With the Colonel’s Cup being simultaneously staged at Prem, the scheduled league match between Lamphun and Lanna Thais was postponed but this provided a good opportunity for a 35-over practice match between the two sides to be held at Royals. With Bunchuai choosing to play here rather than for Siam CC at Prem, he lead the way with the bat and in the field as his Lamphun prevailed by just 11 runs.
Lamphun reached 202 for 4 in their 35 overs with Bunchuai walking off when five short of a century and Choo also finished just short of a milestone when asked to retire by his captain on 45. Despite their retirements the pair still used up the majority of the 35 overs and only Beer of the other Lamphun batsmen reached double figures.
Richard Young used ten bowlers so everybody had a chance to shine with Chat taking an early wicket and Russell bowling very steadily with his leg-breaks. Stand-in skipper Richard of Cambridge was hoping for a target of 200 and he got what he wanted as Lamphun finished on 202 for 4.
Min was unable to make the most of his promotion to open the batting but Jun made another fifty and was well-supported in the middle-order by Ong, George Hamilton and the skipper himself. Although Jun was dismissed by Bunchuai’s leg-breaks Adam Green joined Richard and with only four wickets down Lanna Thais needed only 37 from the last five overs and a notable victory was in sight.
Both set batsmen were out as they looked for boundaries and Daeng and Russell had too much to do at the end, so Lanna Thais finished 11 runs short on 191 for 6. Lamphun celebrated their victory but Lanna Thais had given a good account of themselves and will be ready to turn the tables when the league match is eventually played.