05/11/2006: Kanto Cricket League Semi-Final 
Aamir Ali and Umar Farooq make YCAC for lost early chances in helping Friends C.C. cruising to Final: 
Friends XI C.C.: 256/6 (33 overs) (Aamir Ali, 104; Umar farooq Butt, 95; Alok Rakyan, 3/43) 
Yokohama C./A.C.: 127 (33.4 overs) (Prashant E. Kale, 62; Hamad Bisharat, 3/16) 
Friends XI C.C. won by 129 runs 
Umpires: R-G. Martineau & M. Sharpe 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

09/13~14/10/2006: 
Friends XI CC beat archrivals Tokyo Giants CC to go top of Group A: 
Tokyo Giants C.C.: 158 (Munir Ahmad, 65; Shehzad Siddique, 3/27) 
Friends XI C.C.: 159/6 (Shakir Khan, 35*; Muni Ahmad, 3/43) 
Friends XI C.C. won by 4 wickets 
Umpires: Durgamallesiwara Sidde, Jude Joseph 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

24/09/2006: 
Group A:  
Friends XI C.C. virtually assured to play semi-finals with big win over Myoden C.C. thanks to Syed Aamir Ali's new individual batting record (185*): 
Friends XI C.C.: 334/6 (35 overs) (Syed Aamir Ali, 185*; Shakir Khan, 57; Asad Ali, 47) 
Myoden C.C.: 102 (Fayyaz Khan, 3/8) 
Friends XI C.C. won by 233 runs 
Umpire: Ajay 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Friends XI C.C. having won the toss found themselves in somewhat precarious position at 70/5 whenSued Aamir Ali and Shakir Khan assaulted Myoden C.C.'s bowling to amass a record of 240 runs for the 6th wicket, the second ever biggest partnership in the history of the KCL. Syed Aamir Ali also broke 3 more records: Highest individual score with 185 no, including a total of 26 boundaries and 17 6's. 
Poor Myoden C.C. did their best in reply but could only amass 101 runs, suffering two run-outs in the process to reduce the margin of defeat as much as possible. 

Shizuoka Kytes C.C. beat Tokyo bay Districts C.C. by walkover 
 

10/09/2006: 
Group A: C.C. of Nagoya too much for newcomers Myoden C.C.: 
Myoden C.C.: 85 (22.2 overs) (Raja Akram, 3/14; Saqib Khan, 3/17) 
C.C. of nagoya: 86/1 (10.2 overs) (Mohammad Tariq, 47*) 
C.C. of Nagoya won by 9 wickets 
Umpire & Scorer: Robert-Giles Martineau 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Robert-Gilles Martineau writes: 
Typhoon 13 was fast approaching and Myoden C.C.'s Japanese bus driver managed to lose his way, ending in a game starting at 11:30 instead of the tentative 10:00 agreed the night before. Only one scoresheet being available and teams busy packing to avoid the coming rain, the umpire found himself scoring as well. Luckily for him the game lasted just long enough to achieve a result before it poured. Myoden C.C. elected to bat when they won the toss and disaster struck first ball with their opener bowled. They quickly found themselves 29/7 with chief destroyer Saqib Khan taking 3 wickets for a maiden in his first over. Vinod led a mini-recovery but Myoden C.C. were all out for a paltry 85, which C.C. of Nagoya chased in a hurry with rain starting falling. C.C. of Nagoya, in the end, did well to lose the toss to allow them a chance to chase and win. 
Game played in good spirits and fun to umpire! 

Group B: Al Karam C.C. book their place in the semi-finals with decisive win over Gunma XI Star C.C. 
Gunma XI Star C.C.: Gunma 202 (Ishafiq Ahmed, 78; Nawish Ali, 37; Rana Sajid Rafiq, 3/37) 
Al Karam 205/5 (Hanif Khan Mohammad, 82; AShiq Alli, 43) 
Al Karam C.C. won by 5 wickets 
Umpires: Sanganbaswa Kalgi & Partha Sarathi Misra       
Scorer: Mumtaz Alam 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

Group A: C.C. of Nagoya win comfortably over Tokyo Bay Districts C.C. in spite of Sachin's Chowdhery's defiant innings. Two more dubious records achieved as well!: 
C.C. of Nagoya: 214 (33.4 overs) (Saqib Khan, 55; Khurram Pervez, 43) 
Tokyo Bay Districts C.C.: 132 (26 overs) (Sachin Chowdhery, 63*; Saqib Khan, 3/28; Raja Akram, 3/29) 
C.C. of Nagoya won by 76 runs 
Umpire: Robert-Gilles Martineau 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Robert-Gilles Martineau writes: 
On a hot day when Typhoon 13 mercifully failed to materialize, brothers Saqib Khan and Khurram Pervez steered C.C. of nagoya to a somewhat unsatisfactory total of 214, but Tokyo Bay Districts C.C. showed a woeful lack of dicipline, batsmen either hitting across the line or not moving their feet in spite a a good and agressive innings from their skipper Sachin Chowdhery who got stranded at 63 at the end of their innings. 
Two dubious records were equalled ( 7 ducks in an innings by Tokyo Bay Districts C.C.) and total numebr of ducks in a single match (10). 
match played in good spirits with a positive approach from both teams who decided to brave and beat the weather odds! 

10/09/2006: 
Kanto Cricket League Group A: 
Tokyo Giants C.C. fight their way back to beat Shizuoka Kytes C.C. in vital match for semi-finals: 
Shizuoka Kytes C.C.: 214 (39.1 overs) (A. Harvey, 84; Malik Naseem, 4/27; Ahmad Kamal, 3/49) 
Tokyo giants C.C.: 217/6 (31 overs) (Mumtaz Alam, 57*; C. H. Naveed, 30) 
Tokyo Giants C.C. won by 4 wickets 
Umpires: Shafiq Ur Rehman & Khurram Pervez 
Scorer: R-G. Martineau 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Ashley Harvey writes: 
Well if you want a good read then I suggest you move on and read something else. 
that said..... 
The weather for this game was looking very hot and hot it was. most of the Kytes arrived to the game before the opposition came which is good.  
This week I won the toss and chose to bat first as it was too hot to be out in the field all day. 
Joel and Gaurav opened the inning and both where looking good until Gaurav (5) gave a simple catch to Jahangir Babar off Kamal's bowling. (1-22) Joel (25) was looking like he wanted to get a ton until he was bowled by Kamal for his 2nd wicket of the day. (2-35) Matt S joined me out in the middle and we both were going along nicely until just before the first drinks when Matt (29) got a nice ball on his pads and wasn't able to get bat on it and was bowled by Alam (3-96) Angus was next to the wicket and just like Matt and I, Angus and I kept the runs rolling over for an 81 run partnership before Angus (21) was found to be out LBW (4-177) The next 6 batsmen could only add 10 runs. I was the last to go trying to get my 100. Well that is what the boys from the side line were saying but I was further away than they were saying. Well done boys. Al was the not out batsmen with 1.  

After the lunch break the weather was still hot and wasn't looking like letting up. Both Matt S and Ben couldn't find a break through in their first spells and it was Matt R that made the first break-through with Zaheer Babar (24) caught by Joel. (1-58) Soon after that Mat R went on his own and got Ahmad (0) LBW. (2-63) I got Naseer (2) LWB (3-79) Ben had Chowdhery (31) caught by me (4-105) and then got Kamal (29) bowled and at this point in time we thought we had a very good chance of winning until Hussain and Mumtaz (57no) came out and played some intelligent cricket and worked the ball around the park. Matt S bowled Hussain (12) (6-186) and we still had a slight chance with just the tail to come, but that wasn't  to be as they were helped by some terrible bowling (if that is what you can call it) and with that the game was over.  
Well done to the Giants for a good win and hope to see you again sometime soon to return the favour. 

Group B: 
Gunma XI Star C.C. ensure their place in 2007 D-1 with good win over Dragons C.C. 
Gunma XI Star C.C.: 288/7 (Nawish Ali, 95*; Mohammad Akbar, 52*) 
Dragons C.C.: 109 
Gunma XI Star C.C. won by 179 runs 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

03/09/2006: 
Kanto Cricket League Group A: 
C.C. of Nagoya: 179 (34.4 overs) (Mohammad Tariq, 54; A. Stewart, 48; Aamir Ali, 4/30; Jamshaid Ali, 4/34) 
Friends XI C.C.: 180/4 (24.3 overs) (Asad Ali, 38; Aamir Ali, 37*; Naeem Ud Din, 36; Shafiq Ur Rehman, 4/31) 
Friends XI C.C. won by 5 wickets 
Umpires: N. Harrison & R-G. Martineau) 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

22~27/08/2006: 
Kanto Cricket League Group A: 
Friends XI C.C. bounces back with a new record to dispose of Tokyo Bay Districts C.C.: 
Friends XI C.C.: 388/8 (40 overs) (Aamir Ali, 95; Bisharat Hamad, 90; Asad Ali, 51; Sachin Chowdhery, 3/53) 
Tokuyo Bay Districts C.C.: 132 (20.3 overs) (Saad Qureshi, 45; Samir Chowdhery, 32; Shezad Siddique, 5/73) 
Umpire: Kamran Ali 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Friends XI C.C. bounced back with record win, scoring 388 runs, helping Tokyo Bay Districts beat three dubious records: 
Most Extras in a single innings: 80 
Most In a single innings: 60 
Most runs conceded by a single bowler in an innings: 93 (for 3 wickets)by Sachin Chowdhery. 
It must be said that the Kytes C.C. 1st ttried hard to grab some of these! 

C.C. of Nagoya creates upset of the day by overwhelming disappointing Shizuoka Kytes C.C.: 
C.C. of Nagoya 248 (32.3 overs) (Khurram Pervez, 92, Extras 55, Raja Akkram, 31; Riaz Hussain, 30; A. Harvey, 3/32; A. Liley 3/48) 
Shizuoka Kytes C.C.:  99 (19.3 overs) (Atif Chaudhry, 4/17, Saqib Khan, 3/10) 
Nagoya won by 149 runs. 
Umpire: Kedar Kulkarni (Myoden) 
Scorer: N. Harrison 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Neil Harrison writes: 
Well it was supposed to be Kytes vs CC of Nagoya, but it played out more like Clowns vs CC of Nagoya as Kytes bungled their way to an  
embarrassingly heavy defeat against a team they were expecting to steamroller. 
Kytes' day started badly enough with Arbab's unexplained failure to appear and just seemed to carry on downhill. Saqib won the toss for  
Nagoya and chose to bat on a cloudy, cool day with the pitch looking a peach. Kytes had to field with 10 men as Porno couldn't get down to  
replace Arbab until late in the day. 
Tariq and Stewart looked comfortable enough against Topper and Mattles' opening spells, but all the runs were coming from wides. A woeful piece of calling accounted for Stewart, and Topper managed to skin Tariq in the next over. Hussein went for a duck, but then Khurram joined big  
brother Saqib to steady the ship. There were airshots and chances from Khurram and not many runs coming off the bat, but the extras kept the  
score ticking along and these two looked like they might be together for a while. In fact it took a duff bounce to account for Saqib with the  
score on 74. Raja then pummelled 31 in no time, and when he lost his off stump to Ashley after one hoik too many, Riaz came in and kept the ball  
rolling with his own quick 30. With Khurram playing some tasty drives and cuts of his own all this time, Nagoya had added 100 runs in 10  
overs. Khurram got what looked like a dodgy lbw to end his innings on 92 and Kytes managed to run through the tail relatively quickly, but by this time the damage was done and Nagoya had posted a very strong total. 

Nagoya finished all out for 248 in 32.3 overs with Khurram (92 0ff 68, 15x4, 1x6) obviously the star. He offered plenty of chances, all of  
which Kytes refused to accept, and in between played some lovely shots including a couple of superlative cuts. Raja (31 off 13, 1x4, 4x6)  
provided his usual one-shot entertainment, featuring three huge sixes into the river bed. Riaz (30 off 18, 4x4) made the third big contribution in the crucial middle part of the innings that took full advantage of Kytes' incompetence. 

With the exception of Mattles (6-0-0-19) and Ashley's (7-0-3-32) bowling, Kytes were awful in the field. 6 chances were put down, an easy  
runout was missed, comedy fielding gave overthrows left, right and centre. Angus (6-0-3-48) got the short straw of bowling Arbab's overs,  
while Topper and Matt Ryan got hammered when they weren't bowling wides.  
Now, much as I would like to spare Hairbear his blushes, he did get married without telling us, so: Matthew Crispin Ryan, 5.3-0-2-67.  
Special mention also to Mickey on debut - his single over got the treatment from Raja and went for 27 runs. 
And did I mention the wides? 51 wides in 32.3 overs. Add that to the no balls and Kytes bowled an extra 9 overs to drop catches off. 

Pants and Mattles kicked off Kytes' alleged run-chase, but Pants was having trouble locating the middle of his bat. Mattles settled quickly,  
and Raja and Afridi got no joy so Saqib turned to Atif, who bowled so well against Giants without luck the previous week. Atif made an  
immediate impact bowling Mattles off his pads for 15. Gaurav joined Pants and together they scratched around for form without success.  
Gaurav skied a drive and Pants was bowled the ball after clocking himself on the jaw. Kytes' batting looked to be going the way of their  
bowling, but The Bigamist joined Ashley and these two looked in good nick till The Bigamist left the gate open and Saqib snook one through.  
Angus and Ashley looked like they might manage a partnership, but a poor call for a single sent Ashley on his way when Stewart palmed a loose  
throw onto his thigh and onto the stumps - you could tell it was one of those days when nothing went right for Kytes - and with Ashley went any hope of even getting near the Nagoya total. Matt Ryan disappeared first ball thanks to an airy swish over a straight one from Saqib. Angus drove   
a couple of meaty straight sixes and almost got another over midwicket, but Khurram took a fine catch on the boundary. Mickey duplicated Matt  
Ryan's dismissal and Shoaib just squeezed out Saqib's hat-trick ball. Topper was looking comfortable but wasn't getting the strike. Shoaib  
tried to give it to him after slicing a drive along the ground to point. Topper declined. Several times. VERY LOUDLY! But Shoaib still kept  
coming. Next week, Kytes will be teaching Shoaib the meaning of "NO! NO! NO! NO!" 
Porno joined Topper for the last rites. There were two: One was a rap on the pads and the other was cut straight to Khurram at point. Porno has  
now broken your correspondent's club record for ducks in a season.  
Cheers, mate. (Porno now has 5 ducks in 2006 - although there is some talk of presenting this duck to Arbab in recognition of his contribution  
to the game). 
That was it - all out for 99 in the 20th over, Nagoya win by 149 runs. 

Atif (4.3-0-4-17) was easily the pick of the bowlers, bowling a good line at pace and varying the length. Saqib grabbed three wickets with  
his wobbly off-spin that proved deceptively difficult to play. This time it was Afridi's turn to bowl impressively without luck. Nagoya fielded  
well, but then, they couldn't fail to look good compared to Kytes' efforts. 

Thanks to Nagoya for the game, again played in a good spirit. The best team won, without a doubt. And congratulations on a very impressive  
turnaround after the previous week's less than inspiring display against Giants. 

Thanks to Kedar Kulkarni of Myoden for a promising and resolutely fair umpiring debut. 

Man of the Match: Atif - A second impressive bowling display on consecutive Sundays. This time he got the breaks and the wickets - and a  
runout to boot. 

And finally, in the interests of lightening the gloom, I give you  
Topper's joke: 

Q: How do Kiwis find sheep in long grass? 

A: Delightful. 
 

19~20/08/2006: 
Kanto Cricket league Group A: 
Tokyo Giants C.C. thrash C.C. of Nagoya thanks to Mumtaz Alam' two records in bowling (7/5) and in most runs hit in a single over (29): 
Tokyo Giants C.C.: 195 (32.4 overs) (Mumtaz Alam, 79; Jahangir Babar, 35+ Shafeeq Ur Rehman, 3/31; Ameer Afridi; 3/31) 
C.C. of nagoya: 54 (Mumtaz Alam, 7/5) 
Tokyo Giants C.C. won by 139 runs 
Umpires: N. Harrison & R-G. Martineau 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Robert-Gilles Martineau writes: 
Although Neil's mobile phone web service kept forecasting hot, cloudy and occasionally rainy weather all day, the sun kept hammering on all, forcing us to agree on two drink breaks per innings. 
Mumtaz Alam of Giants won the toss and naturally chose to bat first, a sensible decision in the prevailing weather. The rest of the day proved that had he chosen to bowl first, he might have been back home earlier... 
Nagoya started well enough, Saqib comprehensively bowling Naveed, and Afridi snaring Tauseef shuffling across the line. Afridi caused Amjad to sky an easy catch to Saqib, and Zaheer, who had had a charmed life until then, was clean bowled through the gate by Shafiq's loop. Khurram chose the moment to produce two sensational laser beam throws at the stumps to run out Kamal and Burkat in quick succession and also catch Malik attempting for another 6 off Afridi. At 101/7, Nagoya really fancied their chances, and frankly speaking we (the umpires) thought we might witness a big upset then. 
Unfortunately for the Nagoya boys, their fielding, immaculate until then, let them down badly when they missed easy chances both from Mumtaz and Jahangir before they had gone into high gear. The latter opted then for attack, hitting everything in sight. Saqib, running short of bowlers and missing one player, turned to Mehdi to buy his wickets. Mumtaz accepted the offer with relish and hit four successive 6's over into the dry (luckily) Abe River, a 4 and a single, compiling a new record of 29 runs in a single over. Poor Mehdi, having iced the cake with two wides, broke the existing record held by Ichihara Sharks (who will feel relieved, at least Joff...) with 31 runs conceded in a single over.  
At 187, Jahangir missed Shafiq's loop and got stumped, soon to be followed by Mumtaz who yorked himself charging at Tariq. Finally, Shafiq got his reward for sensible bowling, trapping Ilyas lbw. 
Total: 195. Nagoya had had their chances, but did not catch them. Mumtaz and Jahangir made them pay at the worst of times, proving their quality as usual. Atif bowled very well, conceding only 17 runs in 7 overs with very little reward. Afridi and Shafiq did what they could, but the rest was too low a standard against a team like the Giants. A special mention to Khurram for his unending enthusiasm and superlative fielding. 

It was a somewhat deflated Nagoya side which walked to the middle like sheep for slaughter.  
Mehdi, decidely having a bad day, had no answer for Kamal's aggressive bowling and was quickly sent back lbw beaten by pace. 11/1. Tariq and Khurram survived until 26 runs had been written on the board, when Mumtaz decided he might have to bowl himself if he wanted to be back in Saitama as early as possible. The umpires were put to work at once by his very late swing and Tariq was bowled second ball of the over. Khurram was the next to go plumb lbw, completely misreading the line. 27/3. The next ball, a bit wide for once, enticed Shahansha to chase away from his off stump, only edging it to Amjad, who produced the catch of the day diving in front of first slip cupping the ball inside his right glove. Riaz got bowled through the gate by the late swing to make it 3 in the over. "Scruffy" Tauseef chose the moment to produce one of his clownesque stints to Mumtaz's audible irritation. The less said about it, the better, although a camera would have been handy. Mumtaz quickly forgot the incident and produced a beauty to bowl Saqib around his legs. Mumtaz had taken 5 wickets and the score read 38/6. There came a short lull caused by Afridi's resistance. Safiq hit Qaisar hard only to see Malik pulling off a great running catch. Only two batsmen left for Mumtaz if he wanted to beat Gavin Beath's record figures of 7/23 bowled earlier in the year against YCAC when Wyverns were still around. He bamboozled Atif with the third ball of his fifth over. 6 wickets for 5. The next ball provoked a loud appeal from everyone, but the umpire would have none of it, the ball missing the off stump. The next ball somehow met the bat. Only one ball left in the over and probably the last chance as spinner Qaisar was waiting, licking his lips in anticipation. 
Grumbling Mumtaz came over the wicket, bowling left-handed to right-handed Imran. The ball flew to off-stump. Imran desperately stretched his leg forward to meet it, only to see it sharply veering out of reach to knock down middle and leg stumps. Mumtaz had broken two records on the day, and it will take some work (and time - and two players) to beat them! 
Apart from Mumtaz, Kamal was always dangerous with his pace and bounce. Giants did not miss any chances that came to them, except "Scruffy" who had to prove the exception to the rule. 
Man of the Match and Performance of the Year: Mumtaz Alam 

An easy game to officiate for the umpires of the day, both teams playing in very good spirits. Thanks to all for a good day of cricket. 
The match having finished early, the two umpires joined some spectators for an impromptu BBQ and plenty of beer (sorry, Mumtaz!). What else could you ask for? 

Kanto Cricket League, Group B: 
Indian Engineers C.C. roll over Dragons C.C. behind Sanjeeb Sahoo's maiden century and Nizzar Ahmed's 3rd ever best bowling performance 
Tokyo Indian Engineers : 343/5 (dec 38 overs) (Sanjeeb sahoo, 105*; Nissar Ahmed, 90; Vimal Vikrant, 37; Partha Sarathi Misra, 36; Radhakrishnan Balaji, 4/69) 
Dragons C.C.: 117 (Jagadeesh Chaman, 53; Nissar Ahmed, 6/12) 
Tokyo Indian Engineers C.C. won by 226 runs 
Umpire: Mumtaz Alam 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

06/08/2006: Kanto Cricket League: 
Y.C. & A.C. take an option on semi-finals: 
Dragons C.C.: 104 (Kamran Ali, 4/25; C. Thomson, 3/33)  
Yokohama C. & A.C.: 105/2  
Yokohama C. & A.C. won by 8 wickets 
Umpire: Zaheer Babar 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

30/07/2006: Kanto Cricket League: 
Vimal Vikrant carries his bat to preserve Indian Engineers C.C.'s chances to D-1 promotion 
Indian Engineers c.C.: 327/8 (40 overs) (Vimal Vikrant, 154*; Sanganbaswa Kalgi , 32; Ritesh kakar, 30) 
Shizuoka Kytes C.C. 2nd: 130 (20 overs) (M. Sharpe, 51) 
Indian Engineers C.C. won by 197 runs 
Umpire: Babu Koshy Kannagil 
Check Soresheet HERE>> 
Neil harrison writes: 
All was obviously well with the world as the Indian Engineers came down to Shizuoka to take on the Kytes' Second XI (the Clowns or the Crowns, depending on how you read your katakana) in another ultra-friendly. Except this was KCL Group B and the Engineers were desperate to end a 7-match losing streak and needed a win to keep themselves in the running for a slot in Division 1 next year. Clowns could only find 9 red noses for the day as a litany of lame excuses were trotted out. But what's this?  Our very own Amish came up with an original excuse - a more girlie excuse than the legendary Shirley "Thumbprint" File, currently majoring in Ovine Fetishes at the University of Somewhere in New Zealand - adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "field studies" - and, yes, they do have universities in New Zealand. But I digress, Amish was unable to join the team because he was attending a ballet performance in Tokyo. No doubt we'll be without Matthew Alphonse Sharpe next week because there's an international flower arranging festival on in Nagoya. 
On the day, as usual, the Engineers were on the ground while the majority of Kytes were still in bed dreaming up excuses for being late.  

Bobby won the toss for Engineers and chose to bat under a hazy, humid sky that threatened to rain but didn't. Captain Don Prelis came back to break the news with that "Pity you poor sods having to bowl in this" grin of his. 

Benjamin Toppington opened the bowling from the Bridge End and the Pornificator started from the Lone Tree End. Topper was aggrieved to see one ball that passed a couple of inches over middle stump called a wide, but apart from this there was little drama as Partha and Vimal worked the ball through the many gaps to bring up the 50 in double quick time. Partha then started to lead a charmed life, but Vimal looked set from ball one. The Don came on second change to show his minions how to bowl and snagged Partha lbw with the score on 65, but Ritesh came in and picked up where Partha left off, taking the score to 116 before Matthew Alphonse Sharpe beat a careless lunge. By this time, the Clowns were in serious slapstick mode, with Grand Old Otto throwing pies from the Bridge End. Sriram, one of the most stylish batsmen in Japan, couldn't take it for long and ran down the track to escape. Angus marked his debut behind the stumps with a deft one-handed stumping and Sriram's humiliation was sealed: <b>st. Liley, b. Martineau</b>. Forever. 

Engineers, obviously as shocked as the Clowns, lost their way for a few overs, which gave the Porn Star an opening to prove Shannon's Law ("Shit gets wickets") as Nisar missed a gift of a full toss and lost his leg stump. Bobby made the mistake of batting in pads made of the finest English willow. One forward defensive later and off he went, lbw to Shoaib. Bikash's honeymoon lasted two balls till he hid his bat from a straight one and off he went in the same over. Into the slog overs and Jagan and Sangan helped Vimal pile on the runs, but the Clowns kept smiling and chucking pie after pie. Topper tried to restore order but saw three edges evade the ex-Captain's wheelchair in the slips before missing a sharp return chance. Jagan sent Lalith way up and over to Alphonse at fine leg and Sangan fell to a good running catch by the Pornmeister, just giving Biju a chance to spend a few minutes under the big top before the close on 327/8. 

For the Engineers, Vimal (154 off 121 balls, 13x4, 2x6) played an excellent innings, solid and safe to start and gradually opening up. There were chances towards the end of the innings, but by then he was well out of sight. Partha, Ritesh, Nisar and Sangan all contributed in chunky partnerships of 40 or more. 

Clowns bowled well in the circumstances, but there were too many holes in the field to hold back the flood of runs. Nevertheless, Enginers looked set to pile on 400 runs when they went in for drinks after 18 overs at 186/3, so restricting them to 140 runs off the subsequent 22 overs represents a victory of sorts. The wickets were shared around quite evenly between the 6 Clowns who "bowled", though poor Topper came away empty handed with probably the best performance. 
The fielding was generally good, and Shoaib and Francois Le Suisse (in his second ever match) were excellent. 

Clowns decided to have a go at the total from the start, and some wayward bowling helped keep the runrate in sight despite Angus' inability to find his form. Alphonse was timing the ball nicely right from ball one and Clowns had a shout as long as Alphonse was in there with someone who could run. But that wasn't a very long list in this team. Angus fell lbw halfway down the track to Jagan and Topper went in first drop and displayed something looking suspiciously like technique for a few overs before slicing a drive deep into cover where Jagan took an excellent running catch. Alphonse brought up his 50 (51 runs, 39 balls, 6x4, 1x6) with some juicy drives but fell immediately after to a jumping catch by Sangan right on the long-off boundary. That was it as far as the chase was concerned, and it didn't take long for the Engineers to work through the tail (more of a stump, really), with only Otto showing any resistance before the innings ended on 130. Congratulations, anyway, to Francois, on scoring his first runs in cricket. May there be many more. 

Bobby took the opportunity to try out the bowling of 9 of his team members, so there wasn't really a chance for anyone to shine (the eight wickets on offer were all taken by different bowlers - Ritesh was the one to miss out). The fielding was good and Vimal was the only one to put down a chance. 

Thanks to the Engineers for another great day's cricket and good company in the soba shop. 

Thanks to Babu of Dragons for umpiring fairly and with a smile. 

Man of the Match: Vimal Vikrant - a class innings, and he apologised to the ex-Captain for bowling him with the mother of all grubbers. 

Tokyo Giants C.C.'s bowling too much for newcpmers Myoden C.C.: 
Myoden C.C.: 86 (24.4 overs) (Mumtaz Alam, 4/15; Tauseef Azhar, 4/22) 
Tokyo Giants C.C.: 87/5 (19.2 overs) 
Tokyo Giants c.C. won by 5 wickets 
Umpire: Shahbaz Butt 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

Yokohama C. & A.C. comfortably beat Gunma C.C. to vie for a semi-final spot: 
Gunma Eleven Star C.C.: 174 (37.4 overs) (Ishafiq Ahmed, 52; Kamran Ali, 3/25; Alok Rakyan, 3/32) 
Yokohama C. & A.C.: 180/3 (30.2 overs) (Rasitha Leelas, 64*; Prasant Kale, 53*) 
Yokohama C. & A.C. beat Gunma Eleven Star C.C. by 7 wickets 
Umpire: Syed Aamir Ali  
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

23/07/2006: Kanto Cricket league:  
Y.C.A.C. practically ensure their participation in D-1 in 2007 by squeezing past Indian Engineers C.C. 
Indian Engineers C.C.: 142 (Kamran Ali, 4/27) 
Y.C. & A.C.: 143/7 (Avinash Jadhav, 41; Vimal Vikrant, 3/26) 
Y.C. & A.C. won by 3 wickets 
Umpires: Mumtaz Alam & Amjad Hussain 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Heavy rains ruin the day:  
Shizuoka Kytes C.C. 2nd vs. Al Karam C.C.: 
Match drawn (ground waterlogged) 

17/07/2006:  
Depleted Kytes nonetheless booking their place in 2007 D-1 by beating old foes Friends XI for the first time! 
Friends XI C.C.: 166 (22.4 overs (Shakir Khan, 50; Umar Farooq Butt, 36; B. Tomlinson, 4/41) 
Shizuoka Kytes C.C.: 167/7 (37.11 overs) (A. Harvey, 82) 
Shizuoka Kytes C.C. won by 3 wickets 
Umpire: Mumtaz Alam 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 
Neil Harrison writes: 
There was a time when Billy Ocean ruled the airwaves, when red light spelled danger, when the going got tough and the tough got going, and when Friends XI strolled into Shizuoka and put serious hurt on Kytes' egos. Not anymore. Because from now on, Lord William of Disco will be singing "When the going gets tough, the Kytes go shopping" and Friends have a bruised ego to be nursing. 
After the ignominy of having to concede their Second XI match vs YCAC the previous week, Shizuoka Kytes came dangerously close to having to do the same for the First XI match against Friends XI. Last minute recruiting by Don Prelis got the numbers up to 10 on the day, but it was the sight of the ex-Captain at first slip in his wheelchair that really brought home the level of desperation to which the Kytes had sunk and brought a lump to your correspondent's throat in the process. With the Grand Old Man patrolling the covers on his Zimmer frame, Friends could have been forgiven for expecting another easy win (well, "thrashing" would be a more accurate description of the past results of games between these two teams) like those mentioned on the https://rgmjapan.tripod.com/HONOURS.html. In the end, only 4 of Kytes' nominated 1st XI took the field, making the eventual result all the more impressive. 

The pitch was in good nick and Aamir won the toss for Friends and chose to bat after consulting his team members. It was hazy, hot and humid with no wind - a nightmare for the fielders. 

Out in the middle, Topper opened the bowling from the Bridge End while Matthew Alphonse Sharpe started from the Lone Tree End. Both managed to keep the openers quiet until Naeem was outdone by Topper's tried and tested "Wide, Wide, Wicket" sequence. Umar was unusually subdued down the other end while Sharpey saw off Brother Asad with a peach of an inswinger. Later in the over, Brother Aamir thought he was watching a more wayward version disappear down legside, but unfortunately for him the ball clipped his back foot and just had enough on it to dislodge the leg stump bail. At 22/3, with Aamir gone without scoring, Kytes sniffed a collapse in the air but were disappointed to see a counterattack instead. A series of fierce cuts and powerful drives from Umar and Shakir Khan had Friends back on track and looking strong at 68/3. That's when Umar took a wild, wild swipe at a loose delivery from Ryan of Asia and Alphonse ran his little legs off from the third man boundary to get in, claim the ball, offer to decapitate anyone who got in his way and take a fine sliding catch.  
Porno then replaced Alphonse at the Bridge End and, unusually, his shit deliveries brought him nothing but pain. He did at least manage two class offies in consecutive balls in his 3rd over - the first luring Fayyaz Khan into an unwise pull, the second convincing Brother Jamshaid that your shot of choice, first ball, is an eyes to the skies heave for six. Minus the bat on ball contact part. 
Ashley sensed an opening and brought Topper back on at the Bridge End. Shakir Khan replied by bringing up his 50 and immediately slicing a gimme to the ex-Captain, still (in both senses of the word) at first slip. A poor shot to end a good innings. 
Daleep Singh and Abey Jawardene briefly sparkled and helped push the innings past 150, but both were bowled by Topper in consecutive overs to end the innings. 

166 was a poor total, especially by Friends' standards, but both teams were well aware of what happened the last time Kytes bowled Friends out cheaply (Friends steamrollered Kytes for 32). Shakir Khan (50 off 38, 4x4, 3x6) batted very well for his 50, and Umar (36 off 30, 6x4) restrained himself well after the loss of early wickets. The quick run rate of 166 in under 23 overs counted for nothing as Kytes still had 40 overs to chase down the total. 

Kytes' problem was that they were woefully short of batting. However, the low target gave them a potential way out and collectively they came up with a scheme so ostensibly sly you could pin a brush on it and call it Basil: Send in The Don and The Grand Old Man to open the innings. This would draw the sting out of Friends' attack and (hopefully) waste a few overs of Friends' better bowlers. All well and good, till Aamir sees what's going on and opens the bowling with offspin at each end.  
The Don lasted an over before missing a pull and losing a leg stump to Fayyaz Khan. Ashley joined Otto (TGOM) and the scoring sort of ebbed (Otto on strike) and flowed (Ashley on strike) for a few overs. Otto finally fell in the 13th over, run out by a hopelessly optimistic call from Ashley, and, credit to Otto, it has to be said that this was the only way Friends looked like getting him out. Alphonse now joined Ashley, and these two picked up the run rate with the key partnership of 86. But just as they had shifted the pressure on to Friends, Brother Aamir bagged Ashley lbw and bowled Alphonse in his next over. Porno went first ball to Brother Asad (to claim the unenviable stat of 3 consecutive ducks spanning 4 balls and tie the ex-Captain's record of 4 ducks in a season) and Kytes had slipped from 127/2 to 135/5. Topper hung around long enough for Ryan of Asia to smack a couple of 4s but then Topper fell to another cover-your-eyes run-out and Lucky was bowled first ball to leave Kytes all a-jitter on 154/7. But Shoaib Aziz, of all people, kept Ryan of Asia company to tie the scores and had the honour of smacking the winning runs with a beautifully placed top-edged pull over his own head and over the keeper to see Kytes home by 3 wickets. 

For Kytes, Ashley (82 off 106, 8x4, 3x6) took the honours, sharing vital partnerships of 38 with Otto and 86 with Alphonse (19 off 39, 2x4). When it looked like Friends might finally have found a way through, Ryan of Asia (24* off 19, 5x4) responded with cleanly hit drives to the boundary, usually straight back over the bowler's head. 
For Friends, Fayyaz Khan (8-2-1-13) bowled a good tight spell early on (though he was helped by having Otto at the crease for most of those overs). Brother Aamir (8-0-3-39) gave Friends hope of running through the Kytes' tail till Ryan of Asia got the better of him. Friends fielded well and, though they didn't have any catches to worry about, took both run-out chances that were on offer. 

Thanks to Friends for the game, which was played in a good spirit throughout. 

Thanks also to Mumtaz of Giants, who did an excellent job of umpiring, as usual. 

Man of the Match: Ashley for a reasonable debut behind the stumps and another excellent innings. And having a game-plan that worked.  

09/07/2006:Kanto Cricket League: 
Al Karam C.C. virtually book their place in KCL D-1 in 2007: 
Indian Engineers C.C.: 136 
Al Karam C.C.: 139/2 
Al Karam C.C. won by 8 wickets 

Yokohama C. & A.C. beat Shizuoka Kytes C.C. 2nd XI by walkover 

02/07/2006:Kanto Cricket League: 
Al Karam C.C., Gunma Eleven Star C.C. and Shizuoka Kytes C.C. start on positive note: Yokohama C. & A.C.: 171 (39.5 overs) (Avinash Jadhav, 40; N. Lawrence, 30; Irfan Muzzamil, 5/27) 
Al Karam C.C. : 177/4 (Mohammad Hanif Mohammad, 114) 
Al Karam C.C. won by 6 wickets 
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

Gunma Eleven Star C.C.: 251 (Ishafiq Ahmed, 120; Zaheer Khan, 36; Sanjeeb Sahoo, 4/20)  
Indian Engineers C.C.: 90 (Zaheer Ahmed, 5/23)  
Gunma Eleven Star C.C. won by 161 runs  
Check Scoresheet HERE>> 

Shizuoka Kytes C.C.: 218/8 (A. Harvey, 60; A. Liley, 41*)  
Myoden C.C.: 128/7 Vesly Gracies, 32)  
Shizuoka Kytes won by 90 runs  
Check Scoresheet HERE>>  
Ashley Harvey writes: 
Well waking up on Sunday, most of the Kytes members thought that the game would be called off by the amount of rain that was falling in the morning, but that wasn't to be. 

The rain had stopped just enough for us to lay the pitch down and to have a toss, but soon after, the rain started coming down again. We waited for a few minutes and decided to shorten the game to 25 overs a side. 

We batted first and for most of our innings we played in the rain. Anyway, Larry and Joel opened the batting and in a first, Larry didn't run himself or anyone else out before getting bowled for 0 (1-12). Joel and Arbab continued in the rain and moved the score on to 35 before Joel was bowled for 20 (2-35). Soon after, Arbab fell for 16 after dancing down the wicket and was bowled (3-63). Matt S and I (Ashley) were scoring at a nice rate before Matt was C & B for 15 (4-126). I was the next to go a few runs later when I mistimed a shot out to deep cover for 60 (5-128) Suboh and Angus were both looking good before Suboh was run out for 17 (6-176). Nick was bowled for a golden duck (7-176). Ben made a nice 10 (8-208) before he was stumped having stepped out of his crease to warn Angus about his flying bat. That left Angus 41* and Pin-up Andy 1* to finish the innings off at 8-218. Myoden bowled very well in the rain and only allowed 38 extras in their ! innings, which was good considering the ball was like a piece of soap for much of the innings. 

During the break, the rain had stopped and the ground was looking in great condition for Myoden’s innings. Toppa (who can't remember his real name) started the inning off with some very good fast bowling but it was Matt S at the other end that got the first wicket of the innings, taking Tiwari for 2 (1-3) and a few runs later at the other end Toppa bowled Kamble for 0 (2-5). Markale and Kurundakar tried hard to steady the ship but only made it to 36 before Markale was caught by Suboh off Arbab for 3 (3-36). 10 runs later, Arbab bowled Kulkarni for 1 (4-46). Kurundakar and Vesly kept the runs coming off the bat while our bowlers helped by bowling a few too many wides and it took a very good run-out by Nick to break Myoden's best partnership (Kurundakar 21, 5-82). Larry bowled Keshmukh for 1 (6-84) and Andy also bowled Vesly for 32 (7-120). The Kytes again bowled very well apart from 47 wides and let's hope we can iron those out.  

Thanks to Myoden for coming all that way and playing in the rain and good luck for future games. 

04/06/2006: Kanto Cricket League EGM: 
New League to replace old one after official dissolution: 
At the EGM called by the Kanto Cricket League EGM following the resignation of 3 Committee members, the present League was dissolved and will be replaced by a new League of the same name to start on July 2nd.