Here is the report of the matches we played during the Kanto Cup tournament. You can also find this report in the Straight Bat cricket magazine. Straight Bat is a bi-monthly bilingual cricket magazine published from Japan.
Played on: September 13, 1997 Played at: Fuji Result : Won by Tokyo Bay CC
The Indian Engineers CC(IECC), in their 1st ever Kanto cup match was defeated summarily by Tokyo Bay, thanks to an all round performance by their new comer Rob Macnnon . Although IECC went on to score 178, more than the target they set for themselves, thanks to some hard hitting by Amit Chatterji, aided by some wayward bowling which included 7 wides in an over by Kanna, the score proved to be too small for TB.
IECC captain Biju Paul won the toss and elected to bat first relying on the weather forecast. The forecast was that it was going to be cloudy and windy in the afternoon and rain in the night. Biju thought of taking advantage of this but ultimately deceived by the weather bureau . It was sunny in the afternoon and the outfield was dry and the ball went like a bullet in the outfield. The Engineers batted according to their pre-match strategy of not going for big hits, taking singles and twos with a run rate of 4.5 per over. In that process IECC posted their highest ever opening partnership of 43 runs in only 8 overs. Opener Silvester was the first wicket to fall, misjudging a yorker. Atul, the other opener was caught magnificently by a diving Rob at long on at 60. That brought Bobby and Abhijeet together and the pair was looking good when Rob clean bowled Bobby with the score at 95. Two balls later(in fact, 7th ball of the over, a miscounting by the umpire), Rob again clean bowled captain Biju. That brought Amit to crease and this keeper-batsman went berserk. He scored an enterprising 41(6x4) and was tired when he was caught behind. It would have been different ball game had Amit lasted a few more overs. Ce la vie! (thats life). Abhijit was shaping up well for a big innings when he was given out LBW even as TB appealed for caught behind! Paulson, the last batsman was stumped by the keeper as he went down the pitch for a big hit after a couple of good defences. Engineers were all out for 178 in 37.3 overs.
Bobby and Biju opened the bowling attack for the Engineers. The TB openers Rob and Shiramizu looked in no trouble at all although Rob offered a difficult chance at short fine leg off the bowling of Biju. On the fourth over Rob hit 24 runs(3x4, 2x6) bringing the memories Tendulkar and Abdul Qadir of Pakistan. From there on there was no stopping for Rob and the Engineers were put on leather hunt. The ball was lost a couple of times in the surrounding jungle but could be retrieved after a thorough search. Rob went on to score 86 runs(11x4, 2x6) before Atul came into attack. He offered a simple catch at mid wicket off an innocuous delivery by Atul. Rob looked every bit of a Grade I player that he is supposed to be. Another useful contribution came from Robs partner Shiramizu (52, 7x4) who played some straight bat shots. It was getting dark at 5:30, still both the teams continued with the intention of completing the match. At the 31st over TB needed 5 runs for a victory with 7 wickets in hand. They achieved it with help of a 4. Basically it was a one man show by Rob with 3 wickets, a spectacular catch and 86 runs. A commendable effort, indeed. For the Engineers, Abhijeet , Bobby and Atul bowled well. TBs bowler Kanna has a suspicious bowling action as it looks like he is chucking the ball towards the end of his action.
Brief score:
IECC 178 all out in 37.3 overs.
Atul 16, Silvester 17, Abhijeet 24, Amit 41. Extras 54 (42w, 5nb, 4lb, 3bye)
Tokyo Bay 179/3 in 31 overs
Rob 86, Shiramizu 52. Extras 27 (15w, 11nb, 1bye)
Played on: September 28, 1997 Played at: Shizuoka Result : Won by Shizuoka
IECC had to pay a heavy price for their lack of stroke play in their
encounter against Shizuoka. Shizuoka won comfortably in 29 overs. In fact,
they were on the chase right from the first over. Opener Dirshad Ali belted
Biju for 2 sixes in the first over itself. When he was run out in the 4th
over for 26 off 15 balls, the jubilation in the Engineers camp was as though
they won the match.
Ali pushed Abhijit for two to the covers. The throw from the covers didn't
exactly landed in the keeper's golves and the batsmen attempted for a third
run. But Amol from the backward square leg quickly picked up the ball and
threw it back to the 'keeper and he did the rest of the job while Ali found
the crease a few yards away. The smile on the engineers' face said it all.
Obviously, the news of his 145 not out against Fuji was fresh in the mind
of Engineers. From then on, Engineers were able to keep the pressure on
Shizuokans although the run rate was more than required. The rate at which
the wickets fell, they believed that they could get the Shizuokans out for
less than 150. However the arrival of Bruce and Andrew proved that wrong.
From 61/4 at one point they raced to 138/5 with very few ground shots. The
only bowler who could restrict the Shizuokans was Harold Tauro. His figures
read 6-0-24-0. 12 of the 24 runs came from his 6th over when Andy hit him
for two sixes to win the match by 5 wickets. When IECC came to bowl, Biju
did a Martin Crowe by asking Abhijit, the right arm spinner to open bowling
with him. It did pay off as Abhijit clean bowled one of the openers in his
second over. For the Engineers Abhijit took 3 wickets and Biju 1.
Earlier, IECC captain Biju Paul won the toss for the second time in a row and elected to bat first on a grassy pitch. Opener Silvester was out on the 4the ball of the innings and the first ball he faced with the score at 1. It was a nicely pitched ball and Silvester went forward for a stroke and was bowled between bat and pad. That brought Abhijit in, one of the most experienced of the side. He along with Atul, the other opener put in 19 runs before Atul offered a high return catch to Bruce. Bruce, tall as he is, had no difficulty whatsoever, in holding on to that one. The highlight of the IECC innings was a 61 run 6th wicket partnership between captain Biju and new comer Dinesh Kurle, the highest for any wicket for IECC. After Biju was run out in the 36th over for personal score of 30, it seemed that the Engineers didn't have a tail. Batsman after batsman went after the Shizuoka bowlers putting the top order to shame. For a moment, it seemed that Biju's run out was a blessing in disguise. Perhaps, the most enterprising of them all was Harold who came in at number 9 and hit a four and six off successive balls and was clean bowled on the third one he faced! It reminded one of the match between India and West Indies at Sharjah when Srikant hit Malcolm Marshall for four and six off successive balls and was bowled on third one he faced.
Brief scores:Bowling:
Biju 8-0-46-1
Abhijeet 8-0-45-3
Silvester 4-0-25-0
Stanley 3-0-22-0
Harold 6-0-24-0
Shizuoka 176/5 in 29 overs
Extras: 29 (20w, 1nb, 1lb, 7b)
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-59, 3-59, 4-61, 5-138
Bowling:
Philips 8-0-27-1
Harris 8-0-35-2
Ali 8-0-38-0
Andrew 8-0-46-4
Matsuda 3-0-11-1
Harrington 5-1-21-0