Lanna Juniors have been enjoying a good season with several victories over men’s teams but they were firmly put in their place by the youngsters from CPP School at Doi Saket in the recent match played between the two junior sides in the Chiang Mai Senior League.
CPP had been heavily defeated in their two previous league matches but they were in control of this contest from the moment Lanna Juniors lost their inspirational captain Bunchuai run out from the first ball of the match. A score of 0 for 1 soon became 14 for 4 as panic set in and a series of wickets were handed to the CPP bowlers.
Chanchai was determined to rebuild the innings and confidently went for his shots, driving when the ball was pitched up and pulling when the ball was short, and Boom gave him good support so that Lanna Juniors were 77 for 4 after 15 overs at the halfway point of their innings.
Chanchai was dismissed for a promising innings of 45 second ball after drinks as he was bowled by off-spinner Date and Boom quickly followed for a well played 16. Only two more runs were scored off the bat as Lanna Juniors’ innings well away badly as the last six wickets fell for 11 runs.
Date finished with excellent figures of 3 for 13 and Pipe also claimed three wickets as Lanna Juniors were dismissed for just 88 in 20.5 overs which was a total unlikely to put enough pressure on CPP’s free-flowing style of batting.
CPP opener New went for his shots from the start with three early boundaries as he made 20 out of the first 21 runs. Chanchai claimed the first wicket as Chai was caught by Formot but that only brought Night to the crease and he immediately hit three fours and a six in an over from Cher and followed with two more boundaries off Chanchai.
An action-packed innings of 28 from 14 balls was ended by Bunchuai who brought himself on to bowl his leg-breaks and took a wicket with his third ball to leave CPP on 57 for two in the tenth over.
Chanchai followed with his second wicket as he completed an impressive day’s work with figures of 2 for 20 in his six overs, but his fine effort was not backed up by his team-mates.
New saw CPP home to victory by seven wickets by adding two sixes to the three fours he had hit earlier as he finished on 41 not out in CPP’s total of 92 for 3 as they reached their target inside 18 overs.
The junior teams will have plenty of opportunity for more cricket as most of the youngsters involved in this match were heading to Lopburi to play in the Cricket Association of Thailand’s National Youth Championships.
The neighbouring provinces of Chiang Mai and Lamphun both have boys and girls teams taking part in the competition and they could well prove to be the two strongest provinces thanks to all the time and effort put into junior cricket in the North of Thailand.