Tigers Cricket Club are being largely overshadowed this year, such has been the manner in which the Rangers have taken to Division One, but with six games played they remain the only other unbeaten side in the league. 

Their latest victory, over the in-form Men in Blue, was built on a run-a-ball 62 from Anas Mohammad as Tigers posted 195 all out, VIvek Singh the main man in blue with four for 33. 

Sabaorish Ravichandran then made sure the Tigers maintained a stranglehold with the ball, taking three for 11 from six overs to have his team well in control before a frustrating 33-run stand for the 10th wicket denied them a bonus point. A win by 24 runs still represented a fine day at the office. 

The Rangers remain top however, after putting away the 2021 Champions the Chiba Sharks despite being reduced to 67 for five in the 12th over. They recovered firstly thanks to Kasun Gamage (50) but even at 146 for eight they looked well short of a competitive total before Manoj Lakmal struck 40 from number 10 to propel them to 224 all out. 

Taking that momentum into their defence the Rangers speared two Sharks in the first eight balls before Dhugal Bedingfield (56) and Ibrahim Takahashi put on exactly 100 to give the Sharks hope. Ultimately Lakmal was their undoing again as he mopped up the lower order to finish three for 35 to dismiss the Sharks for 196 and claim a win by 28 runs.

The chasing pack remains tight and the battle for the final play-off place is as intriguing as ever. Sano CC are now the team in possession after a routine dismantling of Paddy Foleys. Five Sano bowlers were in the wickets to shoot Paddys out for just 87, Makoto Taniyama the pick of them with three for four. Before Kazumasa Hiratsuka cracked 48 to break the back of the chase and give Sano an important bonus point win as they romped home by seven wickets. 

Wyverns remain in the hunt for a semi berth and they dispatched the Tokyo Wombats with consummate ease. Richie Bracefields 42 at the top of the order was as good as it got for the Wombats as they were rolled over for 135, Buddika Nanayakkara taking four for 25. 

A pair of 40s from Wataru Miyauchi (44) and Shogo Kimura (48) made sure there was no slip up for the Wyverns who ultimately coasted home with eight wickets in hand and a bonus point to boot. Both batters also moved into the top three run scorers for the season, and Kimura to the top in what is turning into an excellent season for the former baseball star. 

The Tokyo Falcons hopes of making finals remain alive after Sanket Pandhari starred in their bonus point win over a MAX Cricket Club who have managed just one win in seven this year.

A surprisingly sedate 67 from Hanif Niazi gave MAX a platform but Pandhari removed the entire top order and returned to grab the last wicket in a match reduced to 35 overs because of the heat. His five for 35 was just the start however, as the target of 177 was chased down with five wickets to spare and he crashed a six to win the game and bring up his half century from just 39 balls. 

Heavy rain meant that the Alpha Quashers slip out of the top four as they shared the points in their abandoned contest with the Rising Stars.

The Chiba Sharks title defence has looked as flimsy as their batting in recent weeks, having failed to pass 200 since the opening day of the season, and it would have undermined their chances again were it not for an outstanding display of sustained death bowling. 

Up against a Wyverns team that has also blown hot and cold this season, the Sharks were indebted to Rui Matsumura who dragged them from 84/7 to 135 all out with a career best 45. 

At 72/2 the Wyverns were in total control in the chase, and although they fell to 123/6 in the 31st over, they still needed just 13 runs with plenty in hand. Enter Hamid Bacha, who took four for 22 to snatch a victory by just two runs and keep the Sharks in touching distance of the top four.

On the same day the Tokyo Wombats continued their resurgence by causing a significant upset against MAX Cricket Club. Serial runscorer Alex Shirai-Patmore led the way again with an unbeaten 118, supported by Zubair Bappi with 80 as the Wombats posted 274/5. 

MAX never really came close in the chase, finishing 194 all out after 32.3 overs, denying Wombats the bonus point but after a second successive win, and this one by a hefty 80 runs, it is unlikely they’ll care too much. 

The Alpha Quashers are the team with a target on their back after a tight win against Sano Cricket Club has put them into fourth place. The home side had maiden half centuries in the competition from Kazumasa Hiratsuka (59) and Reo Sakurano (57) to thank for posting any kind of score, while Gurman Singh was the tormentor in chief for the Quashers with five for 28. 

172 all out looked under par but at 102/5 in the 25th over the Quashers were wobbling only to find a stabiliser in the form of Nandhakumar Rangasammy who made 50 in the middle order that ultimately got the better of Sano as they crept home by just two wickets and eight balls to spare. 

In the top of the table clash between Tokyo Rangers and Men in Blue it was the newly promoted side who came out smiling after winning by just nine runs. A first innings total of 212 represented their lowest run rate of the season so far, but on a day where no batters were able to pass fifty it was just enough. 

Malith Neranjan was probably the difference between the sides, smacking 43 off 18 balls at the end of the Rangers innings, before taking four for 47 with his left arm darts to keep MIB to 203/9. It was tough on Hitesh Akabari who put in a fine allround performance of his own with four for 35 and a hard fought 40 in the MIB innings, but it was not quite enough.

All that means that the Rangers remain unbeaten and are back at the top of the table in a title challenge that is now gathering serious momentum, while just five points separate the Falcons who sit 2nd bottom in 11th place, and the Alpha Quashers who are fourth.

The Tokyo Wombats showed their character with an excellent seven-wicket win over the Rising Stars. 

Conceding 259 represented progress after the 455 they shipped in the previous round, and taking all ten wickets also represented improvement, but it was the old firm of Alex Shirai-Patmore (74) and Richie Bracefield (73) who laid the foundations for the win with an opening stand of 139 in the chase. 

Ultimately they reached the target with nine-balls to spare which lifts them off the bottom and leaves the RIsing Stars as the only winless side in the division. 

The Rangers would have been full of confidence following the big win in Round Four but came up against a Sano team with fresh vigour and not afraid of a challenge. After batting first and making 258/8 thanks to 61 from Munir Ahmad and 45 from Reo Sakurano, Sano knew they would have to bowl well to keep the Rangers batters under control. 

However Rangers got off to a flyer at the start, being 46/0 after five overs before rain came and reduced the chase to 30-overs and the target to 212. The off-spin of Shotaro HIratsuka then put the skids on the Rangers as he grabbed three for 50, but the battle turned again as Aloysius Sampath smashed his way to a 36-ball 70. 

Sampath could not see his team home however, and needing eight off the final over he was run out in a chaotic finish which ended with the match tied as the Rangers were bowled all out for 211, just one run short of the target. 

That result meant that the Men in Blue could move to the top of the league and they duly did so with a resounding win over the Chiba Sharks, bowling them all out for just 110 before 51* from Ankit Panwar guiding them to a six-wicket bonus-point victory, and top of the table. 

There was a similarly easy win for the Wyverns, who rolled over Paddy Foley for just 162, with six wickets shared evenly between Kohei Kubota (three for 39) and Tomonoshin Oki (three for 35). Jabbar Khan whacked 68 from number eight for Paddies, without which things would have been very ugly. 

As it was, the total just allowed Shogo Kimura more time to bat as he struck an unbeaten 80 to take his team to a nine-wicket win. 

With MAX CC vs Alpha Quashers washed out with only 12-overs bowled, that left the Tigers and Falcons as the final match of the Round and it was a comfortable win for the 2020 Champions as Ranjith Mouli (50), Anil Kumar (73) and Sabaorish Ravichandran (54) all raised their bats in a team total of 247/6. 

Sarfraz Petkar threatened to pull off another of his famous heists in the chase, striking a 53-ball 85 to keep the Falcons hopes alive, but his dismissal was the first of five for 20 runs as the Tigers took all ten wickets for 191 to earn a win by 56 runs and keep the Tigers firmly on course for a Top Four finish.

Rain ruined Round Three of the Japan Cricket League, with just two of the six fixtures being completed. However, that was still enough for the newly promoted Tokyo Rangers to climb to the top of the table, despite having played a game less than everyone else. 

Taking on the Tokyo Falcons, the Rangers were up against it as Anubhav Srivatsava compiled a solid half century to lead the Falcons to 128 for two in the 25th over. However the dismissal of Srivatsava for 52 sparked a collapse of eight wickets for 52 as Kasun Ganesh grabbed three for 16 to dismiss the Falcons for 179. 

The Rangers stuttered at the start, losing two wickets inside the first four overs, before a 95-run partnership between Shakib Hasan (51) and Vinoth Kumar Takoor (46) set the Rangers on course for a win by five wickets. 

In the only other game to be completed the Alpha Quashers had Gurman Singh to thank for an opening spell of eight overs two wickets for just seven runs as the Men in Blue were reduced to 32 for six after 19.1 overs. 

Some late hitting by Vikash Ranjan (34*) lifted the Men in Blue to 132 all out and he continued his virtuoso performance by taking four for 33 as his team tried to defend an under par score. 

The Quashers batting had enough to get home, 39 from Rohit Kesari providing the backbone while others played expansively enough to win with three wickets in hand and earn a bonus point. 

The games washed out were Paddy Foleys vs MAX CC, Rising Stars vs Chiba Sharks and Tigers vs Tokyo Wombats. 

Round Four: 

The Rangers played on the second weekend of Round Four and were briefly removed as table toppers, but took top spot back with an absolute savaging of the Tokyo Wombats. 

While this column cannot state with certainty, we are confident that the 455 for five is the highest ever score by a team in Division One of the JCL, or any division for that matter. 

The score was built on a fine 108 by Shakib Hasan while there were half centuries for Mohammad Saki (62*), Vinoth Takoor (86), Kasun Ganesh (81 from 25 balls!) and Aloysius Sampath (67* from 20 balls!). 

In total there were a ridiculous 35 sixes hit in the innings and more lost balls than Fuji normally gets in a season. 

Zubair Bappi managed respectable figures of three for 52 amidst the absolute wreckage of a bowlers card where nobody else went at under 11.6 runs per over. Ouch. 

Milinda Sanjaya then rounded off a phenomenal day for the Rangers by taking five for 24 as they dismissed the Wombats for 204 despite a fighting 57 from Muhammad Ali. A win by 251 runs is about as comprehensive as you can get, and with three wins from three the Rangers are beginning to look like a serious proposition. 

Sanjaya’s figures were briefly the best in the Division, however the first six-wicket haul of the season was taken in a rain reduced match at the Sano International Cricket Ground which keeps Men in Blue right on the heels of the Rangers at the top of the league. 

Batting first an opening stand of 149 between Saurav Bhowmik (73) and Rahul Koul (64) laid a great platform before Ankit Panwar (50 from 25 balls) and Abhi Dewan (68 from 27 balls) fired the MIB to a total of 285 for five from 33 overs with a century partnership of their own (113 in 46 balls). 

The Rising Stars made a decent start in the chase with TRS Sunny (56) and Rakibul Hasan (73) leading them to 100 for one in the 15th over but Vikash Ranjan (three for 46) continued his excellent season by removing both of them before Akshay Hedge took over, running through the tail to finish with figures of six for 40 and a 56-run win for the Men in Blue. 

The Tigers were briefly top of the table after a tense one-wicket win over the Chiba Sharks. Batting first the Tigers restricted the Sharks to 164 all out thanks to four for 31 from Kaushik Sakhiya before Ajay Thakur’s 67, easily the highest score of the day, anchored the chase. His dismissal in the penultimate over with five runs still needed made for a tense finish with the Tigers just scraping home to remain unbeaten this season. 

The Tokyo Falcons have struggled so far this season but were grateful to the Wyverns bowlers for their generosity in a three-wicket win anchored by 51* from Sarfraz Petkar. 

Set 228 for victory after Shogo Kimura (79) and Wataru Miyauchi (68) gave Wyverns a dream start with a 159-run opening stand, the Falcons watched on as Wyverns bowlers gave them 48 in extras, including 34 wides, which ultimately allowed the Falcons to scrape home with an over to spare. 

The other newly promoted team, Paddy Foleys, continue to impress and a seven-wicket win over the Alpha Quashers keeps their momentum going. Zahid Ullah took four for 33 to dismiss the Quashers for 176 before hitting an unbeaten 54 from 35 balls to wrap up the win with a bonus point to boot; remarkably the only bonus point of the round. 

The contest between MAX CC and Sano was washed out after heavy rain the night before led to an early decision not to play by both teams. 

Here is the current standings.