The cricket oval. The mown down green square turf in the middle. The sets of
stumps at the two ends of the cricket pitch, with white lines marking out
the popping, the return and the bowling creases. The lush green field, gently sloping down from the center square with the boundary marked out by a rope going round in an oval. The sound of the red cherry striking against the willow.
These are all dream-like in the land of the rising sun! Still dream-like, but quite soon, one hopes, will be a reality in this land of sumo wrestlers.
Perhaps, with these dreams and visions the organizers of Japan Cricket Association organized the first ever all-Japan cricket tournament that brought foreign and native cricket lovers from all over Japan. The setting was as idyllic as you can get.
Set in Chiba, in the midst of a resort run by the Nihon Aerobic Center, the
field looked big and green. And, the participants, all very enthusiastic.
Some had flown in from as far as Kyushu! With such enthusiasm, it was Just ideal for cricket!
Match 1 (Nov. 23rd)
As with any event in Japan, the six-a-side tournament started off bang on
time. The inaugural match was played between Minami Kanto A and Minami Kanto
B. The former managed 43 runs in their allotted 5 overs. Minami Kanto B, led
by "Junior," had no trouble knocking off 45 runs with 4 balls to spare.
Match 2 (Nov. 23rd)
Tokai, led by Kamran, won the toss and elected to bat. In the allotted 5
overs the team piled up 73 with Munir and Mahen remaining unbeaten with 32
and 16 respectively. Chasing such a formidable target Tohoku & Kita Kanto
succumbed but managed a very creditable 57.
Match 3 (Nov. 23rd)
Minami Kanto B, choosing to bat first ran up a fairly big score of 66 with
some good batting performance from everyone. Kansai, in reply, could not go
beyond 36 because of some great bowling efforts by "junior" who bagged 3 for
8.
Match 4 (Nov. 23rd)
Electing to bat first, Tohoku & Kita Kanto managed just 39 in the allotted 5
overs. Kyushu brought about a pulsating one-run victory off the last ball
due to some fielding panic displayed by their opponents.
Match 5 (Nov. 23rd)
Last match of the day, Tokai went into and equaled their previous score of
73. This time the two contributors were Viswa (24 not out) and Kamran (15
not out). In reply, Kansai could manage only 34, with Shahed returning
wonderful figures of 2 for 4.
End of Day One.
Time for fun and ohuro! The JCA, assisted by some sponsorship from Nihon
Aerobics Center, organized a great evening full of fun, frolic and feasting.
As a result, many players ended up going to bed late, but that did not
prevent the organizers, ably supported by the umpires, from starting the
next morning's proceedings promptly at 8:30.
Match 6 (Nov. 24th)
Another nail-biting finish under a bright blue sky! Kyushu batted first and
managed 56 in 5 overs. Their opponents, Minami Kanto A, was able to score
the winning run off the last ball thanks to some great batting display
earlier by Yato, who retired after having scored a quick fire 32.
Match 7 (Nov. 24th)
Third nail-biting finish of the tournament! Kansai batting first scored 57
in the allotted 5 overs. Tohoku & Kita Kanto managed the winning run off the
last ball, thanks to some great team effort.
Match 8 (Nov. 24th)
Batting first, Kyushu managed just 45 in 5 overs. In reply, Minami Kanto B
scored 49 with one ball to spare. Banjyo of the winning side made a
wonderful contribution of 30 not out.
Match 9 (Nov. 24th)
Tokai, by now rated as the tournament favorites, batted first and managed a
paltry 39 in the allotted 5 overs. However, the match turned out to be hard
fought due to some wonderful bowling by Kamran and Mahen. Nonetheless,
Minami Kanto A won the match with 3 balls to spare. Tokai learnt a good
lesson: NEVER TAKE THINGS EASY IN CRICKET!
By now, the lineups for the Bowl Final, the Plate Final, and the Cup Final
had been decided.
Bowl Final: Tohoku & Kita Kanto vs. Kansai
Plate Final: Minami Kanto A vs. Kyushu
Cup Final: Minami Kanto B vs. Tokai
Match 10 (Bowl Final - Nov. 24th)
Kansai was restricted to 49 off 5 overs due to some good bowling by Orita (2
for 6) and Yano (1 for 3). In reply, Tohoku & Kita Kanto scored 50 in 4.4
overs. Miyazawa scored an impressive 22 not out for the winning side.
Match 11 (Plate Final - Nov. 24th)
Kyushu batted first and managed 43 in 5 overs. Minami Kanto A ended the game
earlier than was necessary by scoring 45 in just 2.4 overs. Some fine
batting by Yoshioka who remained not out with 21.
Match 12 (Cup Final - Nov. 24th)
Unfortunately, the Cup Final turned out to be more of an anti-climax.
Batting first and having learnt some lessons from their previous outing,
Tokai piled up 72 runs in the allotted 5 overs. Everyone contributed to the
score, with Munir and Robert remaining not out with well made 21 and 19
respectively. In reply, Minami Kanto B could manage just 43 in their 5
overs.
So, Tokai took the cup home. But, thanks to some great organizing efforts by
the JCA, the umpires, the players and the spectators CRICKET won that day.
Everyone departed from the event with great hopes for the future of CRICKET
in Japan. Perhaps, we all saw history in the making! We all look forward to
bigger things, some CRICKET EXTRAVAGANZA in the near future in Japan.
Tokyo Giants win the KCL Cup Biju Paul
Underdogs Tokyo Giants won the prestigious Kanto Cricket League Cup after
defeating the mighty Friends, who were the favourites till the other day.
The final was played at the Fujinomiya Green Park supervised by two neutral
umpires and a neutral scorer.
Electing to bat first, the Giants scored 167/8 off 30 overs, Wasim Qasir top
scoring with 48*. The match was reduced to 30 overs each due to shorter
days in autumn. For Giants, Jamshed Ali bowled impressively to return
figures of 2/15 of 6 overs.
Chasing 168 for a victory and the coveted Cup, Friends kept up with the
required run-rate but Giants inflicted telling blows when they claimed
Friends' captain Amir Ali, Munir Ahmed and hard hitting Farhan. It was
Tauseef Azhar, who upset Friends' apple cart when they were riding smoothly
by claiming the crucial wickets of Amir and Farhan.
Friends required only 35 runs off 4 overs when he came to bowl his slow left
arm turners on the Flicx pitch. With Amir (35 off 28 balls) and Farhan (28
off 10 balls) at the crease, it looked like the game and the Cup belonged to
the Friends. Tauseef had other plans, however. He clean bowled both batsmen,
had Kasha LBW and had Jamshed Ali caught and his figures looked 1.3-0-3-4.
Mumtaz Alam with figures of 3/22 did no good to the Friends cause either.
This was Giants' first major victory in the two years of their existence
after splitting away from the Edogawa Falcons. The dinner-cum-prize
distribution ceremony was held on December 29th.
Play-off matches
In the second play-off for Division I, Millennium inflicted a shock defeat
on the Indian Engineers in an absorbing match to become the first Japanese
club to qualify for the D-I.
Having sent to bat first, Millennium was bowled out for 103. The Engineers
then started disastrously with five wickets down for seven runs in three3
overs but some middle order hitting by Dinesh Tashildar and Rahul Kumar and
a last wicket partnership of 25 runs between Rahul Kumar and Ashok Sharma
brought the Engineers within one run of victory.
Just when things were looking bright for the Engineers, Andrew Ker had Ashok
caught at backward square leg to win what was a gripping match. Read the
report about this exciting match at
http://www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/reports.htm.
In the third play-off, which was between the losers of the first and second
play-off, the Indian Engineers defeated the British Embassy by a whopping
margin of 224 runs. Powered by a strokeful century by Viswa Ghosh (147
n.o/16x4, 8x6) and a 29 ball 79 (5x4, 8x6) by Dinesh Tashildar, the
Engineers scored 322/5 in the allotted 35 overs and then bowled out the
Embassy for 98 in 20.3 overs. The 4th wicket partnership between these two
was worth 154 runs in 14 overs. Denis Perry of the Embassy suffered the
ignominy of having the most expensive bowling spell in the KCL with the
figures of 6-0-105-1.
The following teams have been qualified for the Division I for 2002:
Tokyo Giants, Friends, YC&AC and Sri Lankan Lions (all semi-finalists) and
Shizuoka Kytes (winner of the first play-off)
Millennium (winner of the second play-off)
Indian Engineers
The rest of the 8 teams who participated in KCL this year will form Division
II next year, when the Kanto Cricket League will come under the auspices of
Japan Cricket Association. In the following years, the top and bottom two
teams of Division II and Division I will swap their positions.
Brief results of all matches are available at
http://www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/. Follow the link 'Kanto Cricket League'.
Viswa Ghosh reports again:
The Japan Cricket Association (JCA) has drawn up plans to introduce an
inter-region competition, which has been a major hurdle for integrating the
cricket in various regions of the country, from 2002 season. The division of
the just concluded Kanto cricket League (KCL) into two groups was part of
this initiative.
© ICC 2002