Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
Curtains down Japanese season
December is the bonenkai season and clubs are holding their award nights
everywhere. One club we know that celebrated their fantastic year in style was
the KCL Champions, Tokyo Giants.
The Kanto Cricket League held the presentation ceremony at an Indian/Pakistani
restaurant at Koshigaya and the Giants had done elaborate arrangements to
celebrate this occasion, including short-circuit cameras and a free dinner for
the invitees. The chief guest of the night was the Ambassador of Pakistan, who
gave away the trophies. The Ambassador spent more than two hours in the
restaurant mingling with the cricketers and listening to the history of cricket
in Japan and that of the KCL. The surprise guest and speaker at the ceremony was
the CEO of the JCA, Alex Miyaji. Miyaji's appearance was indeed a welcome sign
of thawing relations between the two bodies.
The Ambassador gave away awards to the following cricketers as individual
performers, in addition to the runner up and the winner.
MVP - Ahmad Kamal (Tokyo Giants)
Best batsman - Dhanuka Samaranayake (Serendib)
Best bowler - Noman Iqbal (Lalazar)
Man of the Final - Hameed Saeed (Tokyo Giants)
Photos the night are posted
here.
Correction: In the last issue we had incorrectly reported that this was the
Giant's 10th KCL victory. It is their 9th victory. Error is regretted.
+ Cricket Victoria conducts coaching camp in Japan +
Cricket Victoria conducted a 3 day Advanced Coaching seminar in Tokyo last
month. The seminar, an Australian Level Two Coaching course, covered sessions
related to the technical, tactical and fitness/health aspects of Cricket. JCA
waived the fees, about JPY 10,000, for those currently active in coaching or
possess a desire to coach in the near future. This was the highest level course
ever to be held in Japan.
Indian Engineers on Twitter
Well, the Engineers can't be away from latest technology for too long. Follow the Engineers at http://twitter.com/ieccjapan/ for live match updates and other cricket updates.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell feels given its increasing
popularity, the
Indian Premier League would soon become a world event and take cricket to
hitherto
unexplored regions. "I can see the day when IPL becomes a world format and we'll
have New York playing Bombay playing Beijing playing Sydney playing London,"
Chappell said. "I have a feeling that Test cricket is going to reduce in size
rather
than grow in size," he added.
###
Michael Clarke, who recently returned to the Australian cricket team as
vice-captain,
wants to lead the side in future but only if incumbent Ricky Ponting decides to
walk
away on his own. "I could sit here and lie and say I don't think about it. The
truth
is I hope I continue to get opportunities, whether it be one-day cricket, now
with
Twenty20 cricket or hopefully one day I get the chance to captain in Test
cricket,"
Clarke said. "But it is all so far away. Right now, I am over the moon and
stoked I
have been given the chance to captain the Twenty20. My leader, still, is Ricky
Ponting."
###
Michael Clarke should never become a Test captain, considering his injury
worries and
Ricky Ponting's desire to lead the national side to England for Ashes revenge in
2013,
feel former Australian greats. "Michael Clarke hasn't convinced me that he's
durable
enough to be a captain," said Ian Healy. Former Test captain Kim Hughes
expressed concern about Clarke's health saying, "Michael Clarke is getting
experience,
but there must be a question mark over him now with his back. The danger is that
Clarke,
because of his degenerative back injury, he might only be able to play Test
cricket."
###
Shakib Al Hasan became the first ever Bangladeshi cricketer to be signed by an
English county after Worcestershire roped him as their overseas recruit for next
year.
Currently the number one all-rounder in the ICC rankings, the 22-year-old Shakib
will
join the club after the completion of Bangladesh's tour to England in mid-July
2010,
subject to completion of visa arrangements. Shakib was thrilled with the
distinction
and said he was looking forward to join the county which had legendary all-rounders
Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Imran Khan in their ranks. "I consider it a huge
honour to
be the first Bangladeshi overseas player in county cricket and can't wait to
give my
all for the club on the field," Shakib said.
###
The IPL is innovating - Four fielding substitutes instead of the lone 12th man,
pink
balls in practice matches and abolishing the Icon player status are some of the
innovations which the Indian Premier League would embrace from its 2011 edition.
From
2010 onwards, IPL would also be played under the supervision of the ICC Anti
Corruption
and Security Unit, while players who skip the tournament despite not having any
national
assignment might have their contracts terminated.
###
A host of Indian politicians are using cricket terminology and epithets to
defend
Sachin Tendulkar against a local Indian plitician who decried that Tendulkar's
remarks
that Mumbai (his hometown) belongs to all India, not just to Maharashtra (his
home state
and whose capital is Mumbai). "You have left the crease and moved to the pitch
of politics,"
Bal Thackeray, the firebrand Hindu Fundamentalist politician, had said in his
party
newspaper's editorial. "Sachin has got Bal Thackeray out. Now, he (Thackeray)
may cry as
much as he wants after the fall of the wicket", a Union Minister said. "Tendulkar
has
stumped Thackeray", another one said. Yet another one made an entry in the
scorebook of
politics, "B Thackeray c&b S Tendulkar".
###
Peter McGlashan set an international record for catches by a wicketkeeper in a
first-
class match when he claimed his 12th catch for Northern Districts province
against
Central Districts in New Zealand domestic match last month. The former New
Zealand
'keeper took six catches, including one to dismiss former Black Caps batsman
Mathew
Sinclair, during Central's first innings and seven, including catches from
internationals Jamie How and Ross Taylor, in its second. McGlashan, 30, broke
the
record shared by 11 players, including former Australian wicketkeeper Rod Marsh
and
Zimbabwean Wayne James, when he caught Bevan Griggs off the bowling of Graham
Aldridge.
###
MCC, the custodian of the world's most famous cricket ground, Lord's, will turn
to
investors from the Middle East to help bankroll its planned £400 million
redevelopment
of Lord's, which is designed to turn the ground into the world's finest cricket
stadium.
The plans include to increase capacity by 7,500, to 37,000, and to build a new
cricket
academy in tunnels underneath the Nursery End. The main driver for revenue will
be the
sale of luxury flats around the ground, which estate agents have valued at £1.2
million
each.
###
Cricketer-turned-commentator Geoffrey Boycott kicked up a storm with an on-air
four-
letter rant during the third England-South Africa ODI, prompting the British
Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) to apologise for the indiscretion. Boycott was heard shouting
"f******
t****r" during BBC Test Match Special coverage of England's third ODI against
South
Africa. "An off-air comment made by Geoffrey Boycott in a live broadcast was
heard by
some listeners which we apologised for as soon as we realised it had been
audible," a
Radio 5 Live spokesman said.
###
Source: Various web and print media
ACC U19 Cup
Hosts Thailand overcame rivals Maldives by a handsome margin of 86 runs in the
opening match of the ACC U19 Challenge while China defeated Brunei in the second
match. Apart from the hosts, Kuwait, China, Maldives, Brunei, Bahrain, Myanmar
and Iran are the other participating countries in the tournament that is
currently being held between 9th – 18th December 2009 Cup at Prem Oval, Chiang
Mai Gymkhana. Kuwait are favourites to lift the trophy.
Bali Sixes tournament announced in Easter 2010
Cricket Bali has announced its Bali Sixes tournament to be held in Easter 2010
at Udayana University Ground on the Bukit Peninsula, South Bali. The three-day
event will run from 2-4 April 2010 and consist of a maximum of 12 competing
teams, with six players in each team. The finals will be held on Sunday, 4 April
along with a Bali young players' match followed by presentations.
Fiji builds towards World Cricket League event
Cricket Fiji took a major step towards participating in the World Cricket League
when they started a new competition, the Elite Player League, to ensure that
players are used to the competition rules when they progress to playing for the
Fiji Blues at international level. With Fiji set to play in the World Cricket
League Division 5 competition in Nepal next February, this competition will be
used as an important part of the team selection and preparation phase.
Results as of October 30:
Here is the list of the top 10 teams(last month's ranking in brackets):
1 Tokyo Giants (1)
2 Tokyo Wombats (2)
3 Lalazar (6)
4 Nagoya (3)
5 Wyverns (5)
6 Serendib (5)
7 YC&AC (7)
8 MAX (8)
9 Adore (9)
9 Kansai Lions (8)
9 Al karam (10)
10 Indian Engineers (9)
See the full list here.
We encourage all teams to send us your result statistics regularly so that your team's rankings remain as accurate as possible. We are in a position to obtain the results of the official tournament matches on our own but we are looking for the results of the friendly matches.
Whilst not disputing the fact that the Giants deserve to win the KCL every
year, do you think that playing a home match every time is to their
advantage? If I am incorrect about this then I apologise.
David Todd
Editor** We encourage our readers to write back to us with your articles, opinion, feedback and criticism. Feel free to write about anything related to cricket, in Japan or outside.
Do agree with the suggestion of lifting the quota for the bowlers in ODI to
make it more interesting?
Yes 11%
No 89%
Somewhat 0%
Take the new poll:
Do you think India can sustain the No.1 rank in the Tests ?
Best of the Web
Peter Siddle with Delhi's Cricket Impressionist
Virender sehwag's stunning double century spawned a clan for himself. Here are
some:
http://www.cricketwithballs.com/2009/12/03/sehwag-saves/
Note: Beginning the Issue #39 (May 6, '04), we bring you some interesting snippets from the cricket world, to celebrate the fourth anniversary this Newsletter and first anniversary of our popular "Trivial Facts" series. The same will be published on the front page of our website too.
"I swear I'll never hit another 400 in my life." 12-year-old Sarfaraz Khan after scoring 439 in an U-16 inter-school match in India.
1. Australia have scored 300+ runs on more than 55 occasions in ODIs - the most
by any side.
That's all in this edition!