2018. Daily Reports

2018 Daily Reports

Finals Day

Raju’s Cricket Club lift the Cup 

at the Siam International Cricket Sevens 

Raju’s Cricket Club of Hyderabad ran out as deserved Cup winners at the Siam International Cricket Sevens at the Gymkhana Club in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand to round off a brilliant performance over three days.

The champions put on a brilliant display of bowling and fielding to restrict runners-up, fellow Indian side, Airlinks Pelicans of New Delhi, to 74-2 from their 5 overs, before Praneeth Kumar retired on 30 to be judged as man of the match by the standing umpires as his side won with five balls remaining. 

Raju’s Cricket Club had earlier defeated Rhinos City Academy in the semi-final, with Airlinks Pelicans seeing off the challenge of Salford Hawks.

The 50th Anniversary Tournament was contested between twelve sides, with Finals Day seeing teams split into the Cup, Bowl and Plate to see who would collect the trophies at the end of play.

The second tier Bowl competition was won by BCC Devibas of Kathmandu, Nepal who secured a 24 run win after posting 72-2 against the Lanka Lions of Singapore, as Nilantha Wijekoon took the man of the match award with a score of 25. Devibas had reached the final by defeating ADF Tigers, while the Lions overcame Shanghai Hot Dogs in their last four encounter.

The Plate was an all CBB CC encounter. The club playing in their headquarter city for the first time saw the CBB SC’s overtake the CBB SK’s total of 47-2 with an over to spare. Trevor Langworth of the winning side was man of the match with bowling figures of 1 for 4.

Finals Day had begun with the round robin stage of the Plate, with Mark Burns of the ACST All Stars taking a hat trick in the first over of the day. Phuket Cricket Group’s victory over the All Stars wasn’t enough to force their way into the final. The Lions secured their place in the top tier by courtesy of a win against Rhinos.

The adjudication panel decreed that Taranjit Singh of Raju’s Cricket Club received the Player of the Tournament Award for his contribution over the three days of cricket, which included 127 runs from 6 innings at a strike rate of 363. 

Monies collected for the designated charity, the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance, raised an estimated 120,000 Thai Baht, as Chairman Martin Papworth thanked the assembled crowd for their kind generosity.

The presentation ceremony followed play at the ground before those remaining in the city heading to the Crazy German Bar to contemplate on a fantastic event and to party!

ACST Chairman, Michael ‘Cat’ Maher, who picked up the Spirit of Cricket Award, was an emotional and contented man following the presentations, which took place at the ground following play. "My fellow director Bradley Tarr and myself never dreamt of reaching 50 Tournaments when we met in a Perth bar back in 2000 with a rough outline of an idea, but to do so makes me extremely proud”.

“I’d like to thank anyone who has played their part over the years to bring so many wonderful friendships together. I also offer huge thanks this week to everyone at our hosts Lanna CC and hope that the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance continues to thrive. In closing I thank our valued major sponsors, The Tourism Authority of Thailand, The Duangtawan Hotel, The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel and Rightway Airlinks as well as any others who’ve supported the ACST.” 

Day Two

It’s a Super Saturday for Raju’s Cricket Club 

at Day Two of the Siam International Cricket Sevens

Raju’s Cricket Club played some magnificent cricket at Day Two of the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour (ACST) Siam International Cricket Sevens in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand to finish top of the seedings going into the final day. The team from Hyderabad swept aside CBB SC’s with a fine performance with Taranjit Singh putting on the style before defeating ADF Tigers in the opening game of the second round. 

The 50th Anniversary Tournament is being contested between twelve sides, with participants assembling from all points of the compass to be part of the celebrations, with the Gymkhana Club ground looking at its majestic best.

Round One was completed in the first half the day, with some fine cricket going to form. Rightway Pelicans finished second on the ladder by virtue of a win against the ACST All Stars thanks to some exhilarating batting from Vikas Rana and Sandeep Singh.

Nepalese outfit BCC Devibas won their remaining first round games over Shanghai Hot Dogs and then Phuket Cricket Group. Other matches in the opening salvo saw victories for Rhinos City Academy of Leicester and Dubai against ADF Tigers and Singapore’s Lanka Lions against CBB SK’s, Salford Hawks against the Hot Dogs.

Round Two would see all sides playing an extra game to determine whether they’d be playing for honours in the Cup, Bowl or Plate on Finals Day. The round saw the Hawks continue their impressing showing by seeing off the BCC Devibas, before Rightway Pelicans of New Delhi defeated the Hot Dogs, thanks in part to another brilliant knock from Sandeep Singh; before the day was closed out with a fine CBB SK’s performance against Phuket Cricket Group.

Over many years the ACST has raised money for junior cricket development around their many tournaments. On this occasion the beneficiaries are the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance; whose Chairman Martin Papworth is delighted with the efforts. “Our youngsters will benefit greatly from the kind generosity of the participants, and it’s tremendous to see several of our youngsters playing in the tournament. We have had boys under our scheme who have gone on to play for Thailand, and we are hoping that there are many more in the future. I’d like to thank the ACST and congratulate them on reaching 50 Tournaments”. 

Participants gathered for the The Tournament Gala Dinner sponsored by Tourism Authority of Thailand on Saturday evening at the Duangtawan Hotel where local Thais put on an exhibition of Muay Thai and dancing. 

Day One

Three sides lead the charge on Day One 

of the Siam International Cricket Sevens

It was a fantastic day in the sun for Indian representatives Rightway Pelicans of New Delhi, Raju’s Cricket Club of Hyderabad as well as City Academy Rhinos of Leicester and Dubai as they all completed two victories. Twelve teams have assembled from far and wide to participate in the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour (ACST) Siam International Cricket Sevens in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. 

They are celebrating in the ACST’s 50th Tournament, which has seen events in Hong Kong, Phuket, Macau, the Philippines, Pattaya and Bangkok over the past sixteen years. The ACST core value is Friendships Through Cricket, and there was certainly plenty of camaraderie on show as well as some fine performances.

Play had got under way with the participants in fine fettle proceeding the previous evening’s gathering at the UN Irish Pub. The tournament is raising money for Junior Cricket Development in the region alongside hosts Lanna CC and the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Association.

Rightway Pelicans, who have travelled with major sponsors Rightway Airlines, contained members of the former all conquering Tripathi Group team saw out victories against Nepalese outfit BCC Devibas and Salford Hawks, who have travelled from Lancashire and the UAE in a top class encounter.

City Academy Rhinos defeated CBB SC’s in their ACST debut before completing another win against Lanka Lions, former multiple winners of the Thailand International Cricket Sixes in Bangkok. Meanwhile Raju’s Cricket Club gathered victories over the Lions and the ADF Tigers of Penang.

The opening game of the tournament saw a derby between the two CBB teams, with the SK’s defeating the usually stronger SC’s. Phuket Cricket Group defeated the ACST All Stars before going down to Salford Hawks. The day’s other games saw Shanghai Hot Dogs give the All Stars a lesson, while the ADF Tigers inflicted defeat on the All Stars.

A minute’s silence was observed in memory of Terry Skillett, a great supporter of the short form of the game and stalwart of the Gymkhana Ground each year followed by happy hour dedicated to him at the Boundary Bar.

Participants headed back to the tournament hotels; The Imperial Mae Ping and Duangtawan before proceeding to a social function at the Zoom Bar to continue making friendships through cricket.