The Indian Engineers held their annual awards night on December 13. After the
presidents opening speech (after a few drinks, of course!), the awards were
given away. Later, the finance controller submitted the a report of the
financial situation of the club which was then followed by the captain's season
round-up speech, in which he took the members to task for not performing up to
their potential. The awards are:
| Category | Winner |
| Best Batsman | Vimal Vikrant |
| Best Bowler | Sangan Kalgi |
| MVP | Sanjeeb Sahoo |
| Golden Catch | Biju catching Dragon's opener, Babu, at point during the
KCL match against the Dragons |
| Ball of the Year | No nominations |
| Best Debutant | Anurag Singh |
| Most Promising Player | Partha Sarathi |
| Most Sporting Moment | Last man of Tokyo Bay plumb LBW but IECC allowed the umpire(from batting side) to continue with his decision and losing the match. Umpire later admitted that the batsman was indeed plumb but he concluded that the wrath of his team mates is more dangerous than the indignation of the Engineers. |
| Day Dreamer (easiest catch dropped) | Sanjeeb Sahoo dropping a catch at mid-wicket against match against Tokyo Wombats in PC Finals. |
| Herschel Gibbs (catch that cost a match) | Sanjeeb Sahoo dropping the last man during the match against the Tokyo Bay when TB needed only two runs to win |
| Height of Honesty | No nominations |
| Quote of the Season | "It is a defendable score" by Biju, on the 300+ score against the Dragons |
| Best driver of the year | Bobby Philips |
The Tyler Ferris foundation, a charity organisation dedicated to help and raise funds for kids with cancer in Japan and their parents and siblings, has
announced that Mike Gatting, Kapil Dev and Chris Cairns will attend a charity sports sports extravaganza being organised in September. Mike Gatting was one of
the first to sign up and in an exclusive interview with the Tyler Foundation, he said, "It's gonna be an interesting trip, just to see the wonderful culture they
have over there. Better do some studying of what you should and shouldn’t do in Japan!! I think there are different sorts of rituals when you meet people and
when you do business with people. It all seems quite interesting".
Another huge coup for the event was when former Indian Captain and World Record holder for test wickets, Kapil Dev agreed to particpate. In a recent interview
with the Tyler Foundation, Dev explained why he wanted to support the event. He replied: "Well, a lot of people ask me why I do charity. If you don’t feel within
yourself that you want to do something good for society or good for the world, then there's no point doing it. But if you really fell strongly, one should spend
5% of their time or life giving back to the people who require help. I think it makes a big difference. And I also want to do that."
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Date stamped: July 1, 2006
In the most unfortunate development ever in Japanese cricket, the Kanto Cricket League, Japan's premier cricket tournament, collapsed on June 4, the day an unprecedented EGM was called on to discuss a spate of issues - including a no-confidence motion against a depleted KCL Committee - that had been plaguing the KCL for the last few months. The EGM was necessitated when three of the seven KCL Committee members resigned accusing two other Committee members of ungentlemanly behaviour, including name calling, one-upmanship and many other reasons. The resignation had provoked a massive exchange of emails by other member clubs, most of them demanding the resignation of the remaining members and election of a new Committee.
A motion of no-confidence was moved on the floor by the Indian Engineers, seconded by Tokyo Bay after a fiery speech of 10 minutes persuading members to look into the true reasons behind the call for the EGM. Unfortunately, it was not as scintillating enough for many and the house voted against the motion 11 to 9. Prima facie evidence suggests that the proposal to dissolve the KCL had the tacit support of the JCA, a body entrusted to develop and improve cricket in Japan. The next point raised as per agenda was for dissolving of KCL and surprisingly it won 20:1 in favour.
However, all is not lost for the cricket lovers in Japan. Eleven clubs of the former tournament have since decided to restart the KCL from July and the first
match will be played on July 2. Thus, the 'original' teams have come together with the agenda of bringing KCL back to its old glory. It may be recalled that the
Kanto Cup, the former name of the KCL, was started and built by pretty much the same teams with even less number of teams and grounds. The success of the Kanto
Cup attracted more teams into it and finally the JCA became its official supporter in 2001. The new tournament, that consists of 5 out of the of the 8 D-I teams,
will be played at the YC&AC, Ageo, Gunma and Shizuoka grounds.
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Date stamped: June 14, 2006
In what could be a significant development for the nascent Japan cricket, some of the oldest and influential clubs of
the Kanto Cricket circuit have joined hands this week to form what would be known as Japan Cricket League. The new league,
currently consisting of 8 teams and formed with a motto of "cricket to enjoy", envisages a wider league in the future years
with co-operation from the Tokai and Kansai leagues.
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Date stamped: April 14, 2006
Our ever popular Japan Cricket Rating system has undergone a fundamental change in ranking calculations. We decided to change our calculation method after watching the rating for the past one year and also receiving a lot of suggestions from the readers. We thank you for all your valuable feedback and suggestions.
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Date stamped: April 14, 2006
The Kanto Cricket League Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday, January 22 at the Paddy Foley's
bar located in Roppongi, the entertainment district of Tokyo. In a meeting chaired by Anton McCloy,
Japan's international umpire, the outgoing secretary of the KCL 2004, Biju Paul, read a report of the
previous season and Shun Hashiba, the outgoing treasurer, presented financial accounts of the season.
The AGM formally approved the promotion and demotion of the clubs concerned from/to Division I and
Division II. The major proposals approved were:
a) the decision to abide by the JCA's new
rules on its membership so that the KCL can utilise the limited resources of the JCA. This decision
also enables the KCL players to be eligible for the national team selection.
b) the decision to give the powers to the new Committee to decide the creation
of a Division III in addition to the existing two divisions and also acceptance
of the second elevens of the existing clubs.