JCL Round 12

Sabaorish Ravichandran had an all-round performance in his team’s win over the Wyverns.

Tigers’ captain Ravichandran came in at four and scored an impressive 82 off 70 in the first innings with contributions from Anas Mohamed (38) and Ajay Thakur (46). This gave the Tigers a competitive total of 231 despite being bowled out in the last over. Wyverns’ Tomonoshin Oki, took four wickets after missing most of the season.

The Tigers’ frontline bowlers strangled the Wyverns’ batters early, not allowing any easy runs. With the top order getting out cheaply, the lower order had a lot to do and some nice late scores from Nozomi Tomizawa (30) and Kohei Kubota (23*) kept hopes alive but it was a little too late. Ravichandran and Gurman Singh took a few wickets each to bowl the side out for 163 in the 33rd over winning by 68 runs.

A great bowling effort by Max’s Dinesh Sandaruwan led to an impressive bonus-point win over the Rising Stars.

Winning the toss and batting, Hanif Niazi like he has been all season, top-scored for his side making 65. Rising Stars’ bowlers were very economical however not allowing a single Max batter to score freely keeping all of them striking at under 100 strike rate. Opening quick Arman Bhuyan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 26 off his eight as the Rising Stars bowled out Max in the preliminary over for 154.

With not a lot of runs on the board, Max started the second inning firing, dismissing the top four cheaply. Md. Ruhul Kabir fought back scoring 52* but it was Sandaruwan’s day taking six wickets from six overs bowling the Rising Stars out for 104 and completing the 50-run bonus point win to take back first place on the ladder.

Kavin Jinasena took five wickets for the Wombats to complete their bonus point win over the Tokyo Falcons.

In what must have been the shortest game of the year, the usual high-scoring Tokyo Falcons were bowled out in the 17th over for just 61. Jinasena would go on to claim his maiden JCL five-wicket haul as he bowled eight overs for only 26 runs.

It took till the 19th over for the Wombats to chase the total down losing a few wickets along the way. Opening batter Masaki Kawashima would steer the chase with his not-out 26* to complete the seven-wicket bonus point win for the Wombats.

The Men in Blue would complete a bonus point win over the Paddy Foleys to keep their finals hopes alive.

Muhammad Rizwan (44) and Samad Manzoor (30*) were the key contributors with the bat for the Paddy Foleys in the first innings. Men In Blue’s bowlers restricted the side well as legspinner Manav Natarajan took three for 30 off seven overs to bowl out the Paddy Foleys for 176 in the 33rd over.

Needing a bonus point win, the Men in Blue went about the chase quickly. The plan was working but on the other hand, they were also losing regular wickets due to Abdul Jabbar Khan taking six wickets to make it an interesting game. Luckily for the Men in Blue, Saifuddin Raj notched a very calm and steady 39* to chase the total in the 28th over securing the bonus point 3-wicket win.

The Sharks showed a very strong bowling performance to beat the top-of-the-table Sano.

Winning the toss and batting, the Sharks’ third wicket 90-run partnership between Ibrahim Takahashi (63) and Tsuyoshi Takada (42) was the game changer, as the rest of the order fell cheaply. Sano’s Kazumasa Hiratsuka and Ardene Ruhode would take four wickets each to bowl out the Sharks for 147 in the 33rd over.

Excluding Ardene Ruhode who scored an expansive 49, the Sharks’ bowlers were too much for Sano’s batters as they were bowled out for 88. Takahashi would feature again taking four wickets for just six runs as they would bowl out Sano in the 26th over keeping their finals hopes alive with a 59-run win.

JCL Round 13

In the last round of JCL 2023, it was raining centuries as there were still games with plenty to play for in an action-packed final round.

Max’s Hanif Niazi and Wyverns’ Shogo Kimura would both make hundreds in a tight high-scoring battle.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, opener Niazi struck the ball ferociously going on to score 101 off just 68 balls including 12 sixes. Other contributions from Paboda Dassanayake (32) and Dissanayake Malinda (35) helped launch Max’s first innings total to 268 for nine. Ryoya Masaoka took four wickets as he was the pick of the bowlers for the Wyverns.

Wyverns’ two big gun batters Kimura and Wataru Miyauchi, started the innings with a partnership of 89 before Miyauchi fell for 26. Kimura would continue and go on to score his season-best score of 125* including 12 sixes. However, Kimura lost too many partners as Makoto Taniyama would showcase his best bowling figures of the season taking four for 29. Needing 14 runs off the last over, youngster Kazuma Kato-Stafford would limit the Wyverns allowing only seven off the over helping Max win by eight runs and holding the number one spot in the standings looking ahead to the Semi-Finals.

Tigers’ Anil Kumar would go on to score a century to kill Sano’s semi-final hopes.

The Tigers’ batting innings started well with a 55-run partnership between openers Ranjith Mouli (29) and Sachin Thakur (55). This set the platform for Kumar to come to the crease in the 10th over and score an impressive 101* at over a run a ball. This was against a tough Sano bowling lineup who had not let a side score over 200 all season as after 40 overs, the Tigers set a total of 225 for 5.

After losing both openers for naught,  a fightback 65-run partnership between Reo Sakurano-Thomas (43) and Declan Suzuki (31) gave Sano hope again but before things got out of hand, key bowlers Piyush Kumbhare and Sabaorish Ravichandran came into the attack and removed them both. Kazumasa Hiratsuka added some more runs in the middle order which put the pressure back on the Tigers but when he fell at 55, the game was almost well and truly done. 17 runs came off the last over but unfortunately was not quite enough as the Tigers won by three runs and claimed the second spot in the standings as Sano finished fifth on back-to-back years just missing out on a semi-final spot.

The Rangers hammered the Paddy Foleys through Bhutto Umair’s maiden JCL century.

The Rangers started on the back foot after losing a wicket on the first ball of the game. However, this did not affect the rest of the innings as they would score a whopping 352 off the back of Umair’s maiden JCL ton making 104 off 83 balls. Aloysius Chathuranga Sampath added further damage scoring 70 of his own leaving a lot for the Paddy Foleys to chase.

Paddy Foleys started off the chase with hope at 71 for one at the 11-over mark. Waseem Javed scored 42 but other batters could not go on to capitalize as the Rangers took regular wickets and eventually bowled out the side for 164. The massive 188-run bonus point secured third place and a semi-final spot for the Rangers while on the other side, it was a bitterly disappointing season for the Paddy Foleys.

Men in Blue’s bonus point win over the Tokyo Wombats secured them the fourth and final spot in this year’s JCL semi-final.

Needing a bonus point win, Men in Blue won the toss and elected to bowl. Wombats’ captain Muhammad Ali opened the innings with a firm 44 and then Rex Kobayashi played a beautiful innings to score a season-best 70 for his side. The runs stopped flowing however when Men in Blue’s third change bowlers came onto the attack and it was Saurav Bhowmik who took three wickets that assisted his side in bowling out the Wombats for 197.

Needing to chase the total in under 32 overs, Men in Blue’s openers were aggressive from the beginning. Losing a few wickets through the innings did not bother the Men in Blue as they bat deep and it showed as number seven batter Vishal Patel struck 41* off 20 to chase the total in the 23rd over. The five-wicket win was enough to send the team to the semi-final in back-to-back years hoping for a better result this year. As for the Wombats, the same season from 2022 they finished in 10th place.

The Alpha Quashers win a close one against a shorthanded Chiba Sharks.

With nothing to lose for both sides, the Alpha Quashers had the early advantage having the Sharks four for 19 early. The Alpha Quashers’ bowling was too much as figures of three for 9 from Venkatesan Permalsamy helped the side bowl out the Sharks for 102 in the 35th over.

The Sharks’ bowlers were up for the challenge to defend the low total. Opening quick Rui Matsumura knocked off the opening three batters but a steady Manoj Subramani helped ease the tension of the chase scoring a not-out 29* before rain interrupted the game. The Alpha Quashers came out on top via the Duckworth-Lewis system and won the game by four wickets. The Chiba Sharks and the Alpha Quahsers would finish the season sixth and seventh respectively which were slight improvements from the previous year.

After being winless in the previous season, the Rising Stars finished off the year with their fourth win of the season over the Tokyo Falcons.

Md Alamgir has had a great season for the Rising Stars scoring yet another half-century in their final game of the season. After he fell for 71, Falcons’ Manish Kapil shined with his bowling, taking five wickets and cleaning up the tail to bowl the Rising Stars out for 205 in the 39th over.

It wasn’t the Falcons’ season as they struggled to stay in and build partnerships. Alamgir was the top performer this game as he added four wickets to the 71 he made in the first innings to bowl the Falcons out in the 32nd over. The 104-run win capped off a much improved Rising Stars season while after making the semi-finals last season it was very much a JCL season to forget for the Falcons.

Season’s Points Table:

https://cricclubs.com/cricketorjp/viewPointsTable.do?league=424&clubId=21278