The weekend when the British Club visits Chiang Mai is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar. The British Club was reduced in numbers this year because of a late change in dates but the visitors certainly enjoyed their weekend.
They had been impressed by the local juniors on the Saturday and were then beaten by the senior side who retained the Dick Wood Cup with their victory by 62 runs. The fixture between Gymkhana Club and British Club has a long history stretching back 32 years and relations between the two clubs are as strong as ever, as the result on the field is less important than renewing friendships between cricketers in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
Gymkhana Club selected a strong but sociable side and all eleven players were members of Chiang Mai Lanna Cricket Club as preference was given to supporters of youth cricket. Gymkhana Club batted first and the traditional umbrella field with every fielder close to the wicket was employed for the first ball.
Richard Cowles survived to reach 30 with two sixes and four fours but Richard Young was caught at slip off the bowling of Nick White for nought. This brought Wani to the crease and he has regularly scored runs against British Club and he produced another fifty from 41 balls with eight fours before being required to retire.
Worse was to follow for the British Club as Martin Cardno went for his shots from the off and reached 48 from just 25 balls with two sixes and six fours before being bowled by Andrew Spedding who was on his way to the outstanding figures of 4 for 23.
Adrian Crump was able to watch this display of clean hitting but also played some nice shots through the off-side in an innings of 33. With all these batting highlights Gymkhana Club reached an impressive total of 232 for 8 in their 30 overs on what was an excellent batting pitch as Gymkhana was also being prepared for an ACC tournament.
British Club made a fine start in pursuit of an imposing target as Nick White and Andrew Spedding added 52 for the first wicket before White was bowled by Jon Danby who had to be content with just one wicket when he has taken five in the last two British Club matches.
Eddie Joyner took a wicket with the last ball of his spell but Martin Papworth took a liking to the pitch he had prepared earlier by claiming three wickets for 26. Andrew Spedding had retired after completing an excellent fifty but the later British Club batsmen came and went at such a pace that Jack Dunford was allowed to bat at number 12 and Spedding returned to the crease for an eleventh wicket partnership.
Jack who is very much a veteran of the British Club fixture had been disappointed with his bowling performance and had already announced his retirement but his hidden talent with the bat may change his mind. He finished unbeaten on 11 when Spedding was last man out for 69 as British Club reached a respectable total of 170.
Gymkhana Club had won by 62 runs and the Dick Wood Cup was presented to Gymkhana captain Pete Warner. Players of both sides then had an enjoyable late afternoon reminiscing about previous encounters and looking forward to many more fixtures between the two sides.