The making of the Chiang Mai Sixes

When Michael Maher first contacted tournament Chairman Maurice Bromley about entering his local Perth team in the Chiang Mai Sixes, he had no idea he would one day head an ICC-recognised event featuring teams from 10 countries and a motley assortment of recent Test cricketers.

A casual involvement with the Sixes has now grown into what is currently a 40 hour a week commitment for Michael as he fine-tunes the organisation of the world's best known and longest running Sixes tournament.

When the 13th staging of the event starts next Monday, Maher's vindication of work put in will be:

• Recognition by the ICC that Chiang Mai is an official 'Cricket Week' event
• Appearances by its Asian and Oceania Development Officers, Nasim ul Ghani and Andrew Eade
• A rumoured visit to the week-long tournament by former South African great Mike Proctor
• Appearances by former Test players, Roshan Mahanama, Khumara Dharmasena, Tom Hogan and present captain of South African provincial side, Boland, Kenny Jackson
• The participation of 26 teams from around the globe, including the Marlyebone Cricket Club

So for Maher, what is the most rewarding part?

"Seeing that we have a record number of teams entered into the event (26) - this has now ensured that it is quite finacially comfortable and we can positively look at the future. Also the fact that I have arranged for the tournament to officially be a part of the ICC/UN Cricket Week."

Maher is particularly pleased with the increased international flavour of this year's tournament.

"I am happy with the outcome as we now have new teams from Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Yorkshire and British Airways, England."

Another positive aspect to this year's tournament is the increased role the event will play in Thai cricket.

For the first time, the Thai Cricket Association has entered teams.

And as part of its ICC Cricket Week affiliation, Chiang Mai organisers are arranging 'Kanga Cricket' coaching clinics with children from local schools.

To complete the ICC/UN link, the tournament will also be involved in fund-raising for UNICEF programmes in northern Thailand.

While all of these are important, they are not the most important aspect: "Our main aim is to cater for all cricketers of all levels. We have the very social cricketers, older players and non-cricketers. We want to provide a place for anyone that wants to compete," Maher said.

"In the open competition we find that teams fluctuate from having strong teams to good teams and then teams of handy players. Also it is impossible to tell who will be the better teams etc. This is why we have a round robin programme, designed to sort out the varying levels of teams into the Cup (best), Bowl (mid-range players) and Plate (suited for the handy type teams). This then means that all teams at the Chiang Mai Sixes are playing for something all week and stay involved in the tournament right up until Saturday. We then have the finals day on Sunday which most players if still in the tournament or have been eliminated, come along and watch and support their old and new friends from the Chiang Mai Tournament."