Cricket’s old fashioned virtues kept alive in Thailand

Please excuse me for a touch of indulgence this week. As regular readers will know, I play each year in the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes tournament in northern Thailand. This has been held in late March/early April every year since 1988, apart from 2020-22, during the pandemic. This year, the 35th edition, so nearly did not happen.

In early October last year, the Gymkhana Club, where the tournament is hosted, was covered in 20 centimeters of mud and silt when the adjacent River Ping overflowed for a second time. The waters swept all before them from one end of the area to the other. Over the course of the next two months, the monumental task of clearing up was undertaken by a combination of golf caddies, local volunteers, tournament committee members and hired machinery.

Then came the returfing of the playing area. By the time the tournament opened, only a small area of the ground lacked turf — for some reason, I found myself fielding there. It has been an outstanding effort by everyone concerned to ensure the 2025 Chiang Mai Sixes could be held. Donations are still being received from friends and supporters to support the recovery program.

In its early days, the tournament attracted an impressive array of former international cricketers, including Dennis Lillie in 1994. England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka were always well represented. The latter continued to be involved until 2012; then, in a sign of cricket’s changing nature, their successors had many more options for their post cricket careers.

However, not all contact has been lost. One of those who last played in Chiang Mai in 2012, Amal Silva, paid a visit this year. He scored a century for Sri Lanka at Lords in his country’s