The finals day of the San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes on April 7 at the Gymkhana Club saw the Cup won by the Bashundhara Cricketeers, the Bowl by the Divine Felons, the Shield by Yarrambat, the Plate by the Darwin Dilettantes and the Spoon by Sa Pa.
In an exciting Cup Final the Bashundhara Cricketeers, undefeated all week, batted first and produced superb sixes against Darjeeling, one of three teams to have competed in all 25 Sixes tournaments. Excellent fielding by Darjeeling, including two brilliant boundary catches against the sun by Dougie Griebenouw, held the Cricketeers to 78.
Bashundara Cricketers: Cup Champions 2012.
As Darjeeling went in to bat, Dougie Griebenouw again excelled with 31 retired, but the accurate bowling of the Cricketeers saw the batting collapse, leaving the Bangladeshi team to go on to reclaim the Cup that they won in 2009 and 2010. It would have been most fitting if Darjeeling’s 25 years of supporting the tournament had ended in lifting the Cup, but it was not to be.
Earlier in the day, the first Cup semi-final involved the Bashundhara Cricketeers and the Lords Taverners. The Bangladeshis lost an early wicket and good wicketkeeping and fielding restricted scoring, but wides in the final over gifted them runs to score 77. The Taverners responded quite well, but accurate bowling and a particularly acrobatic boundary catch by Sohel saw them fail to get close to the score set.
The second Cup semi was between defending Cup holders the Redlands Tigers and Darjeeling. The Tigers started well with a six from Paul Bonney off the first ball, but good fielding limited the score to 76. The Tigers also opened their defence well with a great caught and bowled by Trent Conwell, but great batting from Darjeeling’s Brian Sholtz and James Grisdale meant the game went down to the final ball, from which they scored 1 to win.
Yarrambat: Shield Winners 2012.
A very wet early morning pitch from heavy overnight rain greeted the final day of the 25th anniversary tournament. The first game of the day was the Bowl semi-final between the English Zoombar Drifters (who have attended all 25 Sixes) and the Kiwi Divine Felons. The Felons batted first and, benefitting from indifferent fielding, made a score of 84 including two retirements, which the Drifters failed to reach.
The second Bowl semi-final was an English battle between the Armadillos and the Gloucestershire Gipsies. The Armadillos made a fine 72, including a retirement from Sam Gilmour, and went on to win after a spirited run chase by the Gipsies was thwarted by good bowling in the final over by Gilmour.
In the Bowl Final the English Armadillos, after good running and batting (including Ian Gilmour retired) and a fine effort by Graham Dogget ended 9 runs short of the 79 (including Jerry Marr retired) made by the Kiwi Divine Felons, who had batted well all week.
The first Shield semi-final was between the English Surrey Vagrants and Australian Yarrambat. The Vagrants’ made a great batting start as Jerry Hinds and Bjorn Mordt smashed sixes, but they were both caught in super boundary catches by Dylan Foster and Troy Harvey, and further good fielding restricted the score to 68-3. Yarrambat responded with 23 in the first over with great hitting from Daniel Shaw and, despite fine bowling in the last over from Strickland, went on to win.
In the second Shield semi, great fielding (including great boundary catches by Cheggers and van Wyk) saw the Australian Clifton Hill Straycats restrict the Chiang Mai Warriors to 38 with the loss of 5 wickets, a score they overcame despite some good fielding and losing a wicket from the first ball. The all-Australian Shield Final saw the Clifton Hill Straycats score 78 after great sixes by van Wyk (retired on 31) and nifty running; they could have scored more, as overthrows cost runs but good outfielding made up for it. Yarrambat then gave a fine batting display (including Troy Harvey retired) and scored a four of the penultimate ball to win the game and the Shield to cheers all around the ground for this most friendly team.
In the Plate semi-finals, the Darwin Dilettantes scored 86 against Blythswood, who responded well (including Shaz Newaz retired), but good bowling (only 4 extras) ensured they did not reach the target set. The other Plate semi saw the Moonshine Maythais score 81, which proved too much for Almar.
In the Plate Final the Moonshine Maythais batted first and reached a respectable 74-2, but a wicket by Smash was not enough to prevent the Darwin Dilettantes from winning.
In the Spoon Final, Sa Pa lost a wicket in the first over but recovered well to beat the local Gymkhana Cavaliers who batted first to score 50, leaving the Vietnamese the good chance they needed of scoring more.
All proceeds from the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes go towards promoting the game at the junior level in Thailand. The annual Pattaya International Cricket Sixes will take place later in the year at a date still to be announced.
