Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good.
Sano 2
Outfield:long,dry. Pitch: good.
Outfield:short,bit wet. Pitch: good
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
JPL final at SICG on Sunday.Still lots of cricket in Sano.
The Annual Awards night hosted by the JCA will take place on Saturday 17th November in Roppongi, Tokyo.
The evening will start at 17:00 and run until 20:00 and we hope to see as many of the Japan Cricket Community present as possible.
The venue for the evening is Los Cabos Sports Bar and information on the location can be found on their website: https://www.pasela.co.jp/shoplist/bajamar-tequila/roppongi/#shop
Costs for the evening are as follows:
Included in the cost is an open bar and basic food.
Everyone attending should register through their club, information has been sent out to all representatives and requires an RSVP.
MAX Cricket Club won their third JCL title in the last four years as they defeated the Chiba Sharks at the Sano International Cricket Ground on Saturday 13th October.
The outstanding players for MAX were Masaomi Kobayashi and Vinay Iyer, who started the match by scoring 173 runs in partnership to set up the win for their side. Kobayashi (79) and Iyer (73) helped their team score a total of 233 runs.
The Chiba Sharks were not able to reach the score, they were all out for 141 as Makoto Taniyama took four wickets.
Congratulations to MAX CC and commiserations to Chiba Sharks. It was a great match and we hope both teams will be well motivated for 2019!
Thanks also to the JCL Committee for all their hard work in organizing the League so well again this year.
Chiba My Ys Ashley Thurgate hits out against the Braves
The North Kanto Braves were crowned Japan U15 champions for the fourth year in succession after again defeating the Chiba My Ys in the national final at the Sano International Cricket Ground on Sunday 14th October.
Batting first the My Ys were resticted by some very disciplined bowling by the Braves and could only scrape together 51 runs on a difficult pitch.
The Braves also found batting difficult but managed to achieve the target in the 15th over, My Ys’ Ashley Thurgate awarded the MVP of the final for his all round performance.
In the third place final Akishima Aviators defeated Lions.
Meanwhile at the Sano River Grounds, four teams, all in their first season, took part in the U15 Division 2 finals series.
Men In Blue U15s celebrating their Div 2 trophy
Men In Blue Tokyo narrowly won the final in an exciting contest against Tokyo Falcons, while GIIS-Tigers were too strong for Akishima Bukatsu in the third place play off.
Arata Ueda
The touring squad of 14 for the World T20 Qualifier that will take place in the Philippines from 1st – 8th December has been confirmed today.
Coming into the touring squad for the first time is Arata Ueda, who earns his place through excellent performances during the season at club level. Shogo Kimura drops out of the 14 due to playing commitments in Australia.
The players will depart on November 29th and the tournament will feature matches against the hosts plus Indonesia and Korea. Each team will play each other twice and the overall winner will qualify for the next stage of qualifying against Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in early 2019. The full fixtures can be seen by clicking here.
The full group of 14 is as follows:
The Japanese Men’s Squad is sponsored by Queserser.
Kobayashi (right) and Iyer set up the victory
MAX CC have won a third title in four years after defeating the Chiba Sharks in the JCL Final at the Sano International Cricket Ground last Saturday.
Opening batsmen Masaomi “Amigo” Kobayashi and Vinay Iyer put on a partnership of 173 in 31 overs to set up the win and start the celebrations for a team who are experiencing a golden era in the Japan Cricket League.
Kobayashi (79) and Iyer (73) set the standard at the very start, seeing off the early challenges before settling in to record another partnership reminiscent of the record 237-run opening stand they recorded in 2017.
The Sharks, desperate for their first title since 2010, threw everything at their opponents and fought their way back in the last nine overs with Muneeb Siddique taking 3/38 as five wickets fell for just 30 runs, but a total of 233/6 in 40 overs was always going to be a tough ask.
Chiba Sharks; fought hard
In the chase MAX did well to knock over the Sharks Captain Dhugal Bedingfield without scoring, before Davian Johnson (23) and Pavethy Velusamy (37) took the score to 70-1 before both fell in quick succession to the spin of Iyer, who was enjoying a very productive day.
Those wickets opened the door for Makoto Taniyama to burst through, taking 4/14 and the Sharks sank to the seabed finishing 141 all out in 30.4 overs to give MAX the win by 92 runs.
For Taniyama those wickets were enough for him to finish as the leading wicket-taker in the JCL this year with 21 scalps, and one of three MAX players in the top eight, while they also have three batsmen in the top eight run-scorers. Sabaorish Ravichandran had the leading scorer award wrapped up a while ago, but Supun Nawarathna came in second while Kobayashi and Taniyama also enjoyed productive seasons with the bat.
Congratulations to MAX CC and commiserations to the Sharks, who will no doubt come back fighting hard next year. Two more installments of One Short to look forward to as next week we will wrap up the Division Two and Three campaigns before finishing with “The Shorties” as we look back over an excellent season of cricket and pick our own team of the season. Definitely not one to miss that!
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good.
Sano 2
Outfield:bit long,dry. Pitch: good.
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
JCL and under-15 final in this weekend
The Japan Cup T20 Finals took place in Sano over the long weekend of October 6th-8th and featured 10 regional winners and representative teams from all over Japan.
Aravinda: last ball heroics
The Sano International Cricket Ground hosted the final on Monday afternoon between South Kanto champions and reigning Japan Cup champions Alpha Quashers Yokohama and North Kanto champions Ceylon XI.
In a dramatic finish to the tournament, Karthik Vellingiri scored two runs off the final ball of the Quashers innings to tie the match at 130 runs each and take the game into a deciding super over.
Devendra Dhaka began the Quashers’ super over in style by smashing a six over mid wicket but his team soon lost both their wickets and were left with 11 runs to defend.
In reply Ceylon XI struggled to six runs off the first five deliveries of their super over but off the very last ball of the match Ceylon XI opener Chathura Aravinda heaved Dhaka over the mid wicket boundary to win a first Japan Cup for his team.
Ceylon XI vs Alpha Quashers: a final to remember
The Japan Cup Finals saw plenty of action over the three days with all ten teams in the tournament recording at least one win.
Congratulations also go to Kinki and the Indian Engineers for reaching the semi finals while Men In Blue claimed the Japan Cup Finals Shield after defeating Wyverns by 9 wickets.
Kamrul Hasan (Tokai) took home the MVP award with 113 runs and 9 wickets for the tournament.
Abdul Abbasi (Kinki) was named Best Batsman of the tournament with 129 runs including 11 sixes while Karthik Vellingiri (Quashers) won the Best Bowler award with an incredible 15 wickets.
Final standings
Champions: Ceylon XI
Runners Up: Alpha Quashers
Equal 3rd: Kinki
Equal 3rd: Indian Engineers
Shield Winners (5th): Men In Blue
Shield Runners Up (6th): Wyverns
Equal 7th: Tokai
Equal 7th: University XI
9th: Tohoku
10th: Chiba Sharks
MVP: Kamrul Hasan
Best Bowler: Karthik Vellingiri
Best Batsman: Abdul Abassi
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good.
Sano 2
Outfield:bit long,dry. Pitch: good.
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good
Outfield:short,dry . Pitch: good
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
Outfield: short,dry . Pitch: good.
Japan cup final coming this weekend!
It might rain tonight.
My first day in Japan began at the crack of dawn. I arrived into Haneda airport at 5:15am and swiftly made it through immigration to the train station and headed to Asakusa, Tokyo, to meet Alan Curr from the Japan Cricket Association (JCA). We had a few hours exploring the Asakusa area, including the Senso-ji temple, however unfortunately not much was happening at 6:30am on a Thursday morning. We caught the train up to Sano, where a brisk tour of the local area finished up at the Japan Cricket office. This meant game time! Introductions were made to everybody involved with the JCA, then it was time to get my placement rocking and rolling.
I was straight up to the Sano International Cricket Ground (SICG) to help with preparations for the opening ceremony of the ground that weekend, a weekend that I was told had been around five years in the planning! This also presented my first opportunity to get involved in some coaching through assisting the Japanese national coach Steve Zayler’s 1-to-1 with Shogo Kimura; Shogo being an ex-professional baseball player for 15 years whom only six months earlier transitioned into cricket once his stellar baseball career had come to a close. This was an amazing opportunity to get involved in some high level coaching and also to be a part of this unique journey from the pinnacle of Japanese baseball to cricket.
The weekend bought about the Embassy Cup: this encompassed seven embassy sides and the 
Japan team in two pools of four battling it out to be crowned victors. The opening of the SICG was a huge success with around 2,500 people attending both days, many of whom gained first experiences of cricket. I was honored to be part of an historic day in Japanese cricket and even more so to play a role in finishing in third place as part of the British Embassy side, despite my bowling being hit for 6 to lose our opening game against the joint Australia and New Zealand embassy side.
Monday being a public holiday provided me opportunity to venture out of Sano and visit Nikko, a small city in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture in the mountains north of Tokyo, and a place filled with shrines, temples, lakes, water falls, and plenty more. It is baked with Japanese history and culture and provided me the traditional side of Japan that I was so excited to indulge in. Many thanks go to Yoshie and Naoki for showing me this beautiful place and educating me on the rich Japanese history and culture. This is one of the many perks to the placement that I am so lucky to find myself on: not only do I get to be part of something as special as growing the game and developing national standards of cricket in Japan, but I also get the opportunity to fully immerse myself in the amazing culture of Japan and see some truly remarkable places first hand!
My first week also provided plenty more coaching opportunities. School visits and junior club sessions are a key role in my placement. The kids are incredibly enthusiastic and love playing cricket games with the standard being completely comparable to anywhere else I have coached in the world. The language barrier has provided the biggest challenge so far, however, this can be easily negotiated through clear, refined demonstrations to provide powerful visual aids and establish understanding. I also have another coach from the JCA with me to help out with translations… I just have to learn to not speak as fast!
I am excited for the next four weeks and the challenges ahead… and also for more opportunities to see Japan. Visiting Tsukiji fish market and Shibuya and exploring Tokyo on my next day off is the next adventure!