Martin Papworth has been at the forefront of cricket in Chiang Mai for most of the last decade in a multitude of roles ranging from coach, umpire, team selector, groundsman, general organizer of junior and senior cricket and even as a variable medium pace bowler, but never has he had a day like Saturday 1st March 2014 when Gymkhana Club took on the might of Singapore Cricket Club’s social team.
He had arrived early in the morning to finish his work on the pitch and then changed into his umpire’s uniform ready for a day’s officiating when he realized one of the eleven he had selected to play had not yet arrived, so he promoted himself into the team and as he was changing into his whites, veteran captain Pete Warner asked the occasional tail-end batsman if he would like to open.
Martin is a regular at the nets, as he is also responsible for organizing the twice weekly net practices at Gymkhana, and he always has his bat first as he is normally the first to arrive. Practice makes perfect and at last he had his chance to show his credentials as a dependable opening batsman as Gymkhana had won the toss and were batting first.
Papworth walked to the crease with Chris Coombes and watched him lose his wicket for just 10. 16-year-old Chanchai has been making runs on a regular basis but the novice opener reverted to the experienced coach as he gave instructions for the young Thai to keep his head down and keep the ball on the ground.
Chanchai clearly wasn’t listening as he went for his shots and was lucky not to be caught out on a number of occasions early in his innings but he played with great fluency while Martin was able to take his own advice and to build an innings with great patience.
Chanchai raced to his fifty from 37 balls with nine fours and is clearly a great talent in the making although he will face more testing bowling attacks and the chances he gave will be taken on other days. Martin had been looking confident with four boundaries in his first 30 runs and he also played a trio of drives into the off-side from consecutive balls that each brought him two runs which showed off his technique to the full.
But just as Papworth began to realize that a prized personal landmark was approaching he began to have problems with his timing as the pitch was keeping low and the ball was getting soft. Each run became a struggle and he was beginning to run out of time in this 30-over match when he ran out Gary Chatfield after calling for a run after he hit the ball back to the bowler.
With Martin marooned on 46, at last there was a loose ball for him to leg-glance but the fielder just gathered in the ball with three runs scored and he repeated the shot in the next over, only for the umpire to signal leg-byes, but at last he did manage to push away the single which brought him the first fifty of a long and determined career, and he just had the strength to lift his bat and to walk off the field with a big smile on his face.
Martin had faced 74 balls, batted for 104 minutes and hit four boundaries and he had played an admirable sheet anchor role as Gymkhana Club reached a total of 191 for 5 in their 30 overs and he didn’t have much time to celebrate before Singapore began their reply.
Both Gymkhana opening bowlers, Khurram Rauf and Eddie Joyner, operated from short runs and both bowled their six overs straight off. Khurram bowled with good accuracy and with useful pace but it was Joyner who dismissed both openers, John Thornback and Rohit Shah who made 35.
Singapore were behind the rate and their middle-order proved unable to deal with the gentle flighted off-spin propelled by Tom Salusbury as he claimed two wickets bowled, one caught and bowled and one stumped to finish with figures of 4 for 35. On any other day his performance would have made the headlines but he was pleased as punch with his four wickets after being hit out of the attack the previous week.
With seven wickets down, some resistance came from wicket-keeper Martin Seabright and tall fast bowler Matthew Streeton but Gary Chatfield brought a quick end to proceedings as he collected the last three wickets as Singapore were bowled out for 158.
Gymkhana Club had won the match by 33 runs and Chanchai was presented with a polo shirt for being junior of the day, but man of the day was clearly Martin Papworth after his marathon performance with the bat had brought to an end a very long wait for a cherished milestone.