Martin Cardno continued his remarkable roller-coaster season by making a duck in Saturday’s Premier Division match for Bangkok Spirits against Asian Stars but redeeming himself fully the next day by making a superb unbeaten century for Bangkok CC against Royal Bangkok Sports Club as he returned to the ground where he was reduced to being a spectator on Gymkhana Club’s visit in December.
Obviously Cardno must favour the short form of the game as he made two fifties in 15-over matches as Lanna won the Chiang Mai Big Bash the previous weekend and after an early dismissal in the 40-over league match he look advantage of the short boundaries at the lovely RBSC ground to lead Bangkok CC into the final of a T20 competition.
It was also a busy weekend for Lanna’s juniors as no fewer than five boys travelled to Bangkok to play for the Spirits in Saturday’s match. Walter Persaud reported that it was a difficult day for the boys although Bunchuai and Chanchai opened the batting, with Bunchuai making 33 which proved to be his side’s top score.
With the ball Chanchai bowled seven overs for 33 as he opened the bowling with Cher, and Jun took a wicket despite being given only four overs. Bunchuai had respectable figures of 8-2-26-1 as he had a good opportunity to bowl his leg-spin as he and Walter both bowled very tidy spells. Champ has never kept wicket in a 40-over match before so he will benefit greatly from the experience even if he struggled behind the stumps.
Bunchuai and Chanchai both stayed over night so that they could play in the T20 match and Walter also reports that the boys will all have benefited from playing some tough competitive cricket and from watching some top quality players in action.
And it wasn’t just the boys and Martin Cardno who were playing in Bangkok as Nok had been invited down to Bangkok for training with the national squad and she played in two league matches for the Thailand Women’s team. All the girls struggled with the bat against some fast bowling from men’s teams but Nok did well with the ball, taking wickets in both matches. Hopes are high that she will go the new Academy in Bangkok and be selected for the Thailand squad for the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier which will be held in Bangkok in November.
Meanwhile back in Chiang Mai, Southerners and Siam had headed northwards to play their Bangkok League match for the Colonel’s Cup match at Prem and Southerners won a high scoring encounter as Peter Wooden made a splendid 143 with 18 fours and 5 sixes. Richard Cowles made his Bangkok League debut for Southerners and made 33 batting at number eight and sharing a partnership of 87 with Wooden.
A total of 307 for 9 in 45 overs was a highly impressive one and was enough to give Southerners victory by 164 runs as Siam were bowled out for 243 after a late rally. Umpires Martin Papworth and Eddie Joyner and scorer Puy Papworth were well received by the two Bangkok sides (not to mention well paid and well fed) as everyone enjoyed a splendid day’s cricket at Prem.
Lanna members and other local players should always remember that they are lucky to have top class officials standing in all their matches as well as a wonderful website full of information and of course three exceptional cricket grounds to play on. The best juniors are benefiting greatly from playing in Bangkok and the younger boys from getting a chance in local cricket and it is a great vindication of Lanna’s generous youth policy that as many as 14 juniors played adult cricket this weekend.