View from the Perch
Issue Eight - 8th Feb 2008
Well, a turbulent summer of cricket so far this year with sledgers dobbing in sledgers, administrators administering boycott threats and cricketers being shown the door for being cricketers (Shane Bond et al).
Through this mire of pathetic limp wristed administration and ridiculous intimidation there has been a beacon of shining light in the form of your hard working, funloving and, at times, slightly inebriated band of brothers who proudly sport the Siam CC badge of honour over their left tits.
what are you talking about man?
WE'VE PLAYED THREE AND WON THREE THIS SEASON!!!!
Yep, uncharted territory for the team, 3 games, 3 wins. We've beaten 3 particular teams for the first time in 4 years and have toiled diligently for the perfect start to a season which includes 5 more league games with our primary goal to finish in the top 3 and secure a finals berth. The fellas have been fantastic in January and we've twice chased totals at over 6 runs per over and, we rolled one of our arch rivals for a paltry 106. Needless to say the Vodka has flowed (both up and down - ugh), the banter has been first class and the support from the members has been nothing short of tremendous.
It's all good fellas.
Match Reports (grab a coffee, or a beer, there's lots to tell...)
Jan 12 vs ICC at AIT - Siam CC win by 3 wickets
Armed with our new found plan of choosing the best eleven cricketers available instead of our previous strategy of "he who provides the voddy, plays" we approached this game against the number 2 team in Thailand with hopeful expectations of putting in a strong performance whilst letting the result take care of itself .
ICC elected to bat and Vicky and Wanie opened up for this 40 over a side fixture.. Vick made an early breakthrough and Wanie bowled his best for the Parrots..
242 to win off 40 overs - we'd never successfully chased that much at AIT before .
DC and Glenn opened up but a super offcutter took DC's off stump and he seemed to be in some difficulty holding the bat. Glenn followed, Deano drew the short straw with our obligatory dodgy LBW (at least one every innings) - 3 for 30 odd - and Scully and the skipper began the fightback before the skipper totally cocked up a fully on legstump and now we're 4 for 80 odd.
Good start eh?
Jan 20 vs British Club/Elite at Polo Club - Siam CC win by 3 wickets
We were bouyed and bouncy for our battle with The British Club at my favourite cricket ground in South East Asia.
Justin and Glenn put on 40 odd before Glenn skewed one to the keeper. The skipper finally got his act together and put on 65 with Justin who showed typical determination while compiling a stylish 47.
An excellent run chase and good contributions from all players.
A definate highlight for the players was the sight of Jake from the Regal Guesthouse Jomtien and Ken from Phoenix Consultants sitting in the shade supping a few cold ones and urging the lads on. Paul, BST, Foxxy, Jeremy, Michael and Froggy joined our version of the Barmy Army and we had a gaggle of supporters in attendance who certainly lifted our performance.
The skipper got the weekend in Jomtien and the cold beers tasted very good in the afternoon sun.
Good day...despite 11 drops!
Jan 27 vs RBSC at RBSC - SIAM CC canters home by 9 wickets!
Sunday the 27th will go down as a really outstanding day for the club, players and supporters alike. The game at RBSC was identified as a "give it all you've got" grudge match.
The day started with catching practise and then we won the toss again and inserted the opposition.
A measly yet nervy 107 for victory.
We had a leisurely lunch, chatted with our supporters and flung a few baht on the nags before embarking on a serious run chase devoid of any complacency. Undefeated Vice-Captain, Glenn refuses to take credit for his innings but his authoritative quickfire 33 immediately dashed any hopes RBSC might have had for salvaging anything from this comprehensive whipping. Justin (26n.o.) worked harder than anyone, displaying good technique and patient temperament and helped the skipper (31n.o) slowly grind out a very important 9 wicket win.
Slatts got the weekend at the Regal Guesthouse in Jomtien and received a fair bit of stick as it was deemed to be his worst bowling for the Parrots ever!
The mini bar esky got emptied in record time and our band of mates and supporters including Foxxy, Hamish, Hunter, BST, Malcolm, Froggy, Flossy, Mark, Brendon, Ivor, Gary, among others partook in our age honoured tradition of a vodka slammer or two. First a ghastly concoction of cannibis (I know, bizarre! - but only a brand name) vodka from Prague followed rather aptly by a bottle of chocolate flavoured vodka from Vietnam. A number of lovely Parrakeets joined in and with the last races on the card still to run we had a jolly old time before retiring to the Green Parrot and revelling in our record breaking feats of the last three weeks.
Good day that one, folks!
The Heart and Soul of the Parrots:
Our lifeline and first packed item for any trip has seen us through the bleakest of moments and propelled us during the highs of victory. We all owe Neil a doff of the cap for ALWAYS stocking, packing and organising the eskies. Apparently at the RBSC we took more revenue from the esky than most bars in BKK do on a friday night! - that money goes to the kids' cricket - after the eskies have been restocked of course!
Burma - March 7-9 2008.
We're off to visit our mates in Yangon in March to take part in a morale boosting 20/20 tourney with Irrawaddy (Burma team) and Phuket. Perfect opportunity for Parrot members to have a bat and a bowl and we can jack up rounds of golf as well if required. We get well looked after with good accomodation and meals, transport everywhere and great locals and expats for company. Drop me a line if you're interested in seeing this beautiful country with us.
Upcoming matches:
Feb 23 vs BCC (unbeaten in BKK cricket for about 4 years) at AIT
March 1 vs Southerners CC. Colonel's Cup match in honour of David Dufall at Polo Club. This will be a great day to watch some cricket in very pleasant surroundings
March 15 vs AIT at AIT
March 30 vs Bangkok Stars at AIT
April 5 vs Thai Colts at Polo Club
Sponsors:
As always our sponsors have been a huge help and offer great encouragement.
Phoenix Consultants Ltd
Green Parrot Sports Bar and Grill
Regal Guesthouse Jomtien
Global Turf Consulting
Last word
Well, that's a brief (?) synopsis of what's been going on. We're currently exploring effective ways to put your social membership money to good use. We've got some good ideas involving boys and girls from rural Petchabun and Chiang Mai. As always thanks for helping us help them.
Greetings to the flock, and a warm welcome to our new members
AIT suits batting and the runs always flow there. The fielders applied themselves bravely and our debutant tearaway leftarm quick from Chiang Mai, Maki, got into the action early with a good catch and powerful run out to provide the Parrots with early success. Maki is the quickest I've faced in Thailand and is a difficult customer when he puts it on a length.
With eager anticipation we unleashed him on the opposition at first change and I have to be honest... he bowled 2 overs of absolute poo !!
DC and Scully put the brakes on them and we were looking like chasing about 260 at second drinks. But young Maki comes from stern Pakistani stock and he switched to 6 overs of impressive and accurate left arm spin which accounted for two of their dangermen and backed up with another fine catch. Well done Maki, from the schithouse to the penthouse in two overs.
Good bowling also from the ever reliable offspinning Gurpreet.. DC bowled the last over which went for about 20 runs but nobody minded because we knew we could use those stats to shut him up on the drunken van ride home to the Green Parrot later that evening.
In previous years, the Parrots would slowly capitulate at this point and bemoan our bad start or dodgy LBWs as the reason for our demise. This year, however we have the Prez, with his grass already planted and a bit more time on his hands, he strapped on Adam Gilchrist's space age pads and strode out to join Scully.
Now things got interesting. Scully joined us in the pavilion after an invaluable 34 and Maki blasted 29 off about 15 balls and slowly we overhauled a runrate that had steepled to 9.5 per over. Wanie whacked a couple and Justin and a knackered, yet rightfully jubilant, Prez took us home with 3 overs to spare.
Fantastic effort from all the boys and as for the Prez, 56 not out and a weekend at the Jomtien Regal Guesthouse for a unanimous man of the match prize. Honourable mentions to Maki and E.Xtras who contributed about 40 runs!
We won the toss for this 35 over clash and had no hesitation to send them in. Vicky again bowled valiantly and DC, nursing a rather sore bowling hand partnered him with the new ball.
What followed next was an excrutiating trip down memory lane as we feathered (dropped) eleven catches!! Eleven!!
We dropped their skipper 5 times on his way to 91. Incidently on 4 of those drops the batsman actually broke 4 different bats. At $400 AUD a piece it's fair to say that they were costly drops for both sides.
Brothers, Gurpreet and Princy bowled well and took 2 wickets each, while Glenn, DC and Scully chimed in with one each. 8 blokes dropped catches but the ground fielding was good and Strunky featured in a couple of run outs.
It should have been a lot less but we were set a target of 222 off 35 overs on a lovely batting wicket.
KD used his cricket acumen to great effect and featured in another 65 run partnership with the skipper, finishing with an unflattering yet invaluable 16 runs.
The run rate was kept up as we inched closer to the target with the skipper falling for 82, six runs short of the target..
We experienced some speed wobbles within sight of victory with the departures of Scully, the Prez and Princy and it was left to Gurpreet and Strunky to see the boys home amidst a chorus of cheers and beers.
We'd lost to this team 3 times previously in some ugly encounters and we really wanted to get one back. Add in the stunning venue with it's urban panorama and the fact that the Horse races were scheduled for that day and all of a sudden we're playing in front of a crowd of a couple of thousand sportsfans (or addicted gamblers if you like).
Our band of loyal supporters led by Jake and Ken arrived early, collected their "Turf Digests" and prepared for a day of cricket, races and beer - just a typical sunday in Bangers eh?
We were fortunate that our bowling spearhead, Slatts, had weasled some time off work and at the pub at 2am the previous Friday we hatched a rather bold and ambitious plan to stump their opener and dangerman off the first ball. Bugger me days if it didn't work! - albeit with a rather sloppy piece of glovework. A perfect start.
DC had to miss this game as it was revealed that he had sustained a clean break in his hand while batting in the first game two weeks earlier. The fact that he bowled 7 overs at Polo with a broken hand (bowling hand!) is testimony to the character (or stubbornness) of this classic Parrot.
The first ball set the tone and by 12 overs we had them 4 for 30 odd with Slatts taking 3 and Princy one. Princy then set himself up for a hattrick and Maki sent them scurrying for thighpads, his pace resulting in 2 wickets. The inevitable rearguard partnership produced 30 odd runs and we changed tack slightly when they were 8 for 100. Scully came on and wrapped up the innings with one over and KD sealed a fantastic bowling and fielding performance with a super one-handed catch at backward point.
is without a doubt our beloved esky (or eskies really).
Thanks Neil, often overlooked but never ever unappreciated.
http://www.phoenixconsultantsltd.com/
http://greenparrot.globalweb.co.th/
http://www.regaljomtien.com/
http://www.globalturfconsult.com/
Keep an eye on Jessie Ryder a "plump" player from NZ. I expect we'll hear a lot about him on and off the field.
Cheers
Kiwi (a proud and happy captain)
Vale:
Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Wayne Blee from Perth. Wayne was a Parrot in our first year and passed away recently. A good innings from a good man.
