Division 2: 
Tokyo Wombats C.C. pulverize hapless Ichihara C.C.: 
Tokyo Wombats C.C.: 307/6 (40 overs) (S. Burke, 104; R. Conway, 70, J. Shearer, 57) 
Ichihara C.C.: 36 (9.2 overs) (I. Gason, 5/20; N. Koolhof, 4/16) 
Tokyo Wombats C.C. won by 271 runs 
Umpire: R-G. Martineau 
See Scoresheet here>> 
Robert-Gilles Martineau writes: 
Under laden skies, both teams had come on time and things could not have gone more smoothly (for a welcome change!). 
The grass on the Fuji 2 Ground was a lot longer than on its neighbouring ground, making for a slow outfield. 
Tokyo Wombats' Captain Courtney "Chuck" Jones won the toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bat first, although fielding first would have seemed the better option in view of the threatening skies. 
Wombats started well enough until C. Jones bottomed edged a rising legspin from N. Creece smartly caught by wicket keeper C. Thurgate (Chuck sportingly walked before the umpire was considering raising his finger). The celebrations soon turned sour when S. Burke crashed five consecutive deliveries from the same bowler to the boundary though. What followed was a conscientious demolition act by S. Burke and J. Shearer who amassed 140 runs for the second wicket before J. Shearer (57)  fell at 175 slashing away from his off stump at C. Thurgate's medium pace who had given the gloves to N. Creece who took a clean two-hands catch. 127 runs had been scored by drinks time and it had taken them only 5 more overs to reach those figures.  
S. Burke continued crashing boundary after boundary off Ichihara's sometimes pathetic bowling before  C. Thurgate's best delivery of the day cut back into his stumps. He had scored Tokyo Wombats' first century in the KCL by then with a chanceless 104. Score: 252/3. His partner R. Conway (70) got loose and relentlessly hit everything in sight until he skied a delivery from hapless Lailth Prelis who had been dropped 3 times to D. Lollback. Lalith Prelis got a consolation second wicket and B. Walters got his, but D. Lollback was definitely the only Ichihara's bowler treated with respect. his figures of 8 overs, 3 maidens and only 17 runs conceded did not truly reflect his proficiency. On the other hand Captain Hasib Rehman had few bowling options left in a depleted side and had to bowl himself all the way through with predictable results in spite of his courage.  
Final score: 307/6. 
30 minutes were then spent nervously looking at the sky. 
Ichihara's innings started under a thin drizzle facing a pumped up Wombats' team who knew they had to play their best cricket season of the year if they were to avoid  another rain-caused postponment. 
They certainly did not disappoint.  
Ian "Curly/Frisette" Gason immediately struck inducing an edge from D. Lollback to the wicket keeper with his third ball (David Lollback also sportingly walked to the eternal thanks of the umpire who was having problems with the darkening skies). It then became a carnage. 
After the game had been stopped for more than 30 minutes (after 4.2 overs) because of the heavier rain, Ichihara soon found themselves 5 wickets down after 5 overs. Brilliant catches by S. Burke and I. Gason and aggressive bowling from "Curky/Frisette" and A. "Cool Head" Koolhof  supported by yowling fielders had bulldozed Ichihara into oblivion. 
At 9.2 overs all was finished and the Wombats were jumping all over the place and opening the beer cans. 
For Ichihara it must be noted that their Canadian member Jason Waugh (no relation, as you have to pronouce "waff") was the first Maple Man to score in a  KCL play-0ff with a well struck 3-run single shot! 
The Umpire somehow managed to check the scoresheets under the renewed rain before he himself sipped a well-earned beer. 
Great game. Superb spirit. 
Division 1 ought to worry with the coming of a new club which will concede nothing to any opponents! 

Lalazar Sports C.C. overwhelms courageous MAX C.C.: 
Lalazar Sports C.C.: 258/9 (40 overs) (Amjad Mirza, 74; jamil Malik, 56, Ahmed Gulzar, 35) 
MAX C.C. 46 (20.1 overs) (Aqeel Ur Rehman, 5/12; Arshad Bhutta, 3/13) 
Lalazar Sports C.C. won by 212 runs 
Umpire: D. Envall 
Scorers: Maki Nishina & Kaori Kato 
See Scoresheet here>> 
David Envall writes: 
Lalazar Sports booked their place in the KCL Division 2 Grand Final with a convincing win over Max on Sunday 26 September.  
Max won the toss and sent Lalazar in on a cloudy morning at the Fuji 1 ground. This looked like the right decision early on, as Max began by picking up regular wickets. But Max were unable to make the most of their opportunities, dropping several difficult catches as the Lalazar batsmen started scoring more freely. 
For Lalazar, Jamil Malik led the way in the early overs with a fine 56, while Amjad Mirza hit a quick 74 which included a number of huge sixes. Lalazar batted out their full 40 overs, finishing with 9 for 258. 
Despite conceding so many runs, Max bowled courageously. The bowlers maintained a good line and length even in the face of some big hitting. 
Yuzo Fukuyama in particular bowled two excellent spells. But Max were let down by some poor catching and the failure to adapt their tactics to Lalazar's aggressive batting. 
Max's batting, in contrast, proved brittle against the tight Lalazar bowling. Max lost two quick wickets in the early overs of their innings, before rain interrupted play for about 30 minutes. Upon resuming their innings, they continued to lose wickets regularly and were all out for 46 after only 20.1 overs. Although the Max openers played some nice drives, 
they failed to consolidate and build bigger scores. After a middle-order collapse, it was left to the tail-enders to salvage some pride. 
Lalazar captain, Aqeel Ur Rehman, was the pick of the bowlers. Combining finger and wrist spin, as well as deceptive flight, Aqeel had the Max batsmen constantly in two minds, not sure whether to play forward or back. 
Aqeel finished with the grand figures of 5 for 12 and was able supported by fellow spinner Arshad Bhutta, who took 3 for 13. 
Lalazar's win sets up what should be an excellent Division 2 Grand Final against Tokyo Wombats (who won their Semi Final against Ichihara at Fuji 2). The two teams abandoned their regular season game, so there is no form guide for picking a favorite. Whatever happens in the Grand Final, however, Lalazar deserve their place in Division 1 after enjoying an extremely successful 2004 season.