2007. Tournament Round Up

Montpelier Phuket International Cricket Sixes 2007

 

Nineteen teams from ten different countries participated in the 2007 Montpelier Phuket International Cricket Sixes, completed Sunday 22nd April at Karon Stadium, Phuket.

This was the first staging of the annual Phuket Sixes tournament since it scooped two major International Cricket Council Awards for the ‘Best Spirit of Cricket Initiative’ last year, and once again the ‘Fun in the Sun’ Cricket Sixes exceeded expectations.

“It was an incredible tournament!” commented Matthew Nicholson of the Bounty Buccaneers from Malaysia at the conclusion of the tournament, “I’ve run out of superlatives!“

In addition to the on-field competition, which featured Cup, Plate, Bowl and Spoon divisions, the Phuket Sixes tournament included a wide range of popular off-field functions for the 200 plus tournament participants including beach cricket, the Welcome Party at The Green Man Pub and a lavish Sixes Awards Dinner at the Hilton Arcadia.

Heavy overnight rain unfortunately washed out the second half of the floodlit charity Twenty20 match on Saturday night. Although both teams, captained by Trevor Chappell (ex Australia) and Kenny Jackson (ex South African pro player), and vociferous spectators were disappointed the match couldn’t continue, spirits were not to be dampened as substantial funds were raised on the night for the Phuket Sixes charity Childwatch.

In fact, the generosity of the Sixes participants and spectators towards all the charity fundraising activities — which included a sponsored head shaving by Kevin Bishop, one of the event officials — was incredible throughout the week as 70,000 baht was raised for local children’s orphanage charity, Childwatch.

Action on the field from the teams every day was as hot as the weather, and the Cup Final on Sunday afternoon proved the best so far in the history of the tournament, played between Australian sides Leeming Spartans and the Joondalup Kinross Wolves.
 

Batting first Leeming Spartans notched up a challenging total of 84 runs with both Wayne Fontana and Brad Mant retiring following bludgeoning knocks.

But Joondalup, making their debut at the Phuket Sixes, chased the total down steadily. However, Wayne Fontana’s bowling for Leeming in the final over proved difficult to get away and tension rose as two runs were required from the last ball. That however was despatched for a massive six towards the beach by ‘Chimpy’ which ensured victory and the title of Cup Champions to Joondalup.

Earlier, Joondalup had defeated CBB Postels and Leeming Spartans had downed Lamma CC in the semis to reach the final.

Pocari CC of Bahrain stormed off with the Plate trophy after defeating Singapore Airlines in the final. Sandeep starred for Pocari, smashing 32 runs as his side posted 60 runs. Singapore Airlines could manage only 52 in reply but were consoled when Rajkumar smashed a ball through one of the special Green Man targets to win his team a case of beer!

In Bowl action, local side Karon Seasanders were defeated by Sunshine CC from India. Sunshine skipper Anand hit a belligerent 30 and conceded just two runs from his over as Sunshine ran away with a 40-run victory.

The Spoon final also featured local interest as the Green Man Gunnas from Phuket took on Applecross CC of Western Australia. Applecross registered the highest total of the tournament, smashing 97 runs off the Gunnas bowling attack. The Gunnas put up a valiant effort in the run chase, but the target was always going to be tough and they finished their innings on 60 runs.

“This was the best Sixes I’ve ever been to,“ said Ian Beck, captain of Lamma CC from Hong Kong, regular competitors at the Phuket Sixes and other Sixes tournaments around the region.

“Simply brilliant!” was how Tournament Director Brad Tarr described this year’s Montpelier Phuket International Cricket Sixes.

“The new outfield at Karon Stadium looked and played the part, was very positively received by the players and significantly contributed to the highest standard of cricket we’ve ever had at the Phuket Sixes,“ Mr Tarr continued.

“Also, the media coverage of the Sixes this year has been incredible, with wonderful features in the Phuket Post, daily articles in the major national newspapers, and plenty of airtime on national TV. Our sponsors are over the moon at the exposure!” commented Mr Tarr.

“Teams are already queuing up to confirm their entries for next year’s tournament,“ said Michael ‘Cat’ Maher, Chairman of the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour. “The 2008 Phuket International Cricket Sixes is going to be even better!”

Silverware Summary:
Cup Champions: Joondalup Kinross Wolves
Cup Runners-up: Leeming Spartans CC
Player of the Final: Wayne Fontana (Leeming Spartans)
Plate Champions: Pocari CC
Plate Runners-up: Singapore Airlines
Player of the Final: Sandeep (Pocari CC)
Bowl Champions: Sunshine CC
Bowl Runners-up: Karon Seasanders
Player of the Final: Anand (Sunshine CC)
Spoon Champions: Applecross CC
Spoon Runners-up: Green Man Gunnas
Player of the Final: Mike Khan (Green Man Gunnas)
Player of the Tournament (Open): Brad Mant (Leeming Spartans)
Player of the Tournament (Spoon): Sumit Sharma (Green Man Gunnas)
Players’ Player of the Tournament: Big Bob (Pocari CC etc)

Number of Sixes hit: 268
 

Competing Teams:
Applecross Cricket Club (Perth, Australia)
Bounty Buccaneers Cricket Team (Malaysia)
CBB Postels (Perth, Australia)
Corner Tigers (Pakistan)
Guwahati Town Cricket Club (Assam, India)
Green Man Gunnas (Phuket, Thailand)
Island Cricketeers (Phuket, Thailand)
Kudu Bar Cavalry Cricket Team (Malaysia)
Joondalup Kinross Wolves (Perth, Australia)
Karon Seasanders (Phuket, Thailand)
Laguna Phuket Cricket Team (Phuket, Thailand)
Lamma Cricket Club (Lamma Island, Hong Kong)
Leeming Spartan Cricket Club (Perth, Australia)
Perth Postels (Perth, Australia)
Pocari CC (Bahrain)
Shanghai Devilrays (Shanghai, China)
Singapore Airlines Group Sport Club (Singapore)
Sunshine Cricket Club (India)
Wild Men From Borneo (Borneo)

Tournament Organising Team:

Tournament Director - Brad Tarr
Event Director - Poonpun ‘Nui’ Jangrugsa
Tournament Referee - Ian Liddell
Head of Scorers Panel - Kim Burns
Head of Umpires Panel - Steve Christie
Media Director - Mark Burns
Team Coordinator - Michael ‘Cat’ Maher
Webmaster - Kevin Bishop
Groundsman - Dixie Joy
Fundraising - Karyn Brown, Toni Maher
Photographer - Wayne Morrison
Umpires, Scorers, Officials & MCs - Kim Burns, Michael Way, Bill Brown, Tara Quinn, Jeffrey ‘Rabbi’ Cohen, Big Bob, Kailash Dayal, Peter Counsell, Barbara McHerron, Sue Liddell, Bert ‘Budgie’ Beatsen, Ian Farrar, Dixie Joy, Mark Burns, Brad Tarr, Ian Lidell, Steve Christie, Kevin Bishop, Howard Digby-Johns