The defending champions Tokyo Giants defeated the Millennium to retain the KCL trophy for the second consecutive year. Batting first, the Giants scored briskly initially by hammering 27 runs in 4 overs but later survived a scare, where they collapsed to 65/8, to post a reasonably decent 149. The Giants then both bowled and fielded well to restrict their opponents to 136/6 in the allotted 35 overs. For the Millennium, Naoki Saida returned the best figures of 3/23 off 7 overs while Naoki Miyaji bowled miserly to conceded only 18 runs to take 1 wicket off his 7.
Brief Scores:
T. Giants: 149. M Naseem 44*, N Saida 3/23
Millennium: 136/6. T. Matsubara 36.
Date stamped: December 17, 2003
Japan will hold its first international tournament in May next year when Pacific it holds the
four nation "ICC East Asia Pacific Cricket Challenge - 2004" tournament in May 2004. The participating
nations are Fiji, Indonesia and Tonga, besides the hosts themselves. The tournament will be held in
Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture between 23rd and 30th May 2004. The winning team of this ICC EAP World
Cup Series Qualifier tournament will have the opportunity to move into World Group 4 under the ICC's
layered structure, which allows all national bodies the potential to participate in the next ICC
Cricket World Cup in 2007.
Date stamped: December 17, 2003
SL Lions defeated the Indian Engineers and Japan Gold Cup final. Click here for
reports. British
Embassy conceded a walkover to the Wyverns in the D-II final thus making it a non-contest.
Date stamped: November 17, 2003
Tokyo Giants, the defending champions, defeated the YC&AC on November 2nd to enter the final of KCL
for the second consecutive year. In a shortened match that saw only 25 overs per side, YCA&C batted
first and scored 114/7. Chasing a relatively easy target, the Giants were
reduced to 31/4 and then to 104/9. However, they then held to their nerves to go
past the target without further damage to score 120/9.
Date stamped: November 3, 2003
The Millennium, a team that consists of the cream of the native Japanese players, defeated the
Indian Engineers in an exciting match match on Saturday, Oct. 25. The match was very important to for
both the teams as it was their first time to enter the qualifying rounds.
Click here for the results. The final is slated to be on November 9.
Date stamped: October 27, 2003
The Kanto Cricket League, the premier cricket tournament of Japan, has entered its final leg with the
semi-final lineup has been drawn Click here for the semi-final line-up.
The final is slated to be on October 26.
Date stamped: September 30, 2003
The KCL Organising Commitee has ordered a replay of the D-II game between Gunma and Lalazar after
it had an acrimonious end when the Lalazar captain Aqeel Rehman led his team out of the ground in the
32nd over claiming unplayable ground conditions. The Lalazar has also been
penalised by a 2 points
deduction for bringing the game to disrepute.
Date stamped: July 31, 2003
A scuffle followed the JGC league match between Edogawa Falcons and Lalazar on Sunday
21st
July at Edogawa. The incident was the result of an on field umpiring dispute when the leg
umpire of Edogawa Falcons(batting team), ruled a batsman in when an appeal was made for a
run out, which was contested by the fielder, who made the appeal. Witnesses to the incident reported that
the decision resulted in verbal exchanges (apparently, they were not exchanging pleasantries) but the game continued only the issue
to be taken up again after the match for a final settlement. The players
involved have been suspended for one match each for their misdemeanor.
Date stamped: July 31, 2003
The Pakistan Eaglets withdrew themselves from the remainder of Kanto Cricket League after their
captain was handed a one match suspension by the Organising Commitee for playing a player, who did not
qualify the eligibility criteria set by the KCL AGM. More details elsewhere in this page.
Date stamped: July 26, 2003
The D-II game between Gunma and Lalazar had an acrimonious end after the
Lalazar captain Aqeel Rehman
led his team out of the ground in the 32nd over, when Gunma required only 9 runs to win off 3
remaining overs with 6 wickets in hand, claiming the ground and ball was too wet to continue the match.
Zahir Malik, the Gunma captain, alleges that it had been raining since the 18th over but Lalazar
continued to play to take advantage of the wet conditions but walked off when they realized that the
match is out of their hand. On the other hand, the Aqeel alleges that in the last 3 overs of the game,
the ball had been changed an astonishing 15 times, a claim that is refuted by Malik. The KCL Organising Committee
is looking into the allegations and possible solutions.
Date stamped: July 16, 2003
The KCL Committee having done the investigation on their own and also having interviewed
Mr. Moghes Ahmed,the captain of the Pakistan Eaglets, during which he admitted that Waqar, who does not
posses a valid visa, played in the name of Ijaz Ahmed for his club for the season 2002, the KCL Organising
Committee has come to the conclusion that he, as the captain of the Pakistan Eaglets C.C., has wilfully
violated the KCL playing conditions and is more guilty than the offending player himself. However, the
Committee recognises the fact that this is the first violation of this kind by his club. Therefore with
a warning that any further violation will result in more sever penalties, the Committee has taken the
following decisions:
1. Mr. moghes Ahmed is not allowed to take part in his club's next KCL match in any position.
2. Waqar is banned from playing the rest of the season of 2003 and the full season of 2004, even if he
acquires a valid visa during this period.
Date stamped: June 16, 2003
An ACB Level 1 coaching course was conducted by the Japan Cricket
Association on the 24th and 25th of May at Fuji. The two-day course was conducted by Gary "colonel"
Sanders, a professional coach associated with Cricket Victoria, and was attended by 19 aspiring coaches,
including 2 women.
Date stamped: May 27, 2003
In the first week of May a second cricket field was cut and a concrete pitch was marked out for pouring
sometime in the near future at Fuji. The new ground is adjacent to the the existing old ground.
In addition, a venue was chosen to place two permanent cricket nets on a concrete block at the side
of the ground.
Date stamped: May 16, 2003
An umpiring refresher seminar was held at Shinjuku Sports Center, Tokyo on Sunday March 9. The seminar
was part of the efforts to improve the umpiring standards in Japan. All teams participated in the seminar
will be receiving a bonus point which will be counted towards the KCL points. Interestingly, four teams
still missed the seminar despite the incentive announced. Robb Mckenna and Mark McTamney conducted the
course on behalf of JCA.
Date stamped: March 15, 2003
The Kanto Cricket League Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday, January 26 at YC&AC. The
decisions taken by the AGM are:
The number of teams in Division-I was expanded to 8.
Approved the promotion of Fuji Far East and Adore to Division-I.
Approved the entry of three new teams into D-II (Lalazar, Edogawa United and Gunma Eleven Star).
There will be a semi-final for D-I from season 2003.
The two-group system in D-II will continue for this season.
An Umpiring Course will be conducted by the JCA as soon as practical. All KCL teams are invited to send
as many members as possible to this seminar. All participating teams, regardless pf the number of
representatives, will gain one point for their attendance that will be counted towards the KCL competition.
Those teams that are not represented will have zero point.
Date stamped: February 15, 2003