Chiang Mai Sixes supporting junior cricket.

As one festival of cricket played by teams from across the world comes to an end, another will be just starting.

The final of the Cricket World Cup is being held at the historic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 2nd April with one billion Indian fans hoping that their team will repeat its triumph from 1983.

The Cricket World Cup is being broadcast in 180 countries but before many cricket fans will have even woken up, the next day will see another worldwide cricket event begin as the 2011 Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes, sponsored by San Miguel, sees its first day of action at the Gymkhana Club, another sporting institution with a long history. 

The Cricket World Cup is being staged for the tenth time since the inaugural event was held in England in 1975, the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes is being held for the 24th successive year since the first event was staged in 1988.

The Cricket World Cup has been staged every four years across the cricketing world, but for the Sixes the cricketing world comes to Chiang Mai and keeps coming every year.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup will see 49 matches staged in three countries in seven weeks but the 2011 Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes will see almost 100 matches played on one ground in seven days.

14 teams play in the Cricket World Cup, with future tournaments being trimmed down, but 32 teams have the chance to play in the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes.

The Cricket World Cup is just for men, but in Chiang Mai there is a women’s competition and a junior Sawasdee cricket tournament, where young Thai children take their first steps on to the cricket field.

The Cricket World Cup is often predictable with the minnows being heavily beaten and 50-over matches dragging on, but at the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes there are five trophies to be won at various levels of ability and 5-over matches never drag on.

The Cricket World Cup is a far off dream for cricketers in Thailand, but the Thai Thevadas are always one of the teams to watch out for in the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. The team is made up of young players who have learnt their cricket in Chiang Mai as the Sixes plays an important part in developing youth cricket.

Much has been made of the problems in updating some of the grounds for use in the Cricket World Cup but, never fear, Chiang Mai’s Gymkhana Club ground has been fully upgraded with a new artificial pitch and impressive new nets.

Bangladesh has never won the Cricket World Cup, but in the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes it is a question of whether any Australian or English teams can bring the domination of Bangladesh to an end. The Bashundhara Cricketeers have won the Sixes Cup for the last two years.

Television coverage of the Cricket World Cup is a big business with six full crews being used across three countries with a multitude of cameras and other technology, but coverage of the Chiang Mai International Sixes is just as compelling if on a slightly smaller scale. Video feeds will be available on the internet in Thailand and across the world.

The Cricket World Cup is organised by a vast team of officials with a large budget to work with. A much smaller team has been hard at work in Chiang Mai in the lead-up to the tournament and there will be many more officials and volunteers arriving for the week’s cricket. Large sums of money have been raised to support junior cricket development in Chiang Mai and to help boys from the local Hill Tribe areas stay at a local hostel. The boys are educated both at school and on the cricket field.

Players will take the Cricket World Cup seriously as the pinnacle of the sport with the mandatory iced baths at the end of a long day. Players take the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes just as seriously but the only place for ice is to keep the San Miguel cool until the end of the day.

Players at the Cricket World Cup will seek the sanctuary of their hotel rooms, the same will not be said of those at the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. The options are endless…..

So cricket followers of the world, don’t despair when the World Cup is over or the IPL is yet to start, the San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes will provide the perfect answer.