Japan Cup Finals – Round2 – Sharks vs Sano
12.10.13 By Kris Bayne & Anton Lloyd-Williams
Ah, our old friends, Sano! How we have trouble beating them!! The second match of the competition brought the Sharks back down to earth, pitching us against a side that is becoming a bit of a bugbear to us. Sharks were represented again by Dave L (C), Nick (W), Murad, Prashant, Adit, Anton, KB, Alwin, Sagar, Takady and Mairaj.
We lost the toss and were sent in to bat. Murad and Nick added a cautious 18 before Murad played all over one from Kinimont to depart first. Prashant joined Nick and if these two got going we could be in for some fireworks! Nick took his time and picked his ball to place around. Rather uncharacteristically, Prashant took a lot of dots but these were spaced out between three huge sixes. We were looking very well placed as they added 40 but Prashant got far too ambitious trying to cut Bebe Miyaji and paid the price.
Takady’s start to the JC with the bat was an inauspicious second ball duck against Tohoku – he went one ‘better’ unfortunately and Dave went out to deal with the Miyajis with his old mate Nick. They did a fine job adding 22 until a rap on the pads sent Dave back. This left Nick as our only recognized bat.
At 94 Nick met his match in Alex Miyaji. Alwin, with Adit and Kris, managed to push and hustle us into three figures. Sano are always a tight bowling side and it was the usual suspects in the Miyaji brothers who did the damage. We would need to be tighter since as a team they probably bat better than they bowl.
| Batsman | How Out | 4/6 | Balls | Runs |
| Murad | Bowled | 11 | 4 | |
| Nick | Caught | 3/1 | 46 | 38 |
| Prashant | Bowled | 0/3 | 27 | 24 |
| Takady | Bowled | 1 | 0 | |
| Dave L | LBW | 1 | 13 | 10 |
| Alwin | Not Out | 15 | 9 | |
| Adit | Bowled | 3 | 2 | |
| KB | Not Out | 3 | 2 | |
| Anton | DNB | |||
| Sagar | DNB | |||
| Mairaj | DNB | |||
| Extras | 13 | |||
| 20 overs | 6 | for | 102 | |
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102 is not a huge target to defend, however the Sharks were confident that they had the firepower to tear through the Sano upper order exposing a pretty fragile looking tail. It didn’t go quite to plan though. Perhaps the morning game had taken the edge off the Sharks teeth as the attack seemed somehow blunted.
Sano’s openers, Qureshi and Chawla, had clearly made the decision to set the controls to half speed, steady as she goes. A modest run rate of 4ish an over would see them over the line and they drew in their big shots to make sure they they would be the ones at the helm when the destination was reached.
This made for a frustrating session for Adit and Sagar. The experienced bats knew which ones to leave, which ones to drive and which ones to block. Chances were few and far between and the scoreboard moved on at a steady trickle. Adit’s guile was met with careful strokeplay, Sagar’s speed was met on the front foot with a straight bat. Qureshi had a blast at a shortish Adit delivery and almost sent it down Dave L’s throat at mid off. Dave got two hands on it but such was the speed of the thing, the ball richocheted out. Dave was as furious as his language was colourful.
Prashant and Dave had a go at unlocking the Sano door but got similar short shrift from the stoic batsmen who were by now, beginning to settle. Dave was bit expensive so replaced himself with Takady. Maybe spin was the answer? Not quite, Takady sent down a looper and Chawla was beaten for length more than anything. Plumb LBW. Qureshi fell shortly after to a Sagar screamer and the Sharks were back in the game. The fall of Munir to another Takady LBW put a bit of noise back into the Sharks lungs as a possible win hove into view.
It was all a bit late though. The openers had really done the damage, leaving Bebe and Hanif the comparatively simple task of milking the tiring bowlers for the last few runs in the 16th over.
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | wd/nb | Runs | Wickets |
| Adit | 4 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Sagar | 4 | 1/1 | 25 | 1 | |
| Prashant | 2.1 | 1/1 | 23 | 0 | |
| Dave L | 2 | 1 | 27 | 0 | |
| Takady | 4 | 2 | 12 | 2 |
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Day One left us 1-1. Our belting of Tohoku would help us if it came down to run rate, but losing yet again to Sano hurt beyond the points lost. A frustrating loss more than anything, but we showed good determination and fight in the field. We were not beaten till we were beaten and that spirit would hold us good stead for the next day’s play. Next up was Wyverns on steroids.
