Kansai Chargers enter day three of the Japan Premier League undefeated thanks to a confident nine-wicket win over the South Kanto Super Kings, while the West Kanto Hurricanes continue their surge with back-to-back wins in Sunday action.

After the Super Kings won the toss and asked them to bowl, the Chargers responded through the left-arm orthodox of Abdul Samad, who claimed a hat-trick in an outing of four for 14.

Samad’s scalp of Sabaorish Ravichandran broke the back of South Kanto’s innings, with the pace of U19 World Cup Qualifier hero Kai Wall (two for 14 from three overs) sinking the Super Kings to 93 all out.

Openers Jack Wood (25) and Alex Shirai-Patmore (35*) took the sting out of the chase through a partnership of 71, with Pankaj Chand (19*) backing the pair up to chase down the target inside 18 overs with nine wickets to spare.

It was a final-over thriller on SICG No.2 for the Hurricanes’ morning win, with U19 international teammates Hugo Tani-Kelly and Ryuki Ozeki sneaking West Kanto Hurricanes home in a 19-run stand.

Tani-Kelly (24*) walked out with his team 29 for five in a chase of 86, and hit the winning boundary off the second ball of the last over to win by two wickets.

Earlier, Kazuma Kato-Stafford and Josh Brown claimed a pair of wickets each in West Kanto’s effort, with no North Kanto Lion reaching 20.

The Hurricanes backed up the effort with another tense win in the afternoon, defending 108 against a strong Super Kings batting outfit.

Tani-Kelly again came to the Hurricanes’ rescue, making 22 (27) with the lower order, which was supported by an explosive Souta Wada, who struck three successive sixes, and late runs from Kazuma Kato-Stafford (14) and Ryan Drake (10*).

Drake delivered with the ball in the Hurricanes’ defence along with Kato-Stafford, as the pair combined for seven wickets to bowl the Super Kings out for 62.

Kato-Stafford beat Marcus Thurgate (1) and Kiefer Yamamoto-Lake (0), before Drake found Nihar Parmar’s outside edge (11) and dismissed key men Hara-Hinze (16) and Ravichandran (4) to leave the Super Kings stranded at 51 for six.

Kato-Stafford tied up the victory with his third, to finish with three for 12 as the Hurricanes won by 46 runs.

The North Kanto Lions came out fighting after injuries and absentees threatened to derail their campaign completely, and instead booked their spot in the 3rd vs 4th play-off with an afternoon victory over the East Kanto Sunrisers by eight wickets, in large part thanks to marquee man James Bazley on SICG One.

Bazley claimed two Powerplay wickets, returning to finish with three for 18, before closing out the chase of 95 with an unbeaten 26* as the Lions finally recorded a win.

The Hurricanes meet the Chargers in the morning round robin action, with the Super Kings taking on the Sunrisers.

The morning action completes the round robin phase, with first taking on second on SICG One in the final, with a third-place playoff in the afternoon.

Highlights: 

• Super Kings vs Chargers
• Sunrisers vs Lions

Match Summaries: 

• South Kanto Super Kings, 93/10 (Samad 4/14), lost to Kansai Chargers, 94/1 (Shirai-Patmore 35*) by 9 wickets
• North Kanto Lions, 85/8, lost to West Kanto Hurricanes, 86/8 (Chandima 3/24, A.Thurgate 3/18) by 2 wickets
• West Kanto Hurricanes, 108/10 (Kubota 3/26), beat South Kanto Super Kings, 62/10 (Kato-Stafford 3/12, Drake 4/8), by 46 runs
• East Kanto Sunrisers, 94/10 (Bazley 3/18, Natarajan 3/16), lost to North Kanto Lions, 96/2 by 8 wickets