Lanna Spirits have just returned from a wonderful weekend’s cricket at the Southerners Social Sixes in Bangkok with four juniors joining forces with more experienced cricketers not only to take part in but also to win the main competition by beating a strong Southerners Gold team in the final.
Lanna Vagrants had made a good impression in the 2014 competition and were given a generous donation to support junior cricket so it seemed only fair to make a return visit in 2015. With only two players confirmed with a week to go a brilliant solution to the selection problems was devised: take the juniors to play and show off their talents to a new audience.
All the arrangements were put in place with Jun, Chanchai and Cher invited to play in the two-day event. Phone calls were made to Walter Persaud who runs a team in the Bangkok League and Jun and Chanchai were able to play a 45-over match on the Saturday. Luckily Max Coombes had a day off from his studies and football training and two more reserves were found for the first day while the league match was being played.
All the careful planning almost came to nothing on Saturday morning as a car breakdown almost saw the early morning flight from Chiang Mai missed but a helpful batman came to Lanna’s aid in the final dash to the plane. The taxi then made it from the airport to Harrow School in time for the first match and Cher was already in action playing for another team.
The Lanna Spirits assembled with Parvais and Javed joining Cher, Max, Rich and Locky for Saturday’s matches with simple aim of staying in the competition until the reinforcements came in time for Sunday’s matches. The tournament format saw seven teams playing in a round robin league with six matches each before play-offs for the top six teams with three winners’ trophies to be played for.
Lanna’s first match was against Southerners Black and on taking the field the first two overs were costly as Javed was hit for five fours in his over. Luckily Locky showed unexpected form with ball having saved himself for the big occasion and his high bounce proved almost unplayable. Max and Parvais backed him up and Black were restricted to 54 for 4.
Max was in powerful form with the bat but Richard Cowles made a golden duck before Cher and Javed saw Lanna home in the last over helped by two wides from Leigh Whitten. The battle of the captains had been decisively won by Locky and Lanna’s campaign was underway in great fashion.
The second match was against the stronger Southerners Gold side but Lanna almost pulled another victory out of the fire as Rich made 29 and Javed provided a late flourish as he hit a four off the last ball to tie the scores but Lanna had lost one more wicket so had lost by the narrowest of margins.
With Gold, Parrots and Phuket looking formidable opponents it was important that Lanna Spirits kept in contention by winning the third match but Pattaya were scoring lots of runs thanks to man of the tournament Simon Philbrook and they reached 59 for one in their five overs. Javed had been promoted to open but didn’t last long and somehow Rich made his second golden duck of the day but Max and Cher held their nerves and smashed the ball to all parts to win the match with three balls to spare.
Day one had gone according to plan for Lanna and news came through of the Bangkok Spirits match against Thailand CC. It was a one-sided affair as Thailand won by eight wickets but Chanchai had looked impressive as he was very composed with the bat before being run out and his figures of 1 for 14 in 5 overs were by far the best for his team. Jun made 11 with the bat but couldn’t get the ball to swing as Titas made a century in a total of 134 for two. Walter and Martin failed to make an impression and were very determined to do better on Sunday.
The boys all stayed in Walter’s apartment and Martin, Rich, Martin and Locky tried a new approach when staying in Bangkok by planning the strategy for the next day and having an early night. Walter’s hospitality was tremendous and the boys cleared their minds of cricket by watching Spiderman.
A smooth ride into the ground allowed for yet more warming up as Lanna continued their new professional approach but the expected opponents had not arrived and it was discovered there were two different schedules for the second day’s play. The Parrots had not left their nest but Black Swans obviously prefer an early start to the day so they were Lanna’s next opponents.
Again Lanna bowled first and restricted the Swans to 43 for 2 to claim a bonus point with Locky keeping his place in the side and keeping Walter on the sidelines. The Lanna Spirits were outstanding in the field with Jun, Cher and Chanchai bowling well and saving countless runs in the outfield. Martin Cardno was run out but Chanchai and Rich completed a comfortable victory.
'Leave the Parrots to me', said Walter but the key to winning the next match was Chanchai’s nonchalant catch on the boundary to dismiss Bobby Raina as the Parrots made only 40 for 4. Walter was promoted to open and he and Martin raced to victory over their Premier League rivals. Locky was content to handle the paper work and noted another bonus point had been achieved.
Four wins in five matches had made a place in the main final almost a certainty but the captain was not leaving antything to chance and named an unchanged side against the Phuket Blasters. He demanded high standards from his team and used the same recipe for success as he won the toss and put the opposition in to bat. A total of 49 for 1 was again a good return after a fine performance in the field and Chanchai and Martin needed only 15 balls to reach the target.
Lanna Spirtis would play Southerners Gold in the Jug final as Lanna’s record of five wins in six matches was bettered only by Gold’s six out of six, but two more finals were played first as Pattaya defeated Black Swans to win the Bowl and Phuket Blasters beat the Parrots to win the Shield. Southerners Black were worthy winners of the Wooden Spoon and Leigh Whitten’s lovely little daughter was delighted with her new toy.
Locky, having decided that manning the scoreboard was more important that any quest for personal glory, again applied the tried and tested formula in his batting and bowling orders and by winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Jun and Cher were a little more expensive than normal but Walter and Martin bowled steady overs and Chanchai was outstanding as Gold made 51 in their five overs.
Lanna had been tremendous in the field all day but their batting had also been impressive as they had lost only one wicket in three matches. They lost another wicket as Chanchai was called through for a second run and was just short of his ground, but the experience of Martin and Rich made sure there was no late panic and the winning runs came with a wide.
Lanna Spirits had conquered Bangkok and proved that you could win trophies with kids, at least if they are highly talented Thai kids. Locky was extremely pleased to receive the trophy but even more happy with the kind words from tournament organizer Vaughan McClear who said that the boys’ performances had made the competition very special.
Of course, while the adults reflected on a remarkable success and made their thank yous for another donation to junior cricket, the boys went back on the field for some catching practice and to use the bat that had been won in the raffle.
On this occasion at least, you get what you deserve..... Thank you to everybody who have supported the hill tribe kids over the years. Your generosity is being rewared magnificently,