Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
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.
In the first year the new league will have the following teams:
Al Karam
Friends/Giants combined XI
Gunma XI Star
Ichihara Sharks
Indian Engineers
Sri Lankan Lions
Tokyo Bay
YC&AC
The tournament will be run by a three-men committee with the rules pretty much as that of the Kanto Cricket League except for some of the controversial stuff imposed on the KCL this year.
This move assumes significance in light of a new rule that all players must be registered with the JCA in order to participate in the KCL. The registration required the players to submit their personal details such as email addresses, telephone numbers, residence address etc. to the KCL and JCA in order to be eligible to play in the KCL. While many complied with the rule with and without protest, many others argued that an amateur league like KCL does not need to compile the personal data of players. They also pointed out the lack of guarantee of the protection of the privacy information.
While the JCA maintains that the information will be protected and will be used only to disseminate information and compile the statistics of the number of cricketers in Japan, the players argue that they were given Hobson's choice to play cricket in Japan.
Latest KCL results and points are available here
The cricket season in Japan had a wet beginning when the two of the three matches to be played on April 2 had to be called off due to rains. The teams that shared the points are the Indian Engineers & Friends XI and Fuji Far East & Shizuoka Kytes Second Eleven. However, the game at Gunma between Gunma Eleven Star, who is coming back to KCL after an absence of one year, and Lalazar ended up as a one sided affair as the Gunma coast home losing only one wicket while chasing Lalazar's modest 151 runs. Gunma's captain Zaheer Ahmed returned with handsome figures of 4/19.
The following week, however, saw the new comer Al Karam scoring the second highest total in the KCL. They scored 370 runs in 38 overs against the hapless Ichihara Sharks who in return were all out for 137 chasing the mammoth total. What is amazing was the scoring rate of the Al Karam, who scored 330 runs in 28 overs after being 40 in 10 overs. The record for the highest total is held by the Indian Engineers(379/6) against the Friends XI in 2005.
As reported earlier, this season will also see the debut of second elevens of some of the primary teams. The second elevens will ultimately move to a third division which is likely to be created next year.
New KCL registration requirements draw ire of clubs
A new rule introduced by the KCL at the behest of the JCA drew vociferous protests from quite a few clubs. As stated elsewhere in this Newsletter, the registration process required the players to submit their personal information to what they belived a non-secured system without any proper guarantee statements for the protection of such data. Although the administrators added such data protection statements on their web site it did not completely pacify the opposition.
On the other hand, the new insurance scheme, which was optional until last year but made mandatory from this year have been widely accepted as a good measure.
JCA widened its Junior cricket development program to the Nerima Ward last month with the help of a local councilor. In the first session conducted by Masahiro Ito, the project coordinator of the Junior Cricket Development program, 7 junior kids participated.
In yet another positive development, the Gunma U-17 team, raised and coached by the Gunma SportsSpeak English School, will take part in the University competition this year.
+ Aussie cricket greats going in to bat for Bali +
ICC Development (East Asia-Pacific) Media Release:
A team of former Australian Test and State cricketers will tour Bali in April to demonstrate Australia's support for the Balinese and to promote the fledgling game to locals on the `Island of the Gods'.
Playing under the name 'Aussie Legends' the tourists are: Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, David Colley, Wayne Holdsworth, Paul Wilson, David Fitzgerald and Richard Chee Quee. Between them they have represented Australia in 26 Tests and One Day Internationals, and their States on more than 900 occasions. Complete news is available here.
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. The amendments made are listed below:
We applied these changes to last years KCL results to create the new rankings and see below what we got! (yes, we can see a few raised eyebrows especially from those whose higher ranking went for a toss, but please bear with us). Please note that the WPI was not applied to the last years results but will be applied to the results of this year.
A full description and Rating table as of Dec. 31, 2005 based on the new calculation is
available here.
The top 10 teams of the current rating based on the results of season 2006 (as of March 30) is given below:
1. Gunma Eleven Star 2. Tokyo Wombats 3. Millennium 4. Shizuoka Kytes 5. YC&AC 6. Wyverns 7. Friends 8. Fuji Far East 9. Ichihara Sharks 10. Indian Engineers 10. Tokyo DragonsSee the full list here.
As always, you are also welcome to write to us with your views/suggestions/feedback/criticism on the Rating system.
DDo you support the new KCL fee structure?
Yes - 8%
No - 92%
Take the new poll: The England cricket team: in Ascend, in Descend, Ashes was a one off affair ?
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.
The Times daily hails Flintoff as Lord Rama
An overzealous English media on Friday compared Andrew Flintoff to none other than Lord Rama and said the dashing cricketer deserved to be 'celebrated' for his godly virtues. Full article here.
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 thought I was plumb! - Sai Prashant of the Indian Engineers on walking after an appeal for LBW was made during the Pacific Cup final against the Shizuoka Kytes in Dec. 2005.
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:
Nicholas Shannon (S Kytes): Porno.
1. Daniel Vettori of New Zealend has Italian blood.
2. 682 fours and sixes were hit during the Ashes 2005. In comparison, Bradman hit only 6 sixes in his entire career, Keith Miller was not once hit for six.
That's all in this edition!