We assembled at YCAC for Round 3 of the Japan Cup Division 2 clash with our friendly rivals, British Embassy.

Arriving with many of the regulars out suspended, or otherwise unavailable, and only 10 players, one of those who was Jamie Payne’s dad Mervyn, at the sprightly age of 70 years old meant it could be a long, and hot day at the office for the Wombats.

Captain for the day Rex won the toss and elected to bat, and put on a great partnership with Jack of 97, getting the Wombats off to a great start. Rex was batting beautifully until he misjudged a slower one from Vik. On the team sheet the batting did look to fall off a cliff somewhere after position 2 though, and so it would turn out with the wommies going from 0/97 to 4/103~! A boundary from Jamie straight down the ground was sadly just a flash in a pan, as he was stumped a few balls later, Satyam, Aaron and Jack going swiftly as well. Niranjan and Milinda put on a face saving partnership at the end of the innings with some nice shots with us finishing up on 6/141 off our 20 overs. Probably 20-30 short of a competitive total, but with the ace up our sleeve – Robocop Ken Oiwa joining us in the 2nd innings to field who knows what would be possible!

Satyam and Milinda opened up the bowling, with Satyam making the ball “singh” on many occasions with some good outswing. He got an early wicket thanks to a great catch from Jack (sadly that would not be the only thing the Wombats caught from this match!). After that, it was tough to find a wicket as the Embassy batters slowly went about eating away at the total, and the wombats bowlers offering up too many freebies. Rex and Niranjan had some tight overs, as did Jamie when he got his line and length right, but there was not much more to cheer about, apart from a fine catch by debutant Keita off the bowling of Rex for the second wicket.

That was all she wrote, as Euan and somehow Rob, in a superhuman effort just to stand up, managed to see Embassy home very comfortably with 6 overs to spare.

Some very enjoyable cold beers were shared, and highlights and lowlights comments were passed around……along with a few other things that half the wombats seemed to have caught! Not a good day at the wicket when you get more positive cases than you take wickets!

Anyway, still in 2nd place and a good chance to finishing top 2, and a replay vs Embassy later in the year with a stronger line up should produce a closer game.

Thanks to Aaron, Ken and young Mervyn for helping out today, and for Keita for finally making his debut!