On August 19th our Southerners Cricket team was invited to take part in a one day cricket international in Vung Tau – Vietnam, against the mighty Richo’s 11. The report below will show cricketers can also tour, while raising significant amounts for local charity.
Well done Southos!
Men in White,
This year the match was held in Vung Tau Vietnam on the weekend of the commemoration of the Battle of Long Tan. On the 19th August the Southerners played a Richo’s 11 cricket side that came all the way from sunny Queensland to play a 40/40 cricket match. It was a great day, with the usual hot pies and snags and of course a few coldies to watch the game. Richos team batted first and scored a modest 8 for 224 runs whilst our Southerners lost 4 quick wickets and couldn’t recover losing 10 for 97 runs. The game was played by all in the best tradition of sportsmanship.
The game was played on the old Lord Mayors oval where the diggers played football and cricket between 1966 and 1972. The atmosphere of the day was like any country cricket game in Australia a great day out. Ray and his teams started fundraising several months ago to raise money for local charities. An astro turf pitch was sent from Thailand and with help from two locals Mr Grahame Kirk and Glenn Nolan both residences from Vung Tau created an international pitch for the game. It was quite amusing watching the locals who had no idea another game existed outside the soccer.
FOR A FULL, EXHAUSTIVE TOUR REPORT, WRITTEN BY RALPHY, CLICK HERE
The money raised was around by the event was $30000USD, to be donated to charities, two charities were selected and they were learn to swim Vietnam which teaches Vietnamese how to swim as more Vietnamese drown a year than any other accident. The other charity was the Long Hai orphanage which is a non-funded orphanage.
For our club, the highlight of that night was the donation of 70,000 THB to Southerners Cricket of which will be a big welcome this year in our goal to get some Petchabun kids down in Bangkok playing some cricket. A big thanks to you guys for being a part of this.
Crickets the Winner (as the song was played again and again)