An extended lunch break meant the second match got underway at 2.15 with Delia Memorial School winning the toss and electing to bat. The boys had changed their batting order but this only gave the chance to Sarfaraz Khan to open the innings and he played an excellent innings of 71 with 3 sixes and 9 fours.
DMS looked on course for a big total but 14-year-old Nok came on to bowl and showed she was perfectly capable of bowling to the boys as she claimed four wickets for 23 and dismissed all three Khans, Sarfaraz, Akbar and Waqas, the leading players in the visiting team.
She impressed the opposition, her team mates and all who were watching including David Buck who runs the Cricket Academy at Prem and is a good judge of cricketing ability. Young Nok is one of the most promising juniors in the country and may soon get her chance with the Thailand women’s team.
She also fielded well as she caught a catch and almost added a run out to her afternoon’s work but she could not prevent DMS reaching a useful total of 142 for 7. Bunchuai fared better in the afternoon than he did in the morning as he took two wickets with his leg breaks but Martin Cardno was hit out of the attack as he conceded 33 from his two overs. Thankfully Nok would make up for his effort to keep the home side in the match.
Not for long as three wickets were lost in the first over as both openers made ducks and Paul Johnson was out for one as Waqas Khan took his total of wickets for the day to six. Jun is making a return to cricket after two years and he struggled to find his feet but helped Cardno lead a partial recovery.
A position of 61 for six in the 10th over looked fairly terminal but some how the home side stayed in the match as Bunchuai, pushing the singles, and Richard Cowles, finding the boundary added a fifty partnership for the seventh wicket.
It has to be said that the home side were helped by a remarkable 49 extras with numerous wides and no balls from the boys but the match went into the last over. Cowles had just been bowled for 32 and neither Bunchuai nor Choo could hit the fours and sixes that would have taken the match to the wire.
Delia Memorial School won by nine runs as the home side totalled 133 for 7 but players from both sides had had an enjoyable day and certainly young Nok could be proud of her efforts.
The two sides will meet again on Saturday 4th October for a 40-over match with the Chiang Mai Senior League side needing to raise their game.