- Match Report
- Scorecard
- Highlights
- Photos
Wombats Engineer First Win of Season
by James Sanderson
After constant rain, the sunshine came through on the glorious YCAC for the first game to the T20 season for the Wombats. After a late minute drop out Pramod stood up to the mark and filled in and managed to just get to the ground on time with a couple of others! (nothing like a 12:45 meet) for a 13:30 start!
Three debutants the rugby team came with travelling support who seemed like they had been in the bar a while, the atmosphere was there, the beer was flowing, the chants were made. Not a single Engineer decided to go the changing rooms next to the bar, it was game on!
With a team full of debutants, the Wombats were ready for the match. James Captain of the T20 side went out to the middle with the Engineers Captain and won the toss (tails never fails) and chose to bowl. This was treated to a barrage of abuse from Ken Dobson (on debut) about why we would bowl first to James, would the little Jack Russell eat his words?
Opening the bowling came big Jano Venter, the opening batsman a little rattled seeing the big man running down and bowling a good pace of fast bowling, back by the travelling fan contingent heckling the Engineers on every shot. Up the other end Pramod and bowling his 60mph spinners on a plastic wicket which had great effect and dispatching the opening batsman LBW. Next wicket fell quickly after with a brilliant catch behind the stumps by Ali after a hot spell from JV. JV continued his spell with a peach of a delivery, which was called on his run up by the travelling support, bang on middle stump. 19-3, Wombats the underdog in a commanding position and the incoming batsman receiving a good deal of heckling from the sidelines.
Then came a good stand from the Engineers middle order. This was broken however by some lovely flighted deliveries from Tom Bowles tempting the batsman into the big shots, hit straight to JV at deep mid-wicket. 3 balls later Tom was back at it and got the number 5 batsman plumb LBW. 57-5.
Wombats had their tails up and JV was back in the attack bowling the captain, with him just making 1 run. Next came the mix ups of mix ups, Engineers under pressure needing runs due to tight fielding by the Wombats pushed for 1 run, well one batsman did the other just stood and looked at his team mate sprinting towards him, probably Ali’s easiest run out he will ever make.
Jamie Craig came into the attack and his bowling was something for the ages, good medium pace bowling ensured a wafted shot went straight to JV again, hands like buckets that boy. Then came the masterclass in beamers, one is rattling, seconded is dogey and the third receives a ban from bowling, next Jamie keep it to one or two!
Ken Dobson completed Jamie’s over and was back in the attack from the same end getting a crucial LBW of their number 9 batsman.
Lots of extras for a T20 match totaling to 30 and Engineers total on 122/9, a very reachable score!
Batting
With the travelling support crashing slightly, probably the hangover, they were perked up when the Wombats came out to Bat with Ali and Brendan opening. Ali a safe pair of hands and decent with the batt came straight out the gate with a quick start. Brendan on his first game of cricket, ex baseball player was ready for his first delivery holding the batt exactly like he knew how. The Captain was already worrying about his two-game suspension if Brendan made contact and imagining this ball fly over the fence! Unfortunately for Brendan, he well place delivery managed to find his middle stump, first ball, onwards and upwards.
Kavin was next in and fell to the same fate as Brendan as he got stuck in his crease and the balled smashed into his pads, 12-2, Ali keeping us going. James came in and it looked like he was in the for the test match getting 2 off 12 before a well struck shot went straight to point, with the fielder taking a stunning one handed over the shoulder no look catch (it was straight down his throat). 34-4, next in Ken Dobson who made a solid start for his first two balls and then got bowled but we still have Ali making his way. Pramod next in and made a good 14 runs with some great shots including a couple of 4’s and a 6, (Captain little worried when it came off the batt).
Just a thought goes out to the deep mid-wicket Engineers fielder who was standing within touching distance of the travelling support was receiving a good ear full, taking it well and giving it back (rather him than me).
Club Captain Alex came next to the crease, proving his only shot is not getting forward and defending! Patmore was playing shots like every girl from Tokyo and Yokohama was there to support him, the reverse, the drive, one handed, two handed, the cricket wasn’t too bad either.
Ali after a great knock keeping the innings together got caught on 35, a good innings! Jamie Craig came to the crease and technically looked great (unlike his bowling) and scored a good 11 of 9 before falling for the same fate as Ali.
Tom came into the attack with Wombats only needing 11 to win, faced one ball and made 1. Patmore was down the other end, thinking he was at Lords playing some outrageous shots but got us safely across the line.
The travelling contingent went nuts, the Engineers in disbelief, Wombats not really knowing what to do and the best bit the Jack Russell did indeed eat his words! A great win from the team.
Next match 16th August.
| Tokyo Wombats CC vs Indian Engineers CC |
| Japan Cup 2020 (South Kanto), YCAC, Kanagawa, July 19, 2020 |
| Toss | Tokyo Wombats CC |
| Umpires | Tigers CC |
| Result | Tokyo Wombats won by 3 wickets |
| TWCC MoM | J Venter |
| Indian Engineers CC Innings: 122/9 (20.0 overs) |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| N Pandya | lbw b P Singh | 5 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 33.33 |
| P Ram | c M Ali† b J Venter | 10 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 30.91 |
| P Kale | b J Venter | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| A Jain | c J Venter b T Bowes | 16 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| A Shah | lbw b T Bowes | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 88.89 |
| M BB*† | b J Venter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| N Pawar | run out (M Ali†) | 9 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| K Ghadge | c J Venter b J Craig | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| I KM | not out | 24 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 160.00 |
| R Kamal | lbw b K Dobson | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.00 |
| B Paul | not out | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Extras | (b 2, lb 0, w 25, nb 3) | 30 | ||||
| TOTAL | (9 wickets) | 122 |
| Fall of wickets |
| 13-1 N Pandya, 19-2 P Ram, 19-3 P Kale, 55-4 A Jain, 57-5 A Shah, 67-6 M B B, 75-7 N Pawar, 79-8 K Ghadge, 101-9 R Kamal |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| J Venter | 4.0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Z Bappi | 4.0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.25 |
| P Singh | 4.0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5.50 |
| K Jinasena | 2.0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6.00 |
| J Craig | 2.0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6.50 |
| T Bowes | 2.0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.00 |
| K Dobson | 4.0 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 8.00 |
| Tokyo Wombats CC Innings: 124/7 (16.0 overs) |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| M Ali† | c M BB*† b P Kale | 35 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 100.00 |
| B Gallagher | c N Pandya b R Kamal | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| K Jinasena | lbw b R Kamal | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| J Sanderson* | c A Shah b B Paul | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| K Dobson | b I KM | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 166.67 |
| P Singh | c R Kamal b P Ram | 14 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 155.56 |
| A Patmore | not out | 22 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 146.67 |
| J Craig | c M BB*† b R Kamal | 11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 122.22 |
| T Bowes | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Z Bappi | dnb | |||||
| J Venter | dnb | |||||
| Extras | (b 5, lb 0, w 34, nb 1) | 40 | ||||
| TOTAL | (7 wickets) | 124 |
| Fall of wickets |
| 10-1 B Gallagher, 12-2 K Jinasena, 34-3 J Sanderson*, 44-4 K Dobson, 67-5 P Singh, 95-6 M Ali†, 112-7 J Craig |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| A Singh | 4.0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 7.50 |
| R Kamal | 3.0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5.00 |
| B Paul | 4.0 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 7.00 |
| I KM | 1.0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 11.00 |
| P Ram | 1.0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 19.00 |
| A Jain | 1.0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13.00 |
| P Kale | 2.0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5.50 |
Catches
- Jano’s running catch in the deep. Never expected so committed effort from the huge lad. Cheers for the commitment in bowling and field.
- Ali 2 diving catches, one to his left down leg, one to his right outside edge. Spectacular!
- Jano and Pramod sprinting at each other, eyes only on the ball. Could have ended in disaster (for Pramod)
Quotes
- “F**k me these c**ts are awful”
- “I have 50 girls to choose from back home” – Pramod outlining his post-Japan plans in the bar after the game
- “We should have batted first” – Jano/Ken giving the new captain shit at about 20/3, unaware of Wombats’ previous record against the ‘serious’ sides in the Japan cup
- “Are you sure you don’t want a helmet mate?” Ken to the new batsman, about to face the big Saffer
Great Moments in Sport
- Jano the big white Rhino: 3 wickets, 2 catches on the deep. Lucky we didn’t give him a bat otherwise there wouldn’t have been anything else for us to do.
- Excellent support from the sidelines.
- Ali crashing it through the covers, looked good for his 30-odd
- Pramod bowling at the tough end and getting tons of turn and bounce
- Tom Bowes mastering the art of YCAC bowling, the slower and straighter the better, 2fer off 2 overs
- James debuting and captaining, can’t be often that’s happened!
- Brendan solid fielding all day, nothing went past him
- Not sure where to put this one, but 2 golden ducks on debut – elite club!
- Pramod smashing a 6
- Jamie smashing a couple of 4s over the ring
Golden Thong Nominations
- Ken slipping from the pitch during the bowling. Though came back with wonderful googlies but have us a moment to laugh.
- Jamie Craig for 3 consecutive beam balls and getting thrown out of the attack.
