The Sharks season started off with the JCL T10 tournament which ran between March 24th and April 7th, with the Sharks league games scheduled for April 6th, the day before the finals. The first game was against the Falcons and the second against Sano but despite fielding a strong side we were defeated in both games. Highlights for the Sharks to take away were the strong batting performances by Anhipray, Tsuyoshi and new member Ben, all in the game against the Falcons. 

On the following day from the T10 defeat, April 7th, the new 3rd XI side were to have their inaugural match in the newly formed JCL Division 4, playing against the Alpha Quashers 4th XI. The squad was a mix of people new to cricket, long-time Sharks and some less experienced new members but all had one aim – to have fun, learn about playing with one another and hopefully to win! The Sharks achieved the first 2 objectives, but were roundly beaten by the more experienced AQCC side, losing by 7 wickets. The squad was captained on the day by stand-in Kris, who after some begging by other members has agreed to take up the full time captaincy for 2024. The 3rd XI are practising for their second outing in May!

April 13th saw the season openers for the 1st XI and 2nd XI in JCL Division 1 and 2 respectively; both games against KKR. Would these games go any better?

In the Division 1 game KKR won the toss and elected to bowl first, a decision that came to haunt them when the Sharks opening batsman, Dhugal hit 134 of 118 balls! Strong batting performances were also put in by Nikhil (43), Ben (31), Alester (25) and Marcus (21 not out). In the end the Sharks reached a total of 287/7. In the second innings KKR fought hard with a number of high scoring batsmen, but the Sharks bowlers plugged away relentlessly and managed to stop KRR on 276/10 after 37.3 overs with Muneeb and Nikhil both taking 3 wickets. Dhugal was awarded man of the match for his excellent batting performance which helped take the 1st XI to their first win of the Season.

In the Division 2 game the Sharks won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening pair, Sud and Ghufran started well and put in a partnership of 72 before each was dismissed, however the following batsmen were less fortunate with only 2 more achieving double figures, and a few unfortunate runouts. In the end the Sharks were bowled out for a total of 160/10. The KKR batsmen then went to work and despite a valiant effort from the Sharks bowlers, which saw Muhammad and Atiq picking up 3 wickets a piece and 4 bowlers with an economy below 5, they won the game by 4 wickets in the 30th over.

The following day, April 14th, a different Sharks squad competed in the opening match of the Japan Cup T20 competition against the Rising Stars. The Stars won the toss and elected to bowl first, with the Sharks batters managing to hold on until the last ball of the 20th over, when the 10th batsman was bowled with the team at a total of 138/10. 138 is sometimes a defendable total in T20, but today it wasn`t enough. Despite the bowlers best efforts the Rising Stars reached their target in the 19th over, finishing on 142/6 and beating the Sharks by 4 wickets.

April 20th saw the 1st XI and 2nd XI playing again….

In the Division 1 game the Sharks were playing Sano. The Sharks won the toss and elected to bat first, putting up a total of 235/9 including half centuries from Dhugal (75) and Alester (52). Unfortunately the best efforts of the bowlers could not defend the total, with Sano reaching their target in the 39th over, despite the fact that Ben took 3 wickets and 3 bowlers had an economy lower than 5. After this game the Sharks 1st XI are sitting in 6th position in the standings.

In the Division 2 game the Sharks were playing Tokyo Titans, who won the toss and elected to bat. The Sharks bowlers did an excellent job and bowled the Titans out in the 36th over on a total of 151/10 – could they now chase this down? Unfortunately the gods were against the Sharks in this game, and despite getting 43 extras they could only reach a total of 110 before they were all out in the 29th over to lose by 41 runs.

The end of April saw a number of Sharks members taking part in Inter-Japan team games and the Futures League III – we hope these players will be helping the Sharks make its mark this season. We would like to thank our sponsor Interakt for the special support it provides to the Chiba Sharks Japan Squad members.

May sees action from all our squads again, and all are now hungry for victory after the opening month of the 2024 season. Watch this space!

(Will)