x7 of us made this trip in the end, Amar, John Cist, Sandeep, Tushar, Sean Brown, Rammy and myself, a late, late addition, first time on tour with the Spirits.
Vietnam. Probably conjures images of tides of motorbikes, steaming heat and ghostly references to the war. Not wrong either, & the uniqueness of this tournament lies
in this exotic, frontier image. And for purveyors of Orchard Towers / Joo Jiat scene, (not the touring party), it stood to reason the night life would not be dull. If you could call it
preparation, concentration levels were definitely sharpened on Friday nite over pool against lady sharks at US$10 per game.
So with that in mind, the Saigon 6’s – into their third edition – attracted x10 teams, x2 local, x2 Australia, Malaysia (Kelawar), Thailand (Parrots), Philippines (Nomads), & x3 Singapore, Spirits, MisFits and Freehills.
We played at the RMIT college ground, a lovely facility & the only permanent cricket pitch in Vietnam, under a blazing sun, sending the mercury into the high 30’s…... The Misfits showed their experience
by packing their own paddling pool & befriending the Coors Light beer girls.
Unfortunately, the Spirits lost our two Sat games, 47-55 to the Parrots and 48-78, one of the Vietnam teams, who and had our 3rd pool game washed out as a horrendous downpour left the pitch 6 inches underwater.
The Parrots game, we should have won, but left ourselves too much to do in the final over. Conceding too many dot balls with the bat, and failure to hit any maximums all tournament long
cost the team dearly. Which was a pity as we bowled well, with Tushar causing everyone trouble & also possessed the best keeper in the tournament. Even against the Vietnam team (expatriate Indian, what do u expect?),
while we were buffeted in the opening overs by some red-hot hitters, we still managed to rip the guts out of their middle order, taking 4 wicket in 5 balls. After being plundered for 27 from his first 5 balls, Amar backed
himself with a flighted delivery and knocked back the off stump. Next over, bowled by the author, saw dot ball, a very smart leg-side stumping by John, well held by Tushar at deep mid-off and, miracle upon miracle, a low full toss
dispatched to the waiting Rammy at square leg, who made no mistake. Happy days, thanks fellas.
Sat nite, started off in a very convivial fashion, dinner with our olds mates, Kelawar, including Noel Mathews, at a quaint, colonial era restaurant before groups and sub-groups fanned out over the bar district.
Last port of call for some of us was Apocalypse Now, one drink included for 150,000 dong..…….
Sunday morning, a late start as the swimming pool – otherwise known as the cricket pitch was mopped up. Relegated to the consolation final, Spirits were up against the Nomads.
Once again, our batting did not fire, and it took a couple of late boundaries from Sandeep before we gratefully limped to our standard score of 47 (as it happens, excl Rammy, the average age of the team).
Led by Sean, who hit the gloves hard with an inspired 2nd over, the rest of us also applying pressure (just one wide) and yet more stumpings from John, we restricted Nomads to 35.
The Spoon duely added to the Spirits trophy cabinet.
Both the Cup and Plate finals were played amongst the gathering violence of dark monsoon clouds and thunder rumbling ever closer. The top Vietnam side prevailed against a very good Sydney side in a tense, close game
and, in an all Singapore final, MisFits took out Freehills. Well done Nish, Rub-bish, bad luck Richard.
The organisers did very well, and reckon they will play the event earlier next year to ensure we get the full schedule in.
All in all, a bloody good tournament,…and Vietnam, definitely & up and coming destination in the SE Asia cricket touring scene.
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