Domestic Tournaments

26th Makhamwan Games 2010

This year Thailand’s annual National Youth Games (Makhamwan Games) took place in Petchabun (North-Central Thailand) from the 19th to the 25th of March, 2010. The Makhamwan Games are considered to be the pinnacle youth sport competition in Thailand. This year’s Makhamwan Games were the 26th rendition of an event which first took place in 1985 in the Nakhon Ratchasima province in which over 1,500 athletes competed in 7 sporting disciplines.

The 26th Makhamwan Games saw cricket being inaugurated as the 31st sporting discipline. A total of 12 teams (6 men & 6 women) took part. 20 teams had applied to take part however the number was limited to 12 by the Sports Authority of Thailand. A new venue was specially prepared in Vithyanukulnaree, Petchabun for the very purpose of playing cricket.

Men :                    Group A - Chon Buri, Khon Kaen & Phuket
            Group B - Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Petchabun

Women:              Group A - Bangkok, Khon Kean & Sri Saket
            Group B - Chaing Mai, Chonburi & Petchabun

Every province hosting the games is required to field a team for every sporting discipline. This means that next year’s games which are to be held in Urdait, will see cricket in Thailand gaining not only another venue but also a foothold in a new province thus increasing the total number of provinces in which cricket is played. CAT will be sending in a coaching and ground personal team to the Urdait province in order to prepare a men and women cricket team and to help prepare the cricket venue for the 27th Makhamwan Games. 

Cricket is establishing a very strong foundation for itself in Thailand and the inclusion of cricket as a discipline within the Makhamwan games means that the sport is not only being embraced by the expat community but also by the locals as the Youth Games requires all participants to be Thai nationals. In this year’s games not only were all the players Thai nationals but so were the tournament officials. All the tournament officials for the Makhamwan Games from the coaches, managers to the scorers and umpires were Thai national, thereby helping to strengthen CAT’s local cricking human resources.

In the men’s division, Khon Kean topped Group A by defeating Phuket (9 wickets) and Chonburi (8 wickets) to progress to the finals, while Phuket defeated Chonburi in their match to advance to the 3rd/4th places playoff. In Group B Chiang Mai topped the group by defeating Petchabun (by 60 runs) and Bangkok (by 28 runs), while Bangkok defeated Petchabun (by 8 wickets) to take their place in the 3rd / 4th place playoff.

In the women’s division, Bangkok topped Group A by defeating Khon Kaen (by 21 runs) and Sri Saket (by 10 wickets), while Petchabun topped Group B by defeating Chaing Mai (by 15 runs)and Chonburi (by 59 runs). Khon Kean defeated Sri Saket (by 9 wickets) and Chiang Mai defeated Chonburi (by 10 wickets) to secure their place in the 3rd / 4th place play offs.

National Youth Cricket Championship 2009

The first ever National Youth Cricket Championship begins today with Khon Kaen taking on Petchabun in a the Bangkok Patana School ground. Ten teams will be competition in this year’s championship, 6 men and 4 women Under 19 teams.

Men Group A: KHON KAEN, BANGKOK, PETCHABUN

Men Group B: CHIANG MAI, CHONBURI, PHUKET

Women: KHON KAEN, CHIANG MAI, BANGKOK, PETCHABUN

In the men cricket each team will play its fellow group members in a 20 over match with the top two from each group progressing to the final to be played at AIT on Sunday @ 22nd of November, while the top ranked women’s team is declared champions.

This tournament will have some of the finest local emerging cricketers on display. If you are interested in witnessing firsthand how far cricket in Thailand has come since its introduction in the provinces as “Sawasdee Cricket” then feel free to drop by. The schedule of the tournament is posted below.