Siam Cricket Club

Sawasdee Bee Mai Parrots

That's Thai for "Happy New Year"
Yes indeed another year flies by. It's time for Songkran over here which is the Thai New Year celebration welcoming in the year 2551. That's right Thailand is 543 years ahead of the rest of the world. (!)

Actually with the Chinese influence over here, we realistically celebrate 3 New Years' every year. Certainly explains the Parrots reluctance to run quick singles and I'm sure at times we look and play like we're 3 times older than our birth certificates suggest.

We warmed up (if it's possible to "warm up" in 40 degree heat) for Songkran with a 40 over league game at AIT against a self named team using the moniker, Bangkok Stars Cricket Club.

On a steamy, sultry sunday we lost the toss and were inserted for the first time this year (as a team). The fellas were quite excited at the prospect of batting first and we demonstrated this by being 5 for 55 after about 20 overs.

We hadn't been up poo creek for ages it seemed, so the novelty of this predicament was certainly not lost on the team. The more experienced Parrots, who had lived through the captains previous seasons' 7% success percentage, simply gazed over to the eskies and performed a few split second calculations including variables such as cans available, expected time of match finishing, number of hours of daylight remaining and other complex algorithms determining distance to bottle shop around the corner and the breaking strains of plastic bags laden with supplementary grog.

Just as Vice Captain Glenn was repositioning himself precisely one arm's length from the main esky, Strunky strode to the wicket to join the Prez. You remember Strunky, he's the sports fanatic from Washington DC who joined the Parrots 3 seasons ago having never previously seen a cricket bat let along used one. For 3 years now we've tried to "de-baseball-ise" Strunky and transform him from a "Mark McGuire" (minus the juice of course) to a "Mark Waugh" (minus the "missus" of course). I still fondly recollect Strunky's first ever innings for the Parrots when, upon hitting his first delivery, he involuntarily bolted out to square leg (Strunky's left handed) searching for first base! - he kept his bat though.

Now, Strunky's a very quick learner and no Parrot has worked at their game with as much determination and effort as the Strunkster, and he found himself with a huge job do to; the Prez got a good one and we're 6 for 80 odd.
KD joined our greatest American hero and the two of them cleverly engineered our most valuable partnership of the season. KD ran well between the wickets and tempered his shots for an invaluable 30 in an 80 run partnership. Strunky went from strength to strength and the boys in the pavillion watched on in stunned silence (Glenn still one arm's length from the holy grail) as Strunky executed a perfectly timed 6 over long on to bring up his maiden cricket half century, after only about 12 innings ever!
He was bowled next ball for 54 and received a rousing reception, while all the Parrots stored that innings away as a lifelong treasured cricket moment.
Not only was it fantastic from our mate's personal point of view, it was also integral to the Parrots recovery and setting 206 for victory.
6 fours and one six in Strunky's epic innings.

Very much bouyed by the work of Strunky and KD the lads hit the field knowing that restricting the opposition over 40 overs was not going to cut it.
DC and Vicky opened up with the opposition making their intentions clear from the outset, four, four, DC yorker! Vicky trapped the other opener in front and at drinks after 13 overs they were 2 for 70 odd.
The skipper gave the old "Right, this next session determines the WHOLE season right here and now" speech (and meant it this time) and the Parrots flocked to the task at hand.
Gurpreet (2-37 off 6) and KD (3-7 off 3.3) spun us closer to victory, backed up by a faultless display of catching, and bowled very well in the conditions. The best bowler, though, was Princy, who also works very hard at improving his game - (funny that the two hardest trainers put in the best performances when we needed it most, eh?). Princy has been working hard at bowling yorkers (about the only tactic left for bowlers in this modern age of hit and giggle cricket), and executed his plan beautifully finishing with 3 for 11 off 6 overs.

We skittled them for 142 in the end and everyone agreed it was our most satisfying win of the season given that it was truly a team effort and a number of blokes stood up and performed when needed.

Well done boys, with Strunky and KD and Princy's efforts, this was certainly one of my better days of cricket ever.

KD fairly received the Man of the Match prize for an outstanding allround display and it is the measure of the man and the club that his first words on receiving the trophy were to ask Strunky to share it with him.

Few beers, bit of a yarn, few more beers to finish the day.

KD, therefore, gets the weekend stay at the Regal Guesthouse Jomtien and afterwards the Parrots began hatching a plan to migrate to Pattaya en masse one weekend to use our vouchers and have an end of season cultural trip. Because this trip will include temple visits, charity work and generally involve the boys finding inner peace we have to forbid wives, girlfriends and kids joining us lest they somehow mar our path to enlightenment. I'll let you know where and when a bit later so you can join us.

Another great day for the Parrots, (twas a good night at the Green Parrot too!) and it would be remiss of me not to mention the Parrot responsible for many of our improvements this season, but especially with Strunky and Princy.

Brian Wiggins - Wiggo - has been our cricketing consultant this season (flash name for coach which permits us to pay him in beer for his services). He attends our practises and instructs us about the finer technical points of batting and bowling as well as devising our match day plans and strategies. The man is simply the most knowledgable cricket coach I've met in Asia and his previous employment with Cricket Australia and his tireless work with junior cricketers in the kingdom make him a very worthy Parrot indeed.
Wiggo is a straight shooter (almost offensively so) and as far as he's concerned a spade is not a wooden/metallic device to aid excavation, it's a fkn spade! I decided to test his integrity one day when we hosted Merv Hughes at the Green Parrot last year (top day that one!). Wiggo had told me years ago that he was Merv's uncle. As my Nana used to say "you can't bullshit a bullshitter", so, being a namedropper of some note, I thought I'd investigate the validity of Wiggo's family ties.

With baited breath I sat beside Wiggo at our clubrooms as big Merv strode through the door.

Quietly I waited.

As Merv approached he caught sight of Wiggo, and Wiggo did likewise. Then, as if rehearsed, totally simultaneously, they both identically remarked:

"Aw shit, who let this bastard in here?" and shook hands.

My suspicions were confirmed, that Wiggo is indeed what he says he is, and he has been great for us this year. Even Strunky's got used to him bellowing "What sort of a shit shot was that George Bush!" albeit a tad less frequently of late.

Thanks Wiggo, appreciate what you do for us and cricket in Thailand.

So the Parrots remain top of the roost and you can view our progress, scoresheets and individual stats at this website compiled by Vaughany
http://www.bangkokcricketleague.com/

Many from the perch are very excited to be attending the 13th Hua Hin Sixes next week. We're in for a week of fine food, fine ales, fine friends, and just plain fines I reckon. Really looking forward to seeing Greeny, Hendo, and the other Aussie blokes and will definately imbibe the odd voddy for absent friends (for this year only) like Drewy and Funky, and me mate Mick Lewis!

If you'd like to pop down to Hua Hin and have a look, please email me for details.

Last game of the season for the Parrots on Saturday 26th April at AIT. We always get a van out there but I reckon we can discuss pulling out a few stops and making the place out there comfortable for parrot supporters and spectators. Beers, barbeque set up perhaps. There has been some talk of members playing golf in the morning at Pinehurst (nextdoor to cricket ground with spectacular caddies!) and catching a beer at the cricket later.
One thing is for sure and that is that we will be celebrating our stellar season with gusto back at the Green Parrot later that night!
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Bangkok Cricket League <http://www.bangkokcricketleague.com/common/pages/public/entitydetails.aspx?popup=1&entityID=7209> - Premier Division

Rank Team P W2 W1 D L1 L2 WKTS
LOST RUNS
FOR WKTS
TAKEN RUNS
AGST Points
1 Siam Cricket Club 7 0 6 0 1 0 41 1394 61 1325 *116.14*
2 Asian Institute of Technology 5 0 4 0 1 0 41 1194 42 837 *80.34*
3 Indian Cricket Club 6 0 3 0 3 0 42 1082 43 1182 *66.42 <javascript:;> *
4 Bangkok Stars 5 0 3 0 2 0 45 789 39 779 *60.69*
5 Bangkok Cricket Club 4 0 3 0 1 0 23 662 32 660 *60.02 <javascript:;> *
6 Thailand Cricket Club 4 0 2 0 2 0 33 677 37 825 *44.17*
7 Southerners Cricket Club 6 0 1 0 5 0 52 1271 40 1319 *35.71*
8 British Club Elite 5 0 1 0 4 0 42 805 43 885 *31.65*
9 Royal Bangkok Sports Club 4 0 0 0 4 0 38 518 20 580 *9.18*

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*Sponsors:*
** As always our sponsors have been a huge help and offer great encouragement.

*Phoenix Consultants Ltd *

http://www.phoenixconsultantsltd.com/

http://www.jvkmovers.com/

*Green Parrot Sports Bar and Grill*
** http://greenparrot.globalweb.co.th/

*Regal Guesthouse Jomtien*
** http://www.regaljomtien.com/

*Global Turf Consulting*
** http://www.globalturfconsult.com/

Last word:

Sorry, I tried to make this one short, honest, but the efforts of Strunky, KD, Princy and Wiggo seem to have put paid to that.

Have a happy and safe Thai New Year holiday and remember to play in the vee for the first 20

Cheers

Kiwi



	View from the Perch
	Issue Twelve - 12th Apr 2008 Sawasdee Bee Mai Parrots That's Thai for "Happy New Year" Yes indeed another year flies by. It's time for Songkran over here which is the Thai New Year celebration welcoming in the year 2551. That's right Thailand is 543 years ahead of the rest of the world. (!) Actually with the Chinese influence over here, we realistically celebrate 3 New Years' every year. Certainly explains the Parrots reluctance to run quick singles and I'm sure at times we look and play like we're 3 times older than our birth certificates suggest. We warmed up (if it's possible to "warm up" in 40 degree heat) for Songkran with a 40 over league game at AIT against a self named team using the moniker, Bangkok Stars Cricket Club. On a steamy, sultry sunday we lost the toss and were inserted for the first time this year (as a team). The fellas were quite excited at the prospect of batting first and we demonstrated this by being 5 for 55 after about 20 overs. We hadn't been up poo creek for ages it seemed, so the novelty of this predicament was certainly not lost on the team. The more experienced Parrots, who had lived through the captains previous seasons' 7% success percentage, simply gazed over to the eskies and performed a few split second calculations including variables such as cans available, expected time of match finishing, number of hours of daylight remaining and other complex algorithms determining distance to bottle shop around the corner and the breaking strains of plastic bags laden with supplementary grog. Just as Vice Captain Glenn was repositioning himself precisely one arm's length from the main esky, Strunky strode to the wicket to join the Prez. You remember Strunky, he's the sports fanatic from Washington DC who joined the Parrots 3 seasons ago having never previously seen a cricket bat let along used one. For 3 years now we've tried to "de-baseball-ise" Strunky and transform him from a "Mark McGuire" (minus the juice of course) to a "Mark Waugh" (minus the "missus" of course). I still fondly recollect Strunky's first ever innings for the Parrots when, upon hitting his first delivery, he involuntarily bolted out to square leg (Strunky's left handed) searching for first base! - he kept his bat though. Now, Strunky's a very quick learner and no Parrot has worked at their game with as much determination and effort as the Strunkster, and he found himself with a huge job do to; the Prez got a good one and we're 6 for 80 odd. KD joined our greatest American hero and the two of them cleverly engineered our most valuable partnership of the season. KD ran well between the wickets and tempered his shots for an invaluable 30 in an 80 run partnership. Strunky went from strength to strength and the boys in the pavillion watched on in stunned silence (Glenn still one arm's length from the holy grail) as Strunky executed a perfectly timed 6 over long on to bring up his maiden cricket half century, after only about 12 innings ever! He was bowled next ball for 54 and received a rousing reception, while all the Parrots stored that innings away as a lifelong treasured cricket moment. Not only was it fantastic from our mate's personal point of view, it was also integral to the Parrots recovery and setting 206 for victory. 6 fours and one six in Strunky's epic innings. Very much bouyed by the work of Strunky and KD the lads hit the field knowing that restricting the opposition over 40 overs was not going to cut it. DC and Vicky opened up with the opposition making their intentions clear from the outset, four, four, DC yorker! Vicky trapped the other opener in front and at drinks after 13 overs they were 2 for 70 odd. The skipper gave the old "Right, this next session determines the WHOLE season right here and now" speech (and meant it this time) and the Parrots flocked to the task at hand. Gurpreet (2-37 off 6) and KD (3-7 off 3.3) spun us closer to victory, backed up by a faultless display of catching, and bowled very well in the conditions. The best bowler, though, was Princy, who also works very hard at improving his game - (funny that the two hardest trainers put in the best performances when we needed it most, eh?). Princy has been working hard at bowling yorkers (about the only tactic left for bowlers in this modern age of hit and giggle cricket), and executed his plan beautifully finishing with 3 for 11 off 6 overs. We skittled them for 142 in the end and everyone agreed it was our most satisfying win of the season given that it was truly a team effort and a number of blokes stood up and performed when needed. Well done boys, with Strunky and KD and Princy's efforts, this was certainly one of my better days of cricket ever. KD fairly received the Man of the Match prize for an outstanding allround display and it is the measure of the man and the club that his first words on receiving the trophy were to ask Strunky to share it with him. Few beers, bit of a yarn, few more beers to finish the day. KD, therefore, gets the weekend stay at the Regal Guesthouse Jomtien and afterwards the Parrots began hatching a plan to migrate to Pattaya en masse one weekend to use our vouchers and have an end of season cultural trip. Because this trip will include temple visits, charity work and generally involve the boys finding inner peace we have to forbid wives, girlfriends and kids joining us lest they somehow mar our path to enlightenment. I'll let you know where and when a bit later so you can join us. Another great day for the Parrots, (twas a good night at the Green Parrot too!) and it would be remiss of me not to mention the Parrot responsible for many of our improvements this season, but especially with Strunky and Princy. Brian Wiggins - Wiggo - has been our cricketing consultant this season (flash name for coach which permits us to pay him in beer for his services). He attends our practises and instructs us about the finer technical points of batting and bowling as well as devising our match day plans and strategies. The man is simply the most knowledgable cricket coach I've met in Asia and his previous employment with Cricket Australia and his tireless work with junior cricketers in the kingdom make him a very worthy Parrot indeed. Wiggo is a straight shooter (almost offensively so) and as far as he's concerned a spade is not a wooden/metallic device to aid excavation, it's a fkn spade! I decided to test his integrity one day when we hosted Merv Hughes at the Green Parrot last year (top day that one!). Wiggo had told me years ago that he was Merv's uncle. As my Nana used to say "you can't bullshit a bullshitter", so, being a namedropper of some note, I thought I'd investigate the validity of Wiggo's family ties. With baited breath I sat beside Wiggo at our clubrooms as big Merv strode through the door. Quietly I waited. As Merv approached he caught sight of Wiggo, and Wiggo did likewise. Then, as if rehearsed, totally simultaneously, they both identically remarked: "Aw shit, who let this bastard in here?" and shook hands. My suspicions were confirmed, that Wiggo is indeed what he says he is, and he has been great for us this year. Even Strunky's got used to him bellowing "What sort of a shit shot was that George Bush!" albeit a tad less frequently of late. Thanks Wiggo, appreciate what you do for us and cricket in Thailand. So the Parrots remain top of the roost and you can view our progress, scoresheets and individual stats at this website compiled by Vaughany http://www.bangkokcricketleague.com/ Many from the perch are very excited to be attending the 13th Hua Hin Sixes next week. We're in for a week of fine food, fine ales, fine friends, and just plain fines I reckon. Really looking forward to seeing Greeny, Hendo, and the other Aussie blokes and will definately imbibe the odd voddy for absent friends (for this year only) like Drewy and Funky, and me mate Mick Lewis! If you'd like to pop down to Hua Hin and have a look, please email me for details. Last game of the season for the Parrots on Saturday 26th April at AIT. We always get a van out there but I reckon we can discuss pulling out a few stops and making the place out there comfortable for parrot supporters and spectators. Beers, barbeque set up perhaps. There has been some talk of members playing golf in the morning at Pinehurst (nextdoor to cricket ground with spectacular caddies!) and catching a beer at the cricket later. One thing is for sure and that is that we will be celebrating our stellar season with gusto back at the Green Parrot later that night! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * * * * * * Bangkok Cricket League <http://www.bangkokcricketleague.com/common/pages/public/entitydetails.aspx?popup=1&entityID=7209> - Premier Division Rank Team P W2 W1 D L1 L2 WKTS LOST RUNS FOR WKTS TAKEN RUNS AGST Points 1 Siam Cricket Club 7 0 6 0 1 0 41 1394 61 1325 116.14 2 Asian Institute of Technology 5 0 4 0 1 0 41 1194 42 837 80.34 3 Indian Cricket Club 6 0 3 0 3 0 42 1082 43 1182 66.42 <javascript:;> 4 Bangkok Stars 5 0 3 0 2 0 45 789 39 779 60.69 5 Bangkok Cricket Club 4 0 3 0 1 0 23 662 32 660 60.02 <javascript:;> 6 Thailand Cricket Club 4 0 2 0 2 0 33 677 37 825 44.17 7 Southerners Cricket Club 6 0 1 0 5 0 52 1271 40 1319 35.71 8 British Club Elite 5 0 1 0 4 0 42 805 43 885 31.65 9 Royal Bangkok Sports Club 4 0 0 0 4 0 38 518 20 580 9.18 * * * * * * * * * * Sponsors: ** As always our sponsors have been a huge help and offer great encouragement. Phoenix Consultants Ltd http://www.phoenixconsultantsltd.com/ http://www.jvkmovers.com/ Green Parrot Sports Bar and Grill ** http://greenparrot.globalweb.co.th/ Regal Guesthouse Jomtien ** http://www.regaljomtien.com/ Global Turf Consulting ** http://www.globalturfconsult.com/ Last word: Sorry, I tried to make this one short, honest, but the efforts of Strunky, KD, Princy and Wiggo seem to have put paid to that. Have a happy and safe Thai New Year holiday and remember to play in the vee for the first 20 Cheers Kiwi