It was the South Africans who basically dominated the Fourteenth edition of the Chiang Mai Cricket Sixes, played at the charming century-old Chiengmai Gymkhana Club Cricket Ground.

The Hampton Hound Dogs won the Cup Championship, while neighbours on the African continent, a local Chiang Mai expatriate team composed of Zimbabweans and star batsman South African Test player Hylton Ackerman, won the BOWL title. The name of this team ? the acronym "DIRTZ" spells out to mean "Difficulty in returning to Zimbabwe".

Finally, South Africa, comprising five former school-mates, scored 88 for no loss to beat the "Rest of the World" for the Stars Challenge Cup.

Elsewhere, the mainly Aussie Schlungers, who have participated in every Sixes competition since the first in 1988, won the Spoon and the British Northern Oiks won the Plate. The hard-fought Women's competition saw the Chiang Mai Chassies take out the Women's World All-Stars. The post-game party at the cricket ground, was a joy to behold.

The only New Zealand 'presence' this year was a single team, Taranaki Taverners, from Plymouth. However, New Zealander, Detective Inspector Peter Evans who attended the Sixes, said that he "looked forward to the return of the Auckland Kiwi Cavaliers next year, under the able helmsmanship of Mark Bowyer."

Children's cricket under the direction of Khun Somboon Suprasert, who recently agreed to become co-chairman with Peter Dawson of the Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Association, saw 10 teams entered in the Junior Cup this year. The two main rivals, the Thai schools, Prince Royal College and Montford College, were joined by smaller schools and Dr. Somboon has promised 10 times this number for the Fifteenth Sixes next year.

ICC Asia Region Development Officer, Nasim Ul Ghani, was very impressed with the progress both in the improved quality and the increased quantity of players participating in the junior cricket program this year. A lot of help had been given by Australian Coach, Brian Wiggins, who had managed to spend 10 days coaching in Chiang Mai two weeks before the Sixes.

The standard of bowling, batting and fielding increased remarkably as the week progressed, resulting in extremely close games and two bowling hat-tricks, by Stuart Kaschula of Royal Selangor and Will Pickersgill of the Northern Oiks, respectively, whilst Graeme Pitty of the Bangkok Southerners, in their game against the South African, Alma Marist, took four wickets in his single over.

There was also enthusiastic support from the side-lines as Australian Ambassador H.E. Miles Kupa came along to give moral support to his team the Southerners. Meantime, at the other end of the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club cricket ground, a very vociferous group came in to support THEIR team, the Awali Taverners. The very shapely ladies themselves were right out of the "Bunny Club" - invited, of course, because of their knowledge of the royal and ancient game of cricket !

The batting, particularly, was - to say the least - vigorous, as sixes sailed high over the stands, knocked panels out of the site-screens and had spectators and teams alike, diving for cover. One specific "six" took the microphone right out of the hand of commentator Rick "Viking" Davis: the accoustic feed-back was horrendous! Some said it was retaliation for Rick's day-long monologues, ranging in tone from hilarious to somewhat acidic.

Another ball landed on Organizing Committee Chairman Maurice Bromley's car, with a similar accoustic feed-back: the ball landed so hard that it activated the anti-theft device.

UNICEF Support

UNICEF Youth Ambassador, Kathaleeya McIntosh, presided over the afternoon awards ceremony, emphasising the importance the tournament organisers - especially the chairman of the organizing committee, Maurice Bromley - places upon introducing cricket to Thai children and young people. Equally the presence of UNICEF showed their appreciation of the Chiang Mai Sixes' efforts to promote sport with the Thai children of Chiang Mai.

So high was the enthusiasm among the children that, even after she had presented all the medals, the Youth Ambassador could not leave the beaming children until she had signed EVERY tee shirt!

By the final day, many of the players had started to succumb to heat prostration - which, considering many of the players had come from colder climes still in the grip of a bitter winter - was not surprising, as the Chiang Mai ambient temperature hovered around 40 degrees.

One such was former England Captain, Mike Gatting, who was hospitalized with a form of cellulitis and unable to lead his team Jack Frost into an all-English PLATE final, in which Jack Frost went down to the Northern Oiks by nine runs.

The record number of 27 teams, plus two ladies combos - the "Chiang Mai Chassies" and the "Women's World All-Stars" - descended onto the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club Cricket Ground for the opening game of the day's scheduled 13 - and, on two days, 14 - games which started at 8.30 and continued uninterrupted until dusk.

Khun Surapong Sukannasilp, Chairman of the Gymkhana Club opened the Sixes, bowling a mean ball to world-renowned Sri Lankan test cricketer, Ramesh Rathnayake who was suitably impressed with the Chaiman's delivery, executed in office attire, even.

From its relatively humble beginnings in 1988, the Chiang Mai Cricket Sixes has now taken its place as one of the world's major international amateur cricket competitions.

"The Fourteenth Sixes", according to "Bangkok Post" correspondent Jim Hawker and this correspondent agrees entirely, "was the best ever - with Test stars and amateurs playing side-by-side - and hectic social activity providing a perfect mix, through the efforts of the hard-working committee headed by Maurice and Renita Bromley, co-ordinators Rick Davis and Mike Maher and the tireless dedication of Sixes addict, Geoff Thompson".

Maurice's own enormous input was rewarded when his handsome, personable and very polite 14-year-old son Robert, press-ganged into the Hampton Hound Dogs team, was named "best rookie of the tournament", having taken three wickets from four balls on two consecutive days, bowling for the Hound Dogs. He was also the youngest player in 14 years of Chiang Mai Sixes to have played in a winning CUP team.

Although the Aussie team, the Warathais was eliminated in the second Cup semi-final, the New South Walesmen had the satisfaction of seeing skipper Steve Christie named "Player of the Tournament".

Sponsorship was generous as usual with many, such as the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Amari Rincome, Castrol, the Chiang Mai Municipality and Reich Baumaschinen of Germany who for the 6th consecutive year , sponsored the 30 mini buses allocated to every team, officials, scorers, umpires and stars.

Results:

CUP: Hampton Hound Dogs (84-0) ( J.Kaminski 33 ret,; J.Commins 23 n.o.) def. Perth Postels (80-2) (P.Andersen 35 ret.; K.Jackson 30 ret.).

BOWL: DIRTZ (50-1) def. Royal Selangor (49-3) (F.Fernando 32 ret.).

PLATE: Northern Oiks (80-0) (C.Hartdford-Cross 32 ret.; M.Fettes 31 n.o.) def. Jack Frost (76-1) (N. Billing 33 ret.).

SPOON: Schlungers (D.Nitschke 34 ret. M.Mayo 31 ret.) def. IOS Malakas (82-4).

STARS CHALLENGE: South Africans (88-0) (K.Jackson 30 ret.) def. Rest of the World (R. Ratnayake 35 ret.; D. Ward 31 ret.).

LADIES CHALLENGE: Chiang Mai Chassies (48-2) (P. Marsh 15 ret.) def. Women's World All-Stars (45-2) (S. Watson, 16 ret).

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd