Chiang Mai Lanna CC have just returned from their first ever tour after they competed in the Southerners Social Sixes which were held in Bangkok on the weekend of 25th and 26th January.
Taking part as the Lanna Vagrants, captained by Chris Coombes, the team not only won their first trophy but were also richly rewarded off the field as they received a very generous cash donation, as well as much needed cricket equipment, for the great work being done in supporting the Lanna Juniors and junior cricket in general.
The trophy may have been for finishing sixth place in the competition after Lanna Vagrants were beaten by Pattaya in the Plate Final but what finally crowned a fantastic weekend’s cricket was the news that came in from the National Youth Championships being held in Lopburi that Lamphun Province had won the boys competition and finished second in the girls competition.
These two junior teams both involved children from schools in Chiang Mai and Lamphun, many of whom have been playing for Lanna Juniors this season either in friendlies or in league matches, so Chiang Mai Lanna CC can claim to have had teams playing in three finals in one day which is a superb achievement for the club.
The Southerners Social Sixes have been organized by Vaughan McClear for a number of years and the visit of a team from Chiang Mai was greatly appreciated. The first day’s cricket was played at the Thailand Cricket Ground on a grass pitch before the teams moved to Harrow International School with its artificial strip and short square boundaries.
Eight teams from Bangkok and across Thailand as well as Black Swans from Perth in Australia were divided into two groups and played three round robin matches apiece on the first day. Lanna Vagrants won their first match against Black Swans but lost to Southerners Black and a strong Siam Parrots team.
This meant that on the second day Lanna Vagrants were placed in Division Two and when they had to play Pattaya and The Village. A narrow defeat against Pattaya was followed by a convincing victory against the side from Phuket which meant that the Vagrants had qualified for the Plate final where they again met their good friends from Pattaya.
Pattaya batted first and scored 70 runs in five overs, two more than they had scored in the first match between the two sides. Lanna Vagrants had fallen just short in the morning but were kept in the hunt by some big hitting as Wani found his feet after a quiet first day.
Richard Young, a welcome visitor from Cambridge, hit a big six in the last over and just needed to repeat the feat from the last ball to bring Lanna victory but another lusty blow fell into the hands of the deep mid-wicket and Pattaya had won by two runs.
Siam Parrots were the overall winners as they defeated Southerners Black in the main final, and Southerners Gold finished third as they defeated British Club. With Pattaya taking fifth place and Lanna Vagrants sixth, Black Swans were seventh place ahead of The Village who finished last.
It was a wonderful weekend of playing cricket and building friendships with players from a variety of teams, many of whom will soon be visiting us in Chiang Mai. It is also hoped that one day we will be holding our own Lanna Sixes or similar competitions as we look to attract touring teams to our wonderful city.
Chiang Mai Lanna CC and members of the Vagrants team would like to thank all involved in making the Southerners Social Sixes such a great success and we are all very grateful to everybody who contributed to the generous donation that will be used to the full to support junior cricket in Chiang Mai and Lamphun.