The new cricket season is finally underway in Chiang Mai and while the juniors took a well deserved break during the school holidays it was the adults who played the first match of the season.
Players from Chiang Mai Lanna Cricket Club and Chiang Mai Cricket Club met up at Gymkhana Club last Sunday for a hastily arranged practice match after a prolonged spell of dry weather had left the ground in perfect condition with the four new grass pitches settling in nicely.
Chiang Mai is well known for holding its International Sixes competition each year so it was appropriate that the season started with a pair of enjoyable sixes matches and the players who had been attending nets each Wednesday and Friday during the wet season were able to show off their improved skills.
The players of both sides had an enjoyable afternoon as the season started on exactly the right note and everybody is now looking ahead to a busy few months with cricket played every weekend until April and beyond.
A five-team Chiang Mai Senior League is being planned with two junior sides playing alongside three men’s teams, and on many Sunday mornings the younger children will also play matches with teams from Chiang Mai, Mae On and Lamphun being involved.
Chiang Mai now has three exceptional grounds in the form of the Gymkhana Club in the city and Prem Centre and Royal Chiang Mai on the outskirts so there will be a feast of cricket to play or watch. Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces are taking part in the Northern Qualifiers for the National Youth Championships at the end of October with Uttaradit and Petchabun also involved in four-team competitions for boys and girls.
CPP School at Doi Saket is now home for many of the most promising young cricketers in Thailand as these children have the chance to play cricket every day as well as to further their education. Another new initiative being planned is a three-team national women’s championship which will be held at Royals during November and a tournament alongside teams from Malaysia will also be held as the Cricket Association of Thailand tries to build on the success of the women’s team in Ireland.
A visiting boys’ team from Hong Kong will be playing four matches at Prem Centre at the beginning of December against adult and junior teams and there will be a series of touring teams visiting Gymkhana Club throughout the season with Singapore Cricket Club leading the way in November.
But the real feature of the new cricket season in Chiang Mai will be the adults doing their best to support the development of junior cricketers to ensure a bright future for the game in the North of Thailand. Many of the children taking up cricket are from a hill tribe background and Chris Dodd must take great credit in his work not only as coach of Lamphun’s boys and girls teams but also running the Hill Tribe Fund which enables him to look after all the needs of a number of his young cricketers.
In the last year the children have represented Lamphun in junior cricket competitions, played with and against the adults in the Chiang Mai Senior League, had the chance to go on cricket tours to Phuket and Pattaya and even to play for Thailand national teams. But more importantly they have been looked after properly and had the chance of a good education.
And the hill tribe children have even had the opportunity of a visit to the seaside at Cha-am and thoroughly enjoyed their games of cricket on the beach. These children are the future of the sport in Chiang Mai and Lamphun and so deserve the support of all cricket enthusiasts in the North of Thailand.