Tomoki Ota hit 99 as Wyverns defeated Paddy Foley’s by 71 runs to record their first win of the season. Japan Vice-Captain Ota hit four maximums in his 87-ball innings only to be clean bowled a single short of a maiden hundred.

Ably supported by Ken Okoshi, who passed fifty for the first time in Division One, Wyverns posted an imposing 282/7 from their 40 overs and Paddy’s were always struggling as they were dismissed for 210.

The innings moved Ota up to 2^nd in the list of leading run scorers for the season, but former Japan international Alex Patmore remains on top after a 3^rd score of 48 or more helped Tokyo Wombats maintain their 100% start to the season with a 46-run win over Sano CC.

Patmore’s 75 at the top of the innings pushed Wombats to 216/5 from their 40 overs as Sano desperately missed the bowling of leading wicket-taker in the Division Prabath Sankalpa. Sano never really got going in the chase as Zeeshan Naglekar grabbed 4/21 with Sano dismissed for 170 in 37.2 overs.

Sano had narrowly defeated MAX in the previous round, meaning the defending Champions were without a win going into the match against Tigers CC. Their stuggles so far this season were emphatically put behind them however, as they easily overhauled the Tigers by seven wickets in the final match of the round.

Winning the toss and opting to bowl first was proved a wise choice as the MAX bowlers all kept tight lines and wickets fell regularly. Takuro Hagihara proved the pick of the seamers with 2/9 from his five overs as Tigers were dismissed for 94 in just 34.4 overs. The chase was straightforward as MAX coasted home for the loss of three wickets inside 20 overs. Supun Nawarathna hit a run-a-ball 39 while Japan Captain Masaomi Kobayashi anchored the innings.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the tie of the round is the clash between the two unbeaten teams of the season; the Chiba Sharks and Tokyo Wombats who will lock horns at the Fuji Grounds on Saturday 14th May. Meanwhile Paddy Foley’s will go up against MAX and Wyverns face off against Sano in the Sunday matches.

As the rest of Japan turned their thoughts to the Golden Week holiday, four teams locked horns in JCL Division One to see who could close the gap on Chiba Sharks at the top of the table.

The Sharks had comfortably beaten Wyverns in the first match of the round a week previously, recovering from 45/5 as fine 59 from Higashimoto helped them to a score of 227, before dismissing the Wyverns for a mere 165. Wickets were spread around with Matsumura (2/26) doing the damage at the top of the order, including a stunning return catch off his own bowling.

With the Sharks maintaining their 100% start to the season and the Wombats sitting out the round, it was left to the rest to take up the charge and so all eyes turned to the clash between two traditional powerhouses of the JCL in MAX and Sano.

In the closest match of the round, it was Sano who edged a thrilling contest by just six runs at the Watarase River Ground 3.  Left to defend a lowly 137 after a fairly timid batting performance, Sano summoned great strength to mop up MAX for just 131. Despite a second consecutive half-century from Iyer (58) at the top of the order, nobody else could handle Destroyer-in-Chief Sankalpa as his 4/28 moved him to the top of the wicket-takers list for the season so far.

Just down the road the final tie of the round was also taking shape, as the Tigers continued their recent form with a comfortable win over Paddy Foley’s by 80 runs, meaning all three defeated teams in the round remain without a win this season.

The Tigers had Balasubramania (71) and captain Ragesh Nair (55) to thank for their score of 231 all out while Nair was also among the wickets with 3/21 in tandem with a clinical performance by Imtiaz Khan who claimed 5/32 as Tigers strode up to 2^nd in the table.

As the Sharks take a breather this weekend, it will down to the rest to close the gap, while winless Paddy Foley’s and Wyverns will come together in a game where someone will register their first points.

In Division Two Paddy’s are having a much better time with two wins from two after a comfortable beating of Sano 2^nd XI by 136 runs. After posting 213 courtesy of a run-a-ball 71 from Wewalagamage, despite the best efforts of Mai Yanagida (4/47), Sano offered little resistance in being dismissed for 77.

The Tigers 2^nd XI recorded their first win of the season by 80 runs against Fuji Far East, Anuraj Singh hitting 81 while Ryoya Tsutsui offered the only resistance for Fuji Far East, smashing an aggressive 54 before being controversially run out after colliding with a fielder.

It is Adore however who top the table after a tight victory against the Chiba Sharks 2^nd XI. Late hitting by Shinichi Takase (61 off 47) took Adore to 210 all out from 37.5 overs, even after Samoa women’s team captain Regina Lill’I took 3/15 on debut. Lill’i the anchored the chase with 51 but did not get the required support as the Sharks fell 17 runs short thanks in part to 3/24 from Shun Hashiba.

The 2^nd Division take a break now until the end of May.

*A little reminder that the JCA would gratefully receive any match photos, especially of Division One matches. Please send them in to a-curr@cricket.or.jp.

In a low-scoring week of fixtures in the Japan Cricket League Division One, the Tokyo Wombats and Chiba Sharks both made it two wins from two while the Tigers grabbed their first win in the top tier.

For the second match in succession the Wombats had a huge opening stand to aid their charge as Alex Patmore (77) this time combined with Mick Lay (57) to put on 165. What remained of the 215 target set by Paddy Foley’s in their first outing of the season was comfortably kocked off with seven wickets to spare. Paddy’s were restricted in their efforts to set a testing score thanks to Vikram Ragunathan (4/43) and Raskia Ethugala (5/31) sharing nine wickets between them.

In a tense affair at Tanuma the Chiba Sharks inflicted a painful defeat on Sano Cricket Club, defending a score of just 125. Eight miserly overs from Tsuyoshi Takada (2/19) and captain Paul Grant grabbing 4/24 meant Sano fell 30 runs short of a second win in a row and the Sharks earn a Bonus Point.

Much like the Sharks, the Tigers were also able to defend a low score in beating Wyverns Cricket Club by 25 runs. The bowling performance of the week came from big-name transfer Raheel Kano as he grabbed 5/12 in his seven overs, but the batters were unable to back that up, slumping to 119 all out.

The next round of matches will take place over the coming two weekends as the Sharks aim to make it three wins from three against the winless Wyverns, the Tigers will clash with Paddy Foleys and MAX are back in action against Sano following their bye this week.

In Division Two the first round is now complete as Adore took Sano 2^nd XI apart by 122 runs. Bhutto Umair led the assault and repeated his century against the same opposition last season in crashing 144 from 116 balls, ably assisted by Shinpei Hagiwara (94 from 67). Adore kept Sano to just 171 in response, 49 from Mai Yanagida, on debut for Sano, the only resistance.

In the final match Paddy Foley’s 2^nd XI were victorious against Tigers 2^nd XI by a narrow margin of just eight runs. Defending 222 after runs from Fernando Wewalagamage (66) and Uddika Pradeep (44), it was the bowling of Pradeep (3/21) that enabled Paddys to fend off the Tigers despite 82* from Anil Kumar.

Round Two will also be played over the final two weekends of April.

The Japan Cricket League Division One and Division Two began on the first weekend in April with the sakura in full bloom.

It was the Chiba Sharks who had the most productive weekend with both their 1^st XI and 2^nd XI returning to home victorious with wins over Max CC and Wyverns respectively.

In the 14-run win over defending Champions Max CC it was Dhugal Bedingfield who ruined Makoto Taniyama’s first match as captain with a 95-ball hundred and three wickets. He was ably supported by Paul Grant (4/41) and Varun Sanchetti (33).

Elsewhere in Division One the Tokyo Wombats prevailed by two wickets in a tight contest against Wyverns 1^st XI. After a poor start, Tomoki Ota (51) and Kazuyuki Ogawa (39) steadied things enabling Wyverns to set a target of 210. The Wombats opening pair of Jarrad Shearer (67) and Alex Patmore (48) got their team off to a great start with 93 on the board before a late tumble of wickets set up a tight finale.

In the final match Sano CC registered a comfortable win over newly promoted Tigers, their 278/7 underpinned by a fine 111 from Rashid Rana and 64 from Chathura Aravinda while Tigers struggled to deal with the bowling of Prabath Sankalpa as his 6/15 helped dismiss the Tigers for just 125.

Division Two featured one match between the second XIs from Chiba and Wyverns, with Sharks two wins over the weekend in sharp contrast to Wyverns two defeats. Runs from Tsuyoshi Takada (39) helped the Sharks to a total of 221 in their 40 overs and ultimately a comfortable win by 44 runs as Wyverns were dismissed for 177 despite a battling 46* from Kensho Takahashi.

The next round of fixtures is due to be played in 16/17^th April in Division One while Round One of Division Two will be completed this coming weekend.