The 7th Koh Chang International Beach Tournament was held from 26-28th August at the Shambala Beach Resort and consisted of 16 teams. Teams came from the Chang Mai area, Bangkok and Pattaya, Koh Chang, Phuket and one from Malaysia, The Pangolins, with their revealing “budgie smugglers”. Pattaya CC fielded 3 teams; The Stallions (a young 1st team), The Thoroughbreds (an older, slower, 1st team) and The Carthorses (a very much older, much slower bunch of knackered enthusiasts).
The last Tournament was held in 2020 in which PCC Thoroughbreds won the Egg Cup, whilst the PCC Stallions won the Wooden Chopsticks. PCC Carthorses drew a blank. Each would be trying to improve their position and a win for the Stallions would give a Grand Slam for 2022 – The Bangkok League and The Chang Mai Big Bash events already having put silverware in the trophy cupboard.
The 16 teams were divided into 4 Divisions and the results of the three divisional matches would determine which of the 4 trophies you would compete for via a semi-final. The losers would go for the Wooden Chopsticks, 3rd place teams would go for the Silver Spoon, the 2nd place teams would compete for the Egg Cup and the stars would challenge for The Winners Cup and Runners-up Cup. There would also be a Player of the Tournament Trophy.
The well-known, but little understood Laws of Cricket had been modified to give 5-ball overs, all penalty extras were 2, 4, and 6 runs for subsequent errors and not re-bowled. There were 4 runs on offer for hitting the palm tree behind the keeper and 12 for getting the ball into the swimming pool or duck pond. The batsman played alone for 1 over and ran halfway up the wicket and halfway back for 1 run.
Yes, there were many that forgot and some that got run out as a result. The loss of a wicket removed 5 runs from the batsman’s score with a zero or minus final number requiring a visit to the ice-cold water of the duck pond. Each fielder would bowl 1 over and move position around the field until 6 overs had been completed. Highest score wins.
This report would be overly long if all of the Pattaya CC matches were covered here. So, I am going to break the report into parts with the PCC Carthorses being covered first. Additional reports will cover the Thoroughbreds and the Stallions.
The Carthorses, captained by Clive Rogerson consisted of Gavin and his sons Lewis and Harry on Sunday, Alan Mulberry who broke a fetlock and was replaced by John McEwan after 2 matches, Edwin van Rensburg, Edwin van Rensburg’s Dad (Toby) and Berne Lamprecht.
Carthorses v Phuket Penguins. Capt. Clive won the toss and decided to bowl first. Unfortunately, despite some practice before the match, there was a lot of Wobblyitis of the Bowler’s arm going around and this led to plenty of No Balls and wides from Berne and Edwin’s Dad. This allowed the Penguins to accumulate an insurmountable score of 75. Despite Captain Clive’s polite request to ‘protect your wicket’, he was ignored and there was a silly runout and 2 catches which restricted the Carthorse’s score to 26. A loss by 49.
Next versus Koh Chang C. Capt. Clive won the toss and decided to bowl. Same result with lots of wides and No balls. Alan dropped a difficult catch as the KC C team hit plenty of boundaries to reach 83. The Carthorse reply was again blunted by 3 lost wickets and Clive top scored with 8 out of 14. Bernie and Toby went to the duck pond.
The final Division match versus Lanna. Again, Capt. Clive won the toss and bowled. The result was a little better as the bowlers got their eye in and their arms working, but Lanna still managed 67. The Carthorses played better and lost fewer wickets and managed their top score of 33, but still a loss by 34 runs.
The loss meant last place in the Division and a semi-final match against the British Club Swingers on Sunday morning in order to get a place in the Wooden Chopsticks final. Capt. Clive lost the toss but was asked to bowl – his preferred option. The British club batters were very unsporting towards young Harry and Lewis and the usual extras plus plenty of boundaries abounded.
Dan scored 28 and Ben 25 for a total of 112. The Carthorses started well but Berne lost his wicket as did Edwin and John who lost 2 having hit 10 runs and ended up in the duck pond with Edwin. Young Harry, Lewis and Clive kept their wickets but they only managed small scores for a total of 12. Oh dear, a loss by 100!!! Thus ended the PCC Carthorse’s foray into International Beach Cricket.
Nonetheless, it was a great weekend for everyone especially a 68 year old South African had played his first game of competition beach cricket. Better luck next year.
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