The fifth day of the 2019 Chiang Mai Sixes has seen the first semi-finalists in the competition decided with Gloucestershire Gipsies overcoming the Divine Felons to become the first team to reach the Cup semi-finals, but were soon followed by NCL Dynamites who eased past their stable mates, the NCL Masters.
The Gipsies were far too strong for the Divine Felons although Peter Cowan made 33 out of a total of 49 for 1. Tom Smith led the way as Gipsies needed only 13 balls to chase down their target with Smith hitting four sixes as he reached 34 from eight balls as he peppered the Match Box with some powerful off-side shots.
The two teams representing NCL provided a highly entertaining contest as the Masters showed off their skills with Rubaiyat rolling back the years with 33 from 10 balls in a total of 75 for 2. The Dynamites faced a testing target but Syed Mokammel put his team on the way with 35 from 12 balls, leaving it to Toufiqul and Faysal to see the Dynamites home to victory with two balls to spare.
Gipsies and Dynamites will head their groups in the Cup so will play in different semi-finals so a mouth-watering Final in still in prospect. Yorkshire Puddings and Clifton Hill Stray Cats look the strongest teams in the Shield as they both gained their second victories at the expense of Thai Thevada and Perth Postels respectively to reach the last four.
Drifters are safely through to the semi-finals of the Bowl as they defeated RUC Rascals and Lord's Taverners but Gymkhana Cavaliers who had the best record in the Gentlemen's Section surprisingly lost to Darwin Dilettantes in the first match of the day before giving themselves a good chance of making the last four by beating Awali as Julien Fagan made 31 in a total of 82 for 2.
The Cavaliers still have a good chance to reach the Bowl semi-finals with Awali facing Darwin on Friday and the Plate Group still has two rounds of matches to be played. The fifth day's play ended with action in the Spoon and Group B has been decided with Almar the first team to bow out of the competition as they were beaten by Armadillos and Stuffed Beavers. The Beavers gave their best display of the tournament with Chris Coombes and Mark Robinson seeing them into the semi-finals.