Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
The Tyler Foundation Sports Extravaganza weekend turned out to be a huge success in spite of a rain on the cricket day. The events, organised the Tyler Foundation to raise funds to help the children who suffer from cancer and their families, started with a dinner on Friday 29th September at Grand Hyatt followed by an 18-hole golf day on Saturday, which was won by Kapil Dev and culminated on Sunday with a cricket match at the YCAC.
The sports personalities that graced the weekend included some big names like Kapil Dev, Mike Gatting, Dion Nash, Pat Symcox, Devon Malcolm, Ray Bright, Clive Rice and South African rugby World Cup winner, Joel Stransky. The cricket match between Kapil Dev's XI and Mike Gatting's XI were captained by Mark Ferris and Mark McTamney, respectively. The Gatting XI, batting first, scored 288 off 40 overs, the foundation of which was laid by Robb McKenna(67) and Junior Takahashi(79) with an opening stand of 99 runs. Mike Gatting, coming at no. 4, showed that he is not out of the game yet with a quick fire 31 of 21 balls with the help of 1 four and 3 sixes. Chasing 289 for victory, Kapil Dev XI recovered from 4/69 to post the victory in the 39th over. T O'Gorman of the MCC scored a century to help Kapil Dev XI in its cause. Dev, too, briefly entertained the crowd with a his typical cameo of 26 off 17 balls. In spite of a cloudy morning, a forecast of rain later in the day and a gate fee, which is probably a first for cricket in Japan, a crowd of more than 100 people - a huge number for Japanese cricket - turned up for the match.
During the innings, the celebrities took time off to visit the marquee of the sponsors for a chat and photo-op. It was a pretty sight to watch Mike Gatting explaining to the Indian Engineers the infamous Shakoor Rana incident when he visited their marquee. For many spectators, it was once in a life time chance - just as for the local players, who played the match along with the celebrities - to see their favorite cricket stars at such a close proximity and they wasted none of it to get their favorite star's signatures on the bat, T-shirts etc. Skipper McTamney apparently sensed the mood of the crowd and moved Kapil Dev near the area where a large Indian contingent was watching the game. Dev obliged the non-stop request of the crowd for signatures between the overs, even between the deliveries sometimes.
Kurara Chibana, Miss Japan and first runner-up of the Miss Universe 2006 contest, visited the cricket ground and chatted with the players before drawing the drinks interval raffle tickets. During the long lunch break, the crowd was treated by the Yokohama International School band and various games were organised for couples. The wild candy fest turned out to be the most popular thing for the kids, who collected the candies,that were thrown on the ground, in dozens.
Tidbits 1:
The Shakoor Rana incident from the horse's mouth (as told to the Indian
Engineers): It(the incident) was not a spontaneous on-field one. It has been
boiling since Pakistan's tour of England earlier when then skipper Imran Khan
objected to David Constant as one of the umpires for the series which Gatting
and English board refused to entertain. When Englad returned to vistit Pakistan,
they had a lot of things to complain about and things to came a head during the
third(?) Test when Gatting moved a fielder while Salim Malik was batting. Umpire
Rana objected to this, to which Gatting replied, "Mr. Rana, it is upto the
batsman to complain, not you". This happened twice and resulted in both parties
questioning the parentage of the other and finger pointing. However, during the
drinks break, Gatting got Salim Malik to confirm to Rana that he had indeed
informed the batsman that he was moving the fielder. Gatting then told Rana,
"Mr. Rana, you heard Salim Malik. Now, let us forgive and forget and I'm
prepared to apologise for what I said on the field". Rana agreed and just as
they were about to shake hands, Javed Miandad, who was sitting in the corner and
was listening to the conversation, said something to Rana, which Gatting could
not understand because it was in Urdu, and Rana refused to shake hands with
Gatting. The rest is history. Rana refused to umpire the match until Gatting
gave a writtien apology.
Tidbits 2:
Kapil Dev forgot to bring his cricket shoes and a local cricketer, Tokyo
Wombat's Ian Gason, loaned his. Dev promptly returned the wet shoes and
soggy(stinking too, Ian?) sox in the evening saying, "keep the sox". Gason
thinks that it is an Indian way of saying thank you. He is planning to use it
for oiling his bat (don't be surprised if we report a century from Ian before
the end of the season!).
The pictures of the cricket match are available at Bobby Philips' album.
With only 4 non-critical matches remaining, the KCL is all set for the best of clashes, the knock-out stage. From Group A, in all probability, Tokyo Giants and Friends will enter the semis while from Group B, YC&AC and Al Karam have already confirmed their places. Tokyo Dragons, Tokyo Bay, Kytes 2nd XI and new comers Myoden have come croppers in this tournament so far. Myoden, however, have not fared as bad as the records show. In every match they have shown a great deal of improvement, causing troubles to the opposition, the latest being they reducing the mighty Friends XI to 5/70, before the Friends skipper Aamir Ali unleashed his fury which saw a record 185* off only 90 balls(see records section below) and a record partnership of 240 runs with Shakir Khan for any wicket.
The semi-finals and final are expected to be held in early November.
Latest results and points are available here. The semi-finals and final are expected to be held by the end of October or early November.
Meanwhile, the Indian Engineers achieved a unique distinction of crossing the 300 mark in KCL a 3rd time when they amassed 345/5(decl.) against the Tokyo Dragons last month. Friends XI is closely behind the Engineers on this record having crossed the mark twice. Their recent achievement is 388/9 against the Tokyo Bay.
KCL Records
+ Highest individual score +
Aamir Ali of Friends XI erased Robb Mckenna's name from the records book for the highest individual score. Aamir scored a blistering 185* off 90 balls, which contained 9 fours and 17 sixes(yet another record, see below), against a Myoden, on his way to glory. Robb Mckenna(169) of Shizuoka Kytes held the record until then in a match against Nagoya in 2005.
+ Most number of sixes by a batsman +
On his way to the highest individual score ever, Aamir Ali also became the holder of the record for most number of sixes in a match. Aamir hit 17 sixes, erasing his former team mate Munir Ahmed's previous record of 11 sixes against the Shizuoka Kytes in 2002.
+ 6th wicket partnership +
The same match also saw Aamir putting up a record 240 runs for the 6th wicket with Shakir Khan. This is also the biggest partnership for any wicket. The previous record for 6th wicket partnership was 111 between Ijaz Ahmad and Zulifqar Ali of Pakistan Eaglets in 2002(unfortunately, we have no records of who this match was against).
Latest KCL records are available here.
The Indian Engineers last week signed a new sponsorship deal with a major global recruitment company, after their sponsorship deal with HumTum TV ended in July this year.
Robert Walters, the new sponsor, is one of the world's leading global specialist recruitment and recruitment outsourcing businesses, operating across five continents, with 27 offices in 14 countries. The Robert Walters brand stands for innovation, vision and leadership in the global recruitment market.
“We are very excited to be the new sponsor of the Indian engineers cricket club in Japan. The IECC members bring their national sport to sports fields all over Japan with real passion and dedication so we are glad we can support their sporting endeavours”, said Kevin Gibson, the managing director of Robert Walters Japan.
The sponsorship deal includes supplying kit every year and a newly designed jersey.
Commenting on the deal, Biju Paul, the president of Indian Engineers said, "We are very happy to be associated with one of the leading global recruitment companies. The deal represents the growing popularity of cricket in Japan and the interest it generates among the corporations like Robert Walters".
Bobby Philips, the captain of the club, felt that with entry of giants like Robert Walters into cricketing arena, it has further opened up the doors for the promotion of cricket in Japan. "Team IECC is thrilled to have leading global recruiting firm such as Robert Walters sponsor us. This is no small day for the Indian Engineers. With entry of giants like Robert Walters into cricketing arena, it has opened up door further for the promotion of this wonderful sport amongst Japanese society", said Philips. "I wish both Robert Walters and Indian Engineers good luck for coming season", added Philips.
Japan's Neil Harrison recently umpired the pre-qualifier match between Japan
and Papua New Guinea for the next Women's World Cup at Papua New Guinea. We
caught up Harrison for a brief chat. Full text of the interview is below:
Q. Is this your 2nd international stint, right?
A. Second ICC tournament. Third international tournament if you count the three
matches when the Bangladeshi Development Squad came over to Japan.
Q. With Japan playing in the tournament, can you tell us how did this happen?
A. It's generally a case of umpires on the EAP Panel or EAP Supplementary Panel
being wanted, available and willing. Money may also have had something to do
with it for the ICC (this way, with both competing teams providing an umpire,
only one umpire had to travel). Originally, I'd planned to go to Brisbane as
manager of the Men's team, but later I was also asked if I could umpire in PNG.
I couldn't get time off work for both trips, and I told the JCA that I'd rather
umpire than manage, and they very kindly let me switch.
Q. Tell us briefly about the event and your experience in that.
A. The tournament was a pre-qualifier for the next Women's World Cup. The winner
(PNG) advances to an 8-team qualifying tournament and the top two teams in that
tournament play in the Women's World Cup proper. The format was "best of three".
I umpired in all three games with Clive Elly of PNG. The benefit of having the
experience of Vanuatu was that I wasn't fazed in PNG. I was familiar with the
ICC way of doing things and could concentrate on the umpiring.
Q. Obviously, this was your first time with women(!). Was it any different from
men? [pun unintended :-) ]
A. And I thought this was a family newsletter!
I umpired a practice match a couple of weeks before the tournament, and that
gave me a good idea of the level of cricket to expect. Without wishing to sound
too patronising, there is a big gap between men's and women's levels of cricket.
We (the umpires) spoke with the ICC-EAP representatives and together tweaked the
Playing Conditions here and there to encourage what we considered to be more
competitive play. Having said that, the skipper of the Japan team, Ema
Kuribayashi, and two of the PNG bowlers could walk into any men's team I've seen
play in KCL or J1C. The main differences with the men's game are of speed, power
and aggression.
Q. So how did the matches go?
A. PNG won all three games, and that's a fair reflection of the difference
between the two teams. In the first two games, PNG batted first and Japan
started their chase so slowly that they let the target get out of reach. In the
third game, Japan batted first and set a decent total, but unfortunately chose
that day to give their only bad performance in the field.
Q. How do you analyse your own performance after the match?
A. In a smaller tournament like this, you only really have your partner to
discuss on-field matters with. When you're at a bigger tournament, you have the
benefit of a third umpire and match referee to talk to, as well as your partner
in the middle. Otherwise, apart from mentally recapping key moments in the game,
I don't have a specific programme, and at this level, unfortunately, we can't
sit down and watch a recording of the game with slow motion replays to check out
every decision, contentious or not. I think, when you're umpiring, you know when
you've screwed up and all you can do is try to make sure it doesn't happen
again. You can do this by running through a particular incident in your head or
in conversation with your colleagues and if necessary swotting up on the
relevant Laws, but as I said, it's already too late to change anything and all
you can do is try to make sure you're ready for such an event the next time it
comes up. Being the umpire, you can't sit on the fence when a tight decision
comes up, so you've got to be ready to make the call. But if it's a tight
decision you're probably in a no-win situation anyway - damned on one side and
lauded on the other.
Q. With two international events under your belt, where do you plan to go from
here?
A. Up and up! Hopefully I'll get the call again for subsequent regional
tournaments, although there seems to be a lull in the calendar, so I might have
to wait a while.
Q. Thanks Neil for talking to us and all the best for your future and we wish
you get more internationals.
A. Thanks.
Robert-Gilles Martineau reports:
On October 3rd, Robert-Gilles Martineau in company of Lalith Prelis, both
members of the Shizuka Kytes CC visited Peter Timmings, resident English teacher
in Tachibana Elementary School. Peter, from Yorkshire, England, upon being
contacted by Robert-Giles Martineau through a student they are both teaching had
conducted talks with Headmaster Shigeki Kobayashi who enthusiastically agreed
that a Cricket Club would be a welcome addition to his School which has a very
strong English Programme on its curriculum.
Tachibana Elementary School is an integral part of Tokoha Gakuen University Education which includes Kindergartens, an Elementary School, 2 Junior and Senior High Schools and 3 Universities in the Prefecture of Shizuoka. They are particularly active in the fields of International Studies and Sports. For this first demonstration, sixty pupils and three teachers from the 6th Grade attended. In November, two more demonstrations will be held for two groups of thirty pupils from the 5th Grade who will form the bulk of the new club to be created in April 2007.
We demonstrated the very basics of the game, choosing pupils in turn to have them play and explaining the rules along the way. All instructions were solely conducted in English. We invited the 4 present teachers, Headmaster Kobayshi and his aide to try their hand at the game before calling the session to an end. The kids got their surprise of the day when their Headmaster slammed a hook in their midst! The kids were very enthusiastic, the teachers very attentive and their Headmaster all the time present and encouraging them all. A good day's work it was.
After the session the three of us retired to the Headmaster Office for
further talks about the creation and preparations of the Club.
The sixth Grade pupils should become a good starting point as most of them will
continue to Tachibana Junior High. As for the 5th Grade, they will either use
indoors or outdoors facilities as the weather and climate will dictate.
Release from Asian Cricket Sixes Tour (ACST):
This November will see up to 40 cricket teams competing in the ICC award winning
Hong Kong Invitational Cricket Festival, played on the two cricket grounds at Po
Kong Village Road in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The 2005 Hong Kong Festival was the
largest club sixes event in the world with 34 teams competing over 3 days in
Open, Spoon & Women’s Divisions, and featured cricket legends Heath Streak and
Doug Walters.
The 2005 Hong Kong Invitational Cricket Festival was beamed around the world on the Tensports TV network, making the Festival the first ever club sixes event to have its own TV show! You and your team could be there mixing and competing with cricketers from UK, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Thailand etc in the largest club cricket sixes event in the world!
And what’s more, the Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes featuring national teams will be played at Kowloon Cricket Club on 11 & 12 November. So why not make a week of it, see how the pro players do it at the International Sixes, maybe spend a day or two in Macau or on the golf course and then go for it yourself at the Invitational Cricket Festival?! Don’t miss out. Book your team’s place in the tournament while there’s still time by contacting Mike ‘Cat’ Maher at cat@cricketsixes.com now!!
The Friends XI is continuing their upswing with a series of decisive victories in the last two months. From the 10th rank two months ago to 7th positions last month and 5th this month, they are in the top 5 now. The top 10 teams are(last month's ranking in brackets):
1. Al Karam (1)
2. KRAC (4)
3. Gunma XI Stars (2)
4. Wyverns (3)
5. Friends XI (7)
6. Osaka Bulldogs (6)
7. Tokyo Wombats (5)
8. Tokyo Giants (8)
9. Millennium (9)
10. YC&AC (10)
See the full list here.
+ Australian Youth Ambassador Cricket Development Placements Available in East Asia-Pacific Region +
TICC Development (East Asia-Pacific) Media Release:
The International Cricket Council (ICC) East Asia-Pacific Region has established
a Partner Organisation relationship with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for
Development Program (AYAD), an on-going initiative of the Australian Government
funded through AusAID. Through this partnership, the AYAD Program is now
offering as part of its 2007 Intake (departing March) two exciting opportunities
for suitably qualified/experienced young Australians (aged 18 - 30) to undertake
a 12-month cricket development assignment in one of the following countries
(aligned with the National Cricket Body as the Host Organisation:
- TONGA (based in Nuku' Alofa with Tonga Cricket Association)
- VANUATU (based in Port Vila with Vanuatu Cricket Association)
Full report is available here.
+ ICC Winter Training Camp for top Associates gets underway +
The second annual ICC Winter Training Camp gets under way in South Africa with 24 players from the six top Associate countries coming together for intensive coaching, training and tactical analysis of one-day cricket with some of the best coaches around. On Monday October 2 the players from Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland will assemble at the hpc (high performance centre) in Pretoria for a seven-week camp that will aim to boost their form and skills ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies next March.
Last year, the camp concentrated on fitness and technical improvements but, according to the ICC's High Performance Manager Richard Done, the emphasis of this year's camp will be slightly different. Full report is available here.
Here is the last poll result:
Do you think umpire Darrel Hair erred in his judgment in the recent controversy?
Yes - 82%
No - 18%
May be - 0%
Take the new poll:
Who do you think will be the Champions Trophy winners?
Given that my cousin was killed on the train in Aldgate that exploded last
year on July 7th, I find your "snippet of the month" regarding first world
hypocrisy rather disappointing to say the least. I know you are merely recanting
the wisdom of that bastion of world affairs and geo-political events, namely
Michael Holding, but given what is going on in the world today I find it a
little sad that you feel you have to include this in your newsletter. Sport is
the one area (and indeed possibly the only) which can bring different
nationalities and cultures together these days to try and forge better
relationships in a troubled world. I suggest you think strongly before including
further political messages (regardless of who they are quoted from) on a
newsletter that I was under the impression pertained mainly to cricket in Japan.
Stuart Neie (YCAC)
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. We will publish them verbatim as long as a decent language is used.
Here is video clip from YouTube -
+ See here how interested the Americans are in cricket (News clip in Urdu
language) +
Click here to play.
+ Kings of Cricket - a slide show of cricketers, who arrived for the Champions
Trophy in India, in Indian King's costumes +
http://www.cricketnext.com/slideshow/view_slideshow.php?from=0&gid=107.
+ Tidbits +
You may recall that in 2005, one of the players of Fuji Far East entered the KCL records for the slowest duck(0 of 31 balls). Well, someone at the international level matched his achievement(!) recently. West Indians Runako Morton faced 30 dot balls before being dismissed off the 31st in the recently concluded tri-nation DLF cup final at Kuala Lumpur against Australia. Don't worry Saito, you have an international partner!
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.
"Bowler's name, please" - Robert-Gilles Martineau, the match referee, to the on filed umpires as Kapil Dev started bowling in the Tyler Foundation charity cricket match.
Note: Beginning Issue #56, we bring you some KCL picks. These are either the comments heard on the ground or nick names of certain players. These comments are reported to us by our readers at various times and are intended only to bring some fun for the readers. It is not our intention to offend any player or club.
Nick name:
Yosuke Hatanaka (Millennium) & Saqib Khan (Nagoya): "Shacho"
1. West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan is the first player to hit six 4s in a Test match over. He hit India's Munaf Patel for six consecutive boundaries(sixth delivery was a no-ball) during the recently concluded fourth Test.
2. Ryan Bradsley of Astley Sports College in Northern England became the youngest qualiied umpire to officiate in a cricket match in July 2006 at age 13.
That's all in this edition!