News

UN Irish Pub save the best until last

2 April 2019
UN Irish Pub save the best until last

The Players Section in the 2019 Chiang Mai Sixes is set for an exciting finish as all 12 teams taking part in the competition's first division have now played two matches. All teams play their third match on Tuesday as places in the Cup and the Shield will be decided. The top six teams will play in the Cup and those in seventh to twelfth places will compete in the Shield.

Five teams made it two wins out of two with Gloucestershire leading the way after their win against the NCL Masters. NCL Masters, Divine Felons and Margate also had two victories when we came to the last match of the day with UN Irish Pub facing Yorkshire Puddings. These were two strong sides with the 2016 champions facing the 2017 losing finalists and a close contest was expected.

Naveed Pathan took two wickets in the first over for the Irishstanis but Yorkshire Puddings recovered to a total of 69 thanks to an unbroken third wicket partnership of 61 between Awais Ejaz and Amjid Hussain. UN Irish looked to be cruising but runs were soon hard to come by after Naveed's retirement. 18 runs were needed off the final over and a wicket was lost to the first ball as Burhan was stumped.

Cometh the hour, cometh the main as Asim came to crease and he hit his first ball for six and followed with a two and a four. Six runs required from two balls and Asim sent the next ball sailing over mid-wicket for six and wild celebrations greeted the end of the match from the last ball of the day. UN Irish had grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat and moved into second place in the table.

There was also great excitement in the Gentlemen's Section where Neil Kirkwood hit the Flight of the Gibbon banner at deep mid-wicket to score the competition's first ten and it helped Beijing Ducks to victory over Tokyo Dingbats. Another unlikely hero was Kevin Wun of Blythswood who played the innings of his life to see his side home against Awali Taverners.

The third day gets underway at 9.00 am on Tuesday with all the places in the Cup and Shield to be decided.