Lanna CC were fortunate to host a touring party led by Mevinder Singh for the third time and he had promised a strong opposition this time and he lived up to his word as Kelab Aman won both matches on a fabulous weekend as the tourists beat Lanna by 110 runs in a 40-over match at Prem on Saturday and then held on by nine runs in a 30-over match at Gymkhana on Sunday despite a fantastic century from Luke Stokes. The batsmen dominated both matches so congratulations to Krishna who took 10 wickets over the weekend with his spin/
We had met up with Kelab Aman on the Thursday evening at UN Irish and the visitors clearly enjoyed their night but they were just as impressive on the field in both matches. They made 324 for 8 in 40 overs in the first match at Prem as Hasan Sharif made 97 from 75 balls, Shahul Hameed 66 from 56 and Senthil Manicham 61 not out from 44 balls. Chris Horsley-Wyatt took two for 53 and Ton three for 34 but it had been a punishing 40 overs in the field for Lanna.
Champ started well with the bat and was well supported by Brian Quinton but Champ was forced to retire hurt before Leng was able to bat until the end of the innings to make an unbeaten 72 and win a place on the Lanna honours board. Krishna cleaned up the tail with figures of 6 for 25 as Kelab Aman claimed a magnificent victory by 110 runs.
Lanna were thoroughly outplayed on all fronts but were looking for a closer contest on Sunday at Gymkhana Club as the team was strengthened by the addition of Luke Stokes. Kelab Aman again batted first and Lanna would have been pleased to restrict them to 252 for 9. Karthik Pasulapathi made 42 from 35 and Shahul Hameed 56 from 38 before Krishna hit 41 from 27. Elliot Lodge took 3 for 54 while Jon Scales and Richie George both claimed two wickets.
Luke Stokes batted beautifully as he made yet another century as he reached 104 from 66 balls with eight fours and 10 sixes but he had received little support at the top of the order as he has such special skills with the bat that others cannot match. After Luke’s dismissal the runs did begin to flow as Jon Scales and Richie George both found the boundary. Chris Horsley-Wyatt immediately took a liking to the Gymkhana artificial as he hit 20 from 7 balls with three powerful sixes, Adrian Ballantyne took the chase to the very end but Lanna were bowled out for 243 to fall nine runs short.
A wonderful weekend on and off the field and here’s to the next contest against Mevinder and his team when Lanna are due to tour Malaysia in June.