Comfortable win for Lanna A as United lose again

United CC 127

Suhail 25, Ubaid 2/16

Lanna A 131/5

Bunchuai 45*, Ubaid 24, Burhan 2/25, Tom Salusbury 2/29

Lanna A
won by 5 wickets

The first match in the Chiang Mai Senior League the previous weekend had seen Lanna B defeat United CC by 7 wickets so Lanna’s A team were under pressure to match or better their less vaunted team-mates. It was certainly a case of ground hog day as the game played at Gymkhana followed a remarkably similar pattern.

United batted first and were bowled out for 127 just four runs more than they had made in the match against Lanna B. Jamie Cardno, brother of Martin, was nervous on his debut for Lanna but did take a wicket and it was Jun who claimed the crucial wicket of Tanveer who had made 72 in his last innings. Asif was run out as was Choo and spinners Russell Ward and Ubaid both bowled accurately with Ubaid bowling two wicket maidens as he dismissed Suhail and Cher.

United’s team had been strengthened by the addition of Choo and Cher who are promising young all-rounders but United’s innings lacked a big individual score as Suhail top-scored with 25 as they were dismissed in just 24.2 overs. Lanna B had won their match in just 22.3 overs so the A team would have to match that performance to go to the top of the league table on net run-rate.

Richard Cowles was looking to give the innings a fast start but he fell second ball as Imtiyaz took a brilliant catch to bring to the crease Adrian Ballantyne who had been promoted to the unexpected heights of number 3 in the A team batting order. The pocket rocket tried to curb his attacking instincts as he added 26 with Bunchuai for the second wicket but the early introduction of Tom Salusbury, guesting for United, proved a master-stroke. Tom’s legendary lobs proved far too tempting and a pair of boundaries was followed by Ballantyne’s dismissal for 13 from 23 balls.

Martin Cardno has been in fine form throughout the season whether playing in Chiang Mai or Bangkok but he hasn’t had to face anything like Tom and although one six did clear the boundary he was soon caught attempting another big shot. Luckily for Lanna A, Bunchuai had finished college early and was batting with great dedication as he played every ball on its merits.

Left-hander Ubaid is also a high quality player to come in at 51 for 3 and he hit his first ball for six to calm any Lanna nerves. He also hit three fours before being caught by Suhail off the bowling of Burhan for 24 and Jamie Cardno only made one before being bowled by Asif to leave the scoreboard reading 96 for 5.

32 runs were still needed but captain Pete Warner has years of experience behind him and he played himself in before hitting two fours in an over from Asif and another from Burhan who brought himself back in a final effort to stay in the match.

Bunchuai had been largely content to push the singles and wait for the bad ball and the statistics of his innings show he fulfilled his opening role to perfection; when he hit the winning boundary it was only his fifth four yet he had reached 45* from 54 balls in another very mature display.

Lanna A had won by five wickets and scored 131 runs from 21.1 overs to place them just above Lanna B in the league table after the completion of the first two matches. United could at least reflect on claiming five wickets but they had lost their second successive match without batting out their 30 overs.

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