A week is a long time in politics and the same can be said about cricket. In fact it was just eight days previously that Lanna Thais team had triumphed over Lamphun to win the 2015/16 Chiang Mai Senior League and now they were facing the senior Lanna team in the following season’s competition.
The main Lanna side were looking to reassert their ascendancy over Lanna Thais who had lost two of their players from the previous week but in fact Lanna Thais breifly enjoyed the mantle of defending champions Eddie was his usual steady self and Cher enjoyed the move from Lamphun to Lanna Thais as he took 2 for 24 as Lanna were reduced to 67 for 5 in the 18th over.
This brought Pete Warner to the crease and of course he played a truee captain’s innings and he was given good support by Sam Mehta and Por. 51 runs came from the last five overs as the wheels began to fall off in the field. Pete finished on 37 not out from 34 balls as he hit a six and two fours in successive balls as his innings finished on a high.
A total of 148 for 6 in 30 overs was still very much in reach particularly as Lanna Thais reached 73 in the eleventh over before the first wicket fell. The team must have been spending too much time watching England bat in Bangladesh and India as all ten wickets fell for a combined total of 45 runs.
The very same Jon (JD) Danby who had bowled 3 overs for 48 against CMCC the previous weekend was rewarded for his blind faith and devotion to cricket as he made the long trip from Chiang Rai once more and returned the improved figures of 5 for 20 in 6 overs. The efforts of Jun (32 from 38) and Champ (43 from 33) were wasted as Lanna Thais collapsed to 118 all out without anybody else reaching double figures but the boys must learn that a ten wicket victory is more easily achieved than by one wicket.
Lanna Thais had played splendid cricket for the first 25 overs in the field and the first 10 overs with the bat and they were still comfortably ahead on comparison when the match ended. 118 all out after 24.1 overs compared to 97 for 5 but the result says that Lanna won by 30 runs, such was the remarkable transformation in each innings.
Lanna Thais title defence had not started well but Captain Pete and JD had reasserted the superiority of the senior Lanna team.