Shankar Subramaniyam steals the show with a fine all round performance

By Biju Paul

The I.E.C.C geared up for their do-or-die Kanto Cup match next month by securing a morale boosting 4 wicket win over a depleted Fuji C.C, who were short of three players, on Sunday, July 30th. It was Shankar Subramaniyam who played a pivotal role in this big victory by scoring an unbeaten 42 and taking two wickets earlier. So tired was he towards the later stages of IECC innings that he had to ask for a runner in the pretext of an injury(!) but Glenn Carter, the opposition captain, was quick enough to realise the fake but was kind enough to allow a runner nonetheless, in exchange for allowing his wicket keeper to turn in his arm for a few overs. That much for the friendly matches!

The victory was a hard fought one as the Engineers had to survive a mid innings scare, where they lost 3 wickets in one over, to come back into the game. However, it was a welcome change as the Engineers were able to keep the opposition batsmen under check throughout the innings, and when they returned to bat, they batted out 31 overs for the loss of only 6 wickets while scoring the required 124 runs. Great improvement, indeed!

The match got off to a delayed start at 12:00 noon due to the late arrival of Engineers at the ground who were caught in the notorious Tokyo traffic jam and then getting lost somewhere near the ground itself which, incidentally, bared vice-captain Silvester’s navigational skills and Japanese conversational ability, and then by the late arrival of a Fuji player. So the match was decided to be of 35 overs each.

The early morning shower, which the weather bureau had failed to predict even on Saturday night, had left the outfield wet and soggy and unsurprisingly, this correspondent, as the captain of the Engineers’ team, elected to field first after winning the toss. Santosh opened the bowling with yours truly for the Engineers and the usual flurry of wides continued, which incidentally, was the second highest scorer on the Fuji side with 30 after the Fuji opener Junior Takahashi’s defiant 49. It was in the 7th over that the Engineers met with their first success when the writer of this article had the Fuji opener Indika caught behind for 11 but that was not before Indika messed up with his bowling figures with a well hit 6 into the nearby jungle. Then Rahul Kumar removed the dangerous Mahen Fernando cheaply. But at the other end, Junior continued to play sensibly but the boundaries were hard to come by because of the wet outfield, although Glenn and his team had put in a lot of effort to make the ground as pristine as possible by cutting the grass on about two-thirds of the ground. None of the Fuji batsmen were able to stroke the ball as freely as Junior. He batted until the 34th over and was the man responsible for giving Fuji a respectable total of 123 with a solid innings of 49. He was the last man out caught behind off Rahul Kumar, while trying to accelerate the run rate. Of the bowlers, Rahul Kumar had the impressive figures of 4-2-13-2.

It wasn’t a smooth sailing for the Engineers either when they returned to bat. They lost Rajkumar early in the innings cheaply. Shankar, who normally bats in the middle order, was sent in as the replacement at number 3 and he rose to the occasion by playing a memorable innings. He put up a 37 runs partnership with Balu who was sent in as Rajkumar’s opening partner. Coming back to bowl, Junior threatened to be a one-man demolition squad when he had the Engineers by tail by taking three wickets in one over thereby giving Fuji a glimmer of hope and Engineers a nightmare. From a seemingly healthy score of 47/1, the Engineers collapsed to 48/4 and then to 74/6. This brought the smile back on the Fujian’s(if that’s the word!) face, only to realise later that the Engineers had no tail. They managed to tide over the crisis with an unbroken 7th wicket partnership of 50 runs between Shankar and the skipper, and won the match comfortably in the 31st over with 4 wickets in hand. Junior ended up with figures of 5/25 off 7 overs.

But the best part of the day was reserved at the Land of Oz, a bar run by Glenn, where both teams got together and enjoyed his generous hospitality. But for the Engineers, the worst was yet to come. They were caught in a 4-hour traffic jam(again!) on their way back to Tokyo.

Brief Score:
Fuji 123 all out in 34 overs(Junior 49), IECC 124/6 in 31 overs(Shankar 42*, Junior 5/25)

Newsletter

July 17, 2000                                                                                              Issue #4

Welcome to this edition of the IECC Newsletter.

Kanto Cup on CricInfo

Kanto Cup made its way into CricInfo’s fortnightly column Beyond The Test World or BTTW, which concentrates on cricket in non-Test playing nations such as Japan. The report is compiled by Biju Paul. You can find this article by following the link “Beyond the Test World” from the main page of CricInfo(http://www-usa.cricket.org/) or by clicking

http://www-usa.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2000/JUN/039899_BTTW_28JUN2000.html.

This column will continue to cover Kanto Cup and other indigenous tournaments in Japan.

IECC Vs. Japan Selection

In the upset of the Kanto Cup tournament, the Japan Selection defeated IECC by 6 wickets. A full match report is available at http://www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/. Follow the link “Kanto Cup–>Match Reports. A full scorecard is available at http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/olympia/tennis/146/JAPAN-ENGINEERS.html.

Points position

As of now we are in a very bad position. Even if we win the only remaining match of us, we are in an unenviable position. Assuming that Japan Selection will lose their remaining two matches, we will tie with them with 10 points apiece, in which case the run rate will be taken into consideration to determine the fourth qualifier for the quarter finals. As of now, with only two matches played, Japan Selection is ahead of us in the run rate too. We can only pray that they lose very badly in their next two matches and we win our next match with lot of runs on board. Given below is the run rate so far:

IECC:

Vs. Shiz 87/10, Vs. Japan 117/10, Vs. YC & AC 128/10. Runrate: 332/30 = 11.07

Japan Selection:

Vs. Indian E. 118/4, Vs. YC & AC 77/10 Runrate: 195/14 = 13.97

The points tally

Having played all their 4 matches in the league level, YC & AC leads Group A(our group) with 3 wins and a draw(14 points). Friends XI leads Group B with 10 points from 3 matches(2 wins and a draw). Brief results of the matches played so far and the points position is available at http://www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/kantocup.htm.

Our schedule

As of now, we have two more matches coming up which are on:

August 13 Vs. YC & AC (Friendly)

August 20 Vs. Tokyo Giants (Kanto Cup)

Apart from these, there are 5 more matches whose dates are still unknown. They are the 3 match series Pacific Cup with the Shizuoka Kytes and the other 3 match series called Indo-British Friendship Cup with the British Embassy of which one match is already considered to have been played earlier this year.

Sheikh is in trouble again

Edogawa Falcons Captain Shikh Nissar clashed with Fuji captain Glenn Carter over the condition of the Fuji ground where the Falcons were supposed to play their league match against Fuji. According to the reports, Glenn declared the ground unfit for play on the day before the match which Sheikh refused to accept and wanted to play at any cost. In the ensuing argument over the phone, Glenn reported to have abused Sheikh using foul language. The Kanto Cup committee has since rescheduled the match but it is not yet known if this is acceptable to both the teams.

That’s all in this edition. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

Japan Selection scores an upset victory over IECC

Sriram’s 51 goes in vein

By Biju Paul

Catches win matches. 5 dropped catches told the whole story. Less fancied Japan Selection defeated the Indian Engineers by 6 wickets in what may be the only upset of the tournament so far. With this defeat the Engineers face an uphill task ahead if they want to qualify for the quarter finals. In the remaining two matches, either they have to win both or win at least won and pray that Japan Selection lose their remaining engagements by wide margin so that the Engineers can move ahead on run rate. Engineers’ captain Biju Paul elected to bat after his counterpart Yoichi Sato lost the toss. And the start was as usual which was all too familiar for Engineers these days. They lost opener Rajkumar in the first over and Amit, the other opener fell in the fourth over. Just when things started looking easy with a solid third wicket partnership of 52 runs between the ever dependable Sriram Sampath and the wicket keeper Balu Lal, Balu ran himself out while attempting a sharp single. After that the Engineers kept coming and going as if they are coming to inspect the pitch. Captain tried to anchor the decline by facing 32 deliveries while scoring only 5 runs but was the last man out having declared LBW. That is not to discredit the excellent Japanese performance, though. The Japanese bowlers bowled an excellent line and length, getting the lift off the seam occasionally which found the edges of the Engineers’ blade on it’s way to the slip cordon. Of the Engineers’ total of 117, only 85 came off the bat, out of which Sriram scored 51 with the help of some beautifully executed shots to boundary. There were only 7 boundaries scored in their innings, 6 of which was by Sriram. This man is a beauty to watch while at the crease. Perhaps, the best stylish player around in Tokyo. With memories of YC & AC bowling out the Japan Selection for less than 80 runs the previous week, Engineers started off with lot of hope in their hearts and soap in their hands. Two catches were dropped in the first 4 overs, both openers being the beneficiaries of the Engineers’ benevolence on each occasion, Biju being the suffering bowler on both occasions. After that, the Japanese never looked in trouble and kept the score board(if ever there was one!) ticking with singles and twos. As usual, it took Jagan Panda, who is usually Biju’s opening bowling partner, but came in as the fourth bowling change this time because of an injured shoulder, to provide the Engineers with a break through. But by this time, the Japanese had more or less sealed the fate of the match with an opening partnership of 72 runs off 17 overs. It was never going to be easy for the Engineers after that. The only thing they could do was to pray for a heavy rain before the 20th over is bowled so that the match may be rescheduled. They dropped 3 more catches. Captain kept shuffling his bowlers with the hope of a miraculous collapse by the Japanese. But what is written is to be happened and it happened at the end of the 26th over. The Japan Selection defeated the Indian Engineers by 6 wickets. Fumito Miyakawa remained not out on 36. Well done Japan Selection! Way to go!! Hope this victory will be a morale booster for them and it will do a world of good for Cricket in Japan.