ball he had bowled under match conditions. It didn’t get any better for CMSCA as Beer again hit the stumps to remove Ong who at least got off the mark and Chakalak then got Mint out caught by Cher and the more experienced Jun caught behind first ball.
Four of the first five batsmen had made ducks and the score was 14 for 5 from 4 overs. The match was effectively over and Cher rotated his bowlers quickly so that six shared the 9.5 overs that it took to bowl out a demoralized CMSCA batting line-up. Hloo again impressed as he hit the only boundary of the innings and top scored with 9 runs.
A total of 33 was a rather poor performance after all the effort taken in providing net practice and in staging the match and the ground was sadly left empty during a perfect summer’s evening. The boys will certainly need to learn from their mistakes as four were bowled after missing straight balls and the other six were caught as too many cross-batted shots were attempted.
Beer had shown what could be achieved by bowling straight and Chakalak had made a startling first appearance with figures of 3 for 8. Cher had enjoyed his first taste of captaincy but still had his mistakes analysed by hard task master Mr Dodd. Chanchai hadn’t even got on to the field while Bunchuai had been been promoted to batting coach and umpire.
It was quite a triumph for a new look Lamphun side as they gained the reward for playing straight with the bat and bowling straight with the ball. Cricket can be a simple game if the basics are done properly. At least the shell-shocked CMSCA team will have a chance to show they can do better next week.