Lanna CC have often made the long journey from Chiang Mai to Koh Chang to take part in their fabulous beach cricket event which started way back in 2015 often taking junior cricketers with them. This year’s valiant beach warriors was headed by Chris Coombes who has enjoyed the event for several years while Ian Gason joined the tour party for the first time.
The real stars of the team were Leng and Ton who had played in previous years for junior teams so are veterans of Beach Cricket but were fully fledged members of Lanna CC’s beach team for the first time. Ian Harling and Petra’s son Isaak were enthusiastic participants and the team was completed by the powerful Khorat coach Yok who again made a big impression. Lulu, Petra and Ai joined the squad as supporters and the tour party was completed by Roddy and his trumpet without forgetting media man and beach cricket analyst Locky.
The tour party didn’t disappoint as Lanna finished an excellent fifth in the Cup competition as they won three out of four matches even allowing for an exhausting Saturday when they played no fewer than four matches as the second edition of the Lovee Cup was contested at the end of the day as the moon was coming up. 2ball was delighted as the previous edition was rained off and he will be able to put Black Swans name on the Shield.
No fewer than 19 teams took part this year with new teams from Malaysia and Koh Samui and the Malaysians Captain Morgan created a new world record by consuming 100 cocktails in the pool and convincingly outscoring the Purple Helmets on the drinking front
.Other regular teams over the years from British Club and Pattaya were involved again but it was fantastic to see so many juniors playing for Koh Chang teams as well as Lamphun and Khorat as the boya all enjoyed their stay on the beach. Mutant Misfits retained their trophy by beating Koh Chang Hornbills in the final. The local team had again missed out on glory but Bodhi was named player of the tournament. Cher played for Ali Baba who won the second division title. The social events were marvellous and the squad all made it to the end of tour dinner and nobody was arrested.