As many of you will be aware Chiang Mai has been badly hit by recent flooding caused by the River Ping overflowing to unprecedented levels. This has caused devastation to local homes and businesses.

It has also had catastrophic affects to the Gymkhana Club and all its facilities, including the cricket ground. Consequently, the Gymkhana Sixes which were due to take place on the 23rd and 24th of November will not take place at the ground. Other options of an alternative venue were investigated and considered with the result that a one-day event will be held at Royal Chiang Mai Golf Resort on the 23rd of November and the competing teams and spectators will be visiting Gymkhana Club on the 24th and they will see the current state of the Cricket Ground and enjoy. a few beers at the newly reopened Club House

Things have improved considerably over the past month thanks to a lot of hard work from Cher and the Lamphun boys who spent their holidays working at Gymkhana as the thick layer of mud was cleared from the pitch and then from the net facilities. The boys were joined by a team of caddies as we started the task of moving the mud off the outfield.

Piles and piles of mud were taken away in wheelbarrows but progress was slow as 500 square metres were cleared in a week as we reached grass level. Thankfully the ground had dried sufficiently for the machinery to gain access to the ground and progress has been much faster and the entire cricket ground has now been cleared.

The ground is now ready to be returfed which will be another arduous and expensive job but at least the mud has now been moved to behind where the tents will stand at the Sixes so we once again have a cricket ground which had seemed a long way off in early October. At close of play at the Royal Cricket Sixes, we will be visiting all the local bars which also suffered in the floods but are now up and running.