The first league match of the 2016/17 was played even before the 2015/16 campaign had been completed and it gave Alan Mullally the chance to play on the turf of Gymkhana against a formidable CMCC side which had been victorious in the warm-up matches.
The former England Test and One-Day International fast bowler (briefly rated number 2 in the world in the much vaunted ODI bowling rankings) has made quite an impression on Sunday afternoons and his debut in the Chiang Mai Senior League was reminiscent of many of his appearances for England.
Batting number eight with Lanna on the road to recovery at 108 for six thanks to a useful partnership from Jon Scales and captain Pete Warner, Mullally was out caught and bowled for a duck to ensure that his batting average for Lanna slipped below his Test mark of 5.52.
Mullally was not alone on a good day for ducks as Richard Cowles, Elliot Lodge, Ben Barba and Burhan Bhat will all surely be donating heavily to junior cricket along with Alan himself. Lanna’s hopes were again revived by a ninth wicket partnership of 29 between Jon Scales who reached 33 from 63 balls and Martin Peters who was able to show his friend how to bat.
At least a total of 138 for 9 in 30 overs gave Lanna a total to bowl at and Mullally did not disappoint with the ball as he rolled back the years as he took the first three wickets inside two overs as Sami, Tanvir and Ismail all made noughts to add to a considerable duck list.
But in strode Asif who kissed his bat and it did not let him down as he made a blistering 69 from just 36 balls to launch a successful counter-attack that saw Mullally taken off after four overs with figures of 3 for 26 and CMCC raced to victory by five wickets as they finished on 140 for 5 in just 14 overs.