MIB Bring Too Much Heat

by Joe Lewis

The Men in Blue got underway at Sano 3 with a degree of apprehension. This apprehension was not about the opponents on the field but rather the sun above. All weather reports pointed towards this being the hottest match of the season, and the Wombats all brought a mighty amount of liquid to compensate (excluding Corey, who rocked up with a single 500ml bottle of green tea). Both sides had the foresight to bring gazebos to defend against the sweltering heat, but in what would be a fitting omen for what was to come, the Men in Blue’s gazebo stood proud and tall, while the Wombats spent a good 30 minutes trying to set up a broken death trap of a gazebo that was eventually left lying like a dead giraffe for the day. Fortunately, the MIB were kind enough to let us use theirs.

The Wombats had somehow managed to scramble 11 players in the eleventh hour once more. Corey, well into the process of leaving Japan for good, stood up with only the clothes on his back to help the Wombats one last time. The Wombats won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch so slow it might as well have been beach cricket. The toss result brought a cheer from the MIB, who no doubt did not fancy fielding in the peak heat of the day. This would later prove to be their only strategy that failed for the day.

With the Wombat innings underway, skipper Ali and Masaki showed calm and effective batting, working to a plan understanding that it was not a high-scoring pitch and anything 150+ was very defendable. A sensible approach got the Wombats to an excellent start of 50/0. But no sooner had the applause for the milestone finished than Ali was on his way back for 33 after being adjudged LBW to one that hit him high on his personal middle stump. No doubt Ali’s diminutive size in height (and not his middle stump) likely cost him what looked like a luckless decision.

Enter Robbie McKenna in his last game for the Wombats, whose batting returns up to now poorly reflected his ability. He started looking sharp and rotating the strike well. At 69/1, a number fondly recognized within the Wombat brigade turned out to be a full traitor. Starting with Masaki, playing outside his comfort zone, he advanced down the wicket in an effort to get the run rate up and was stumped for his efforts in what was an excellent job at the top of the order. Robbie McKenna immediately after, in a similar vein to Ali, was out when the ball hit him on the hip. Once again, a short batsman with his (checks notes) 193cm height working against him as the umpire judged that the ball was not going to go over the stumps and raised the finger to add Robbie (9) along with Ali in his big scalp collection.. Then, immediately after, with 2 wickets in 2 balls, Tanzeem read the situation and surmised that a collapse was on the cards and needed to play his role, immediately cracking the sweetest lofted pull shot straight to the one man on the boundary for a golden duck. The Wombats were suddenly left reeling at 69/4 with all the veterans out. This left it up to the youngsters to dig the Wombats out, but that didn’t happen as the Wombats were all out for 90 in 25 overs.

However, this wasn’t due to a lack of ability of the youngsters but rather a lack of temperament. It is no coincidence that the only two players of the remaining batters to last 10 or more deliveries were Satyam and Joe (Not Out). These are the two players (except Corey) who don’t regularly practice and lack the ability that our younger players so clearly have. Tetsu was a tad unlucky, hitting back to the bowler. Arpan mishit a shot that went softly to an infielder, Archit was bowled playing a shot for a duck, and Sachchit was given out stumped, a decision he felt warranted a glare at the nonplussed umpire Adam Birss, who gave the decision (the only glare Adam was ever going to be concerned with was that of the sun). These guys can learn from the top order that sometimes the scenario needs you to be out there and not worry about runs; they come with time. Getting out to aggressive shots is not how to give your wicket in that scenario. Satyam played some nice shots until he was pinned down by a spinner and fed one to mid-on for 10. Corey, in his last game with the Wombats, was advised by remaining partner Joe to try to survive and scrimp and scrape some runs but opted instead to go out in a blaze of glory, giving a blind swish at one that knocked back his off peg, and that was it. Fifteen overs of careful managing and strategy followed by a swift collapse, much like our gazebo.

The delighted MIB set about to get the bonus point with reckless abandon, lofting for the fences. This approach gave the Wombats some success with all bowlers (Joe, Robbie, Archit, Arpan) gaining wickets, with some bowlers potentially gaining more had all catches been taken (I counted 3 in total, although another Wombat claimed 4). The MIB got there in 11.2 overs, losing 5 wickets in the process. A blessing, really, as on the last delivery, the clouds finally broke, and the heat really started to come down hard. By the time the Wombats left Tatebayashi, it was registering 41 degrees Celsius! Hopefully, the Wombats can take some important lessons from this experience and will be better for it in future games. Good luck to Robbie and Corey in their future endeavors, and it has been a pleasure playing with you. Big up the Wommies!