Dan Mee – Back in the JCL

A wet outfield caused Tigers final game of the regular season to be called off, and keep them top of the table at the end of the final round of JCL Division One matches. The result was also good news for Paddy Foleys, as it meant they avoided the ignominy of finishing the season with a 100% loss record.

The cancellation came the day after Alpha Quashers had surprisingly slipped up against the Wombats who finished their own season on a high. Batting first the Quashers were struck down by a disciplined Wombats performance in the field an some miserly bowling, particularly from Dan Mee.

Making his Wombats debut, Mee collected 3/14 as the Yokohama boys were rolled over for just 116, Rohit Kumar top scoring with 25 before becoming the first of Mee’s victims. Richie Bracefield then marshalled the chase with 40* to give Wombats a bonus point win by seven wickets and leave them 5th in the table.

Quashers still had enough to finish 2nd despite Chiba Sharks winning against Wyverns. Going in first the Sharks were indebted to Tsuyoshi Takada (26) and Arata Ueda (23) for helping them set any kind of target as they were dismissed for just 129 in a match reduced to 30 overs.

Takada (right) – returns to form in 2018

Takada then opened the bowing and used his off-spin to charge through Wyverns top order, taking out three of the top four and finishing with figures of 3/14. At 17/4 there looked no way back for Wyverns and despite some late defiance they finished 96/9 as Sharks won out by 33 runs.

As Sano and MAX also failed to take the field in Round 11 this means Tigers will take on MAX in Semi Final 1 while Semi Final 2 will be contested between Quashers and Sharks. Wombats finish as best of the rest, with Wyverns sixth after a mixed season. Sano and Paddy’s will have a nervous wait to see if they survive in the top flight

Much of that survival will depend on the lower divisions which have provided some entertaining cricket this year. Division Two has had eight centuries scored so far, surely a record, and Tokyo Falcons are guaranteed top spot even with a game to spare.

Division Three has also had some competitive teams fighting it out with the Tigers 3rd XI matching the deeds of their 1st XI in finishing top, just edging out the Rising Stars. Given the amount of new teams across the divisions this year it was always going to be likely that a reshuffle would happen come the end of the season to even out the quality, how that affects teams remains to be seen.

A huge thanks must go to the JCL Committee; Takuya Kudo, Ragesh Nair and Vasanthan Jayakumar for their tireless work in keeping these competitions going so well.

The top four teams who will proceed to the JCL Semi Finals have been confirmed following Round 10, although who plays whom remains to be decided.

Remarkably, Alpha Quashers of Yokohama retain an outside chance of topping the table after moving into second place with a win that officially ended Wyverns hopes of battling into the semis. In a scrappy contest Wyverns were well placed at the turnaround after Oshantha  Nanayakkara took 4/31 to restrict Quashers to 148 all out as nobody really got going for the batting side.

Dhinesh Kumar Nagarajan – First JCL wickets

The Quashers are not a team to write off however, and have great depth in their bowling. The introduction of Dhinesh Nagarajan turned the match in their favour after an opening stand of 33 between Wataru Miyauchi (31) and Shogo Kimura (19) had Wyverns looking good. Nikhil Chhajed (2/31) removed both of them to open the door for Nagarajan to barge through in his first appearance in Division One this season.

At 125/9 Wyverns looked dead and buried, but Kohei Kubota (11) battled to drag his team to the brink of an unlikely victory before Nagarajan won an LBW appeal to complete his five-wicket haul and earn his team a win by just seven runs.

The other match taking place at the SICG was the battle between first and second as Sharks took on Tigers with top spot up for grabs. Batting first a depleted Sharks were in trouble at 42/4 after Ranjith Mouli (3/11) set about them, but an impressive partnership between Arata Ueda (20) and Rui Matsumura, who made a career best 39, at least gave Sharks something to bowl at.

Marcus Thurgate – Becoming a bowler?

Shahid Shamim had started the day well, collecting 5/30 on the way to dismissing Sharks for 134, but in the chase he was the second man in quick succession to have his stumps splattered by Muneeb Siddique. If that gave Sharks hope, what happened in the 23rd over really spurred things on. Marcus Thurgate, having just removed his keeping pads, had Sabaorish Ravichandran (48) caught behind for his first JCL wicket. Removing Ravichandran has been a challenge for most clubs this season, so perhaps others may take something from the idea of sending a 17-year-old wicketkeeper after him.  

At 76/5 the game was finely poised, but that would prove as close as it would come as Mouli completed his excellent day with a refined 37* to guide Tigers to a five-wicket victory and keep them top of the table while inflicting Sharks first defeat since May, when these teams last met.

There is no reason to expect Tigers will not finish in top spot since their final round fixture is against Paddy Foleys who are yet to avoid defeat in 2018. Sano CC may have officially given up their title, but at least they showed some defiance in doing so in this basement battle.

Batting first Pradeep Roshan became the seventh centurion of the season with 102* as Sano posted 251/8 in their 40 overs; Umar Farooq collecting three wickets but also conceding 72 runs, was the most successful bowler for Paddys.

In the chase Kamran Syed batted well for his run-a-ball 67, but only Muhammad Adeel (32) joined him in making double figures as Sano rolled Paddys over for 143 to earn victory by 108 runs.

The final team to miss out on the semis was the Tokyo Wombats whose match against MAX CC was washed out. That result means MAX will finish 4th and most likely play Tigers in the Semi Final, and if the two teams can repeat the Round Five clash where nearly 500 runs were scored, we could be in for a classic.