Thailand men’s cricket team are about to head for Malaysia to take part in the South East Asian Games where they will play in 50-over and 20-over competitions and the team, with all players born in Thailand, are looking to win medals. They have prepared well as they have been training together for the last six months and recently played five warm-up matches in Sri Lanka in which they competed well.
The team looked very smart in their blazers as they attended an audience with the prime minister at Government House just prior to their departure for Kuala Lumpur. Seven players in the squad have developed their cricket in Chiang Mai (and Lamphun), including Bunchuai, Chanchai and Nikom who were all part of the Hill Tribe Fund and played for Lanna Juniors, while John played with Lanna last season and Tong and Ga also played in the Chiang Mai Senior League.
This is the first time that cricket has been played at the SEA Games and the Kinrara Oval is an impressive stadium where matches will be played morning, noon and night. The men’s 50 over competition starts on 17th August, while the women’s 20-over competition begins on the 22nd, with the men’s 20-over competition completes a busy two weeks of cricket.
The Thailand teams are competing against Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam and the impressive women’s team are worthy favourites for a gold medal which will do much to help bring cricket to national attention in Thailand, and the men are also very much in contention for medals.