Lanna beat Northern Lions by two matches to one in an entertaining series as 35-over contests gave a good test to adults and juniors alike. Lanna players and officials celebrated their victory with Sandy in the garden at the UN Irish Pub.
All three matches were played at Gymkhana Club and the first was a gripping contest played on 22nd February when the Lamphun boys looked to have taken control with Lanna reduced to 111 for nine before the experience of Siva and Peter Warner saw Lanna through to a total of 153 with Siva making 37* and captain Peter batting himself at 11 making 16*. The tenth wicket stand of 42 was the highest partnership of the innings.
Lamphun made a good effort to chase the target with Cher standing firm while wickets fell regularly at the other end. Cher hit 60 from 44 balls before being caught and bowled by Leng and extras contributed 40 to the chase with an alarming 38 conceded in wides but Lanna held firm to win by eight runs as Brian Quinton proved the match winner with figures of 3 for 8.
The second game of the three-match saw Lanna win by 82 runs thanks to a powerful century from Luke Stokes who retired on 127 from 72 balls with 11 sixes and 10 fours. Chris Coombes helped S tokes in an opening stand of 187 of which Coombes scored 46 in 48 balls. Richard Cowles contributed 35 from 25 but the boys fought back well with the ball as Net who would be bowler of the tournament in the under-15 national championship took 3 for 36 in 5 overs. Lanna finished on 283 for 8 in 35 overs.
Cher again top-scored with 41 in 20 balls but Lamphun gave a much better batting effort as Krit made 25 and Andy and Lao both hit 20 as the boys reached 201 before being bowled out in 28.2 overs as Ashish Pandey took three for 61 at the start of the innings and Ian Harling 3 for 16 later on. Lanna took a 2-0 lead in the three-match series with their victory by 82 runs.
Cher was away in Buriram at the CAT under-15 championship but Lamphun won the third match of the series as they scored 238 for 8 in their 35 overs as Tong and Tuy gave them a steady start which was built on by Frame who made 61 in 44 balls and by the late-arriving stand-in captain Ton who made 38 from 26 balls batting at number seven.
Lanna collapsed to 111 for eight but this only gave captain Elliot Lodge and veteran Russell Ward time at the crease as Elliot made 73 and Russell 29 as they shared a ninth wicket partnership of 66 to take Lanna to a total of 187 before being bowled out in the last over.
Lamphun had won the match by 51 runs as Chalam finished with the best figures as he claimed 2 for 25 but Lanna had won the series by two matches to one as the team moved on to UN Irish Pub to show off the new trophy to Sandy who had kindly sponsored the series. An enjoyable evening of celebrations followed,