The second day of the Lanna Sixes would see the last two group matches as places in the semi-finals of Cup and Plate competitions were decided and then the knock-out matches would follow as all eight teams still had a chance to win one of four different trophies. Lanna Juniors had already qualified for the Cup semi-finals but could the two senior Lanna teams do the same?
Lanna A played SBP Old Boys in the first match of the day and leg-spinner Russell Ward gave his team the perfect start by taking wickets with the first two balls of the match. Saufi again top-scored for the Malaysian side but a total of 45 for 3 never looked enough as Lanna A took their place in the semis by reaching their target with only one wicket down.
Bangkok Spirits then took on the Singha Panthers with the side from Prem needing to win or score 50 runs to qualify but the Spirits were far too strong and bowled out the Panthers for 34 and gained their third win of the competition without losing a wicket.
The four Cup semi-finalists had been decided with Lanna Juniors and Bangkok Spirits the two unbeaten teams and Lanna A next best with two wins out of three. The last place went down to the wire with Lanna B, United CC and the Singha Panthers level on points with one win each. Lanna B qualified as the fourth team in the Cup competition because they had scored four more runs than United. United and the Panthers would play in the Plate competition along with SBP Old Boys and Prem Black Cats.
Tbe first Cup semi-final was played between Bangkok Spirits and Lanna A and the hosts looked to have a good chance of success when the Spirits were restricted to 54 for 3 as Hamish Weir showed he was another capable leg-spinner as he took two wickets in his over. 18 runs from the fourth over kept Lanna in the hunt but Hadi bowled an excellent final over with two wickets for four runs and the Spirits had won by 10 runs.
Lanna Juniors then took on Lanna B in the second Cup semi-final and having already beaten the Lanna A side the day before it was no surprise that the boys again beat the men as they conceded only 39 runs and reached their target in less than three overs. The boys would play in the Cup final but the two Lanna senior teams would now meet in the Shield final.
In the Plate semi-finals United returned to winning ways by beating the Black Cats without losing a wicket but the Panthers gave a fine batting display by reaching 90 for 1 in their 5 overs to defeat SBP Old Boys by 16 runs. The line-up for the four finals had been decided.
The Cup final was held first with the Spirits anxious to return to Bangkok as soon as possible. For most of the match it looked like Lanna Juniors would enjoy a fairy tale success bu the veterans from the Bangkok League held on to win the trophy by just two runs. Chanchai’s three nonchalant catches will long live in the memory but the boys came up just short against some wily spin bowling.
The SBP Old Boys played the Prem Black Cats in the Spoon final and the Malaysian side finally gained some reward for some stylish play as they won by by eight runs with openers Muazzam and Saufi batting well but the Blacks Cats’ openers put up a good fight and it was great that so many youngsters had a chance to play in their team.
United won the Plate by narrowly beating the Singha Panthers by three runs as Mark Bowyer who is coaching a new team of juniors at Prem showed he could play by scoring 25 runs from just 10 balls.
Only one final remained to played and it was a hard fought contest between Lanna A and Lanna B which would decide the winners of the Shield and bragging rights between CMLCC team-mates to bring the inaugural Lanna Sixes to a fitting climax.
Eddie Joyner made the most of his promotion in the batting order for Lanna B to make an unbeaten 12 to give valuable support to Shine Thomas who raced to 26 from 15 balls so that the A team would need exactly 50 to win. It looked like it would be Eddie’s day as he took a wicket with his second ball but there was still time for some R & R as Russell Ward batted sensibly and Richard Young went for his shots and won the match with a big six to bring proceedings to a close.
Four winners and four runners-up duly celebrated with their trophies and everyone involved agreed that the tournament had been a great success and would go on to bigger and better things next year.