The last weekend before Christmas had a very festive feel about it at as more than 60 Thai children played in hard ball matches, with under-13s boys and girls enjoying a day out at Prem on the Saturday, under-16s took to the field at Gymkhana on the Sunday morning and then the day was rounded off perfectly with the best Thai cricketers contesting the first Terry Skillett Memorial Cup. Fittingly, the Skilletts beat the Morgans by four wickets and, not surprisingly, it was Chanchai who proved the difference between the two sides as he took two wickets and then saw the Skilletts home to victory with an unbeaten 34.
It was the perfect end to the perfect day as we all paid tribute to Terry Skillett who was at Jenny Morgan's side as they raised millions of baht for the twin causes of junior cricket in Chiang Mai and Lamphun and fthe Hill Tribe Fund which provided a new life for some of the young cricketers playing at Gymkhana Club today.
Chanchai won the toss for the Skilletts and asked the Morgans to bat first and Formot began well by hitting a four and a six in his innings of 20, but then it was left to Cher to play a captain's innings as he made 31 from 31 balls with four boundaries. Cher and Chatree were both dismissed caught by Choo as Chanchai turned to spin. The younger boys lacked the strength of shot to find the boundary but they showed good technique as they batted out the 25 overs as the Morgans reached a total of 104 for 8.
The Skilletts were always well placed in the chase as Feem batted confiedently, then Leng and Choo shared a stand of 28 to take the score to 48 for 2. Three wickets fell for just five runs but it was left to Chanchai to give the younger players a batting master class. He made a unbeaten 34 from 28 balls with five fours, although he did survive a dropped catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary.
The Skilletts won by four wickets with five overs to spare and it was appropriate that Chanchai would lift the Terry Skillett Memorial Cup for the first time as he more than most has been the beneficiary of all the wonderful fund raising carried out by Jenny and Terry and which is continuing thanks to the generosity of both locals and those further afield. More than 20 000 Baht was raised for this wonderful event and the surplus on the day will be used to stage more junior cricket matches at various age levels.
Thank you to all those who helped sponsor this event and support the development of junior cricket in the North of Thailand.
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