Whilst June was characterised by the rainy season and cancelled games because of rain, July saw the change from wet to extreme heat and the first match cancelled because of dangerous temperatures – on a day that all matches in Sano were called off by the JCA. Thankfully for the Sharks there was only one match cancelled in July, however could the 1st XI continue their success, would the Japan Cup XI and 2nd XI win their first games, could the 3rd XI bounce back from their heavy defeat against the Titans, and what would happen in the Sharks first JCL T20 games of the year….

The 1st XI were first to play in July with a JCL Div1 game against Men In Blue Tokyo on July 6th.

The Sharks won the toss and batted against Max on an overcast day during the rainy season after the match had been moved to the Sano RIver Ground 4. Despite the short boundaries, Sharks batters struggled to score freely and our top six were unable to impact the scoreboard much, captain Bedingfield ending up with a broken thumb after copping a beamer from the Max opening bowler.　Ash Thurgate and Atiq Ahmed provided some lower order resistance with some big hitting to get us to 152, all out in the 36th over.An undermanned Sharks bowling attack fought hard, taking regular wickets, the Max batters operating mainly in dots and sixes. Nikhil Pol (2/34), Ben Ito (3/24) and Ash Thurgate (2/16) all bowled beautifully. Rain stopped play with Max 8 wickets down and a few runs short of the target. Max were awarded the win on DLS.

The next day, July 7th, was due to see the 2nd XI take on a JCL Div2  match against the AQCC 2nd XI, however the match was cancelled by the JCA because of extreme hot weather. As this was the Sharks only scheduled JCL 2 game of the month the 2nd XI has now gone 2 consecutive months without a game because of the weather. 

The 3rd XI were in action in JCL Div4 against Men in Blue on July 14th. 

Although we were no match for MIB who put on 242 in a slippery encounter on Sano1B, we did have quite a bit to celebration – and we know how to celebrate!! Electing to bowl, eight bowlers had a crack at MIB. Our frontline bowlers kept a reasonable lid on scoring and picked up a few wickets, but it was some unlikely (maybe not!) bowlers that took it up to MIB. At 5-199 at 30 over drinks KB asked that we put in a big effort and that we did. Ali had pecked away all day so, when on a good thing, stick to it. He ended up with 5-58! At introductions Koji’s mercurial abilities with the ball were mentioned and, given the ball later, he did not disappoint. A wicket second ball and he ended up 2-5 off his two overs. We put down far too many catches across the innings, but we took 6-43 in 8.4 overs from the 30th. Okuto pouched his first catch for the Sharks and a wicket for him is not far away. Great effort by the team! 

With the bat we started very steadily. Ali-Sud brought up our first 50 opening stand. Sud-Umar were watchful and runs ticked/trickled over. 3-90 at 21 overs was not bad and we looked forward to getting well toward the target. Despite some staunch bloody-mindedness from the captain we unfortunately fell away to be all out 127, having avoided the dreaded bonus point loss!!

We can really see players making progress!!

July 20th saw the 1st XI playing last year’s champions the Tigers. The Sharks were asked to bowl first on a scorching hot day at SICG 2, umpire Thurgate making the wise decision to shorten the match to 35 overs. With conditions much more conducive to batting, batters scored freely and although the Sharks bowlers were able to take regular wickets, Tigers posted an imposing 236/9. Tim Moore, playing just his second 1st XI match, took 4/38 and could have had a five-for had it not been for a dropped catch. Fellow youngster Nikhil Pol was also impressive with 1/28 off his seven overs. The Sharks were lucky to have Japan captain Kendel Fleming making a rare appearance and he did not disappoint, hitting his second ball for a 90 metre straight six. While other Sharks batters struggled against some disciplined Tigers bowling, Kendel kept the score ticking along. With 19 required off the final two overs he finished the match with a two followed by three massive sixes.  Kendel’s 159 off 86 balls is the fourth highest score in the history of the JCL 1st division and included 13 fours and 11 sixes. Outstanding stuff. Kendel was of course the man of the match.

On the following day, July 21st, the Sharks Japan Cup squad were competing against Tsukuba and trying to recreate the performance of the day before. The Sharks won the toss and chose to bat first. Kendel opened the batting with another amazing innings which was only one run short of a half century, and the Abhi, finally saw his form return with a sensational 78 not out including 7 sixes! Marcus finished off the innings strongly in his familiar finishing role. We ended up with 205 runs which is one of our highest for T20 games! 

Our 2019 JCL winning team players Rui And Yugi did a great job with the bowling. Rui swinging the ball like in the old days and finishing his spell on 1/8. Yugi took 4 wickets to show everyone that he’s back. All the Shark’s had a great performance on the field with no miss-fielding. The Sharks won by 96 runs – their first win of the season creating a chance that we can still get into the finals! Abhi was man of the match.

The 3rd XI were in action again on July 27th, playing ACQQ in JCL Div4. With high temperatures across Kanto all week Sano River grounds were cooking. KB spared Sharks any potential injury by winning the toss and inflicting the weather on AQCC. At the same time we would ensure all Sharks got a crack at them with bat and/or ball by mixing up the batting and bowling duties. 

We set up and waited for AQCC to crack; water, salt tablets and Gummy Bears at hand. Although we did get through to our 34th over, runs were hard to come by and we finished with 108. Good efforts by Anthony Morcom (24) opening and a monumental stay of 62 balls by Will (14) in at No. 4. Mairaj and Yugi stuck around. Sadly, we did not manage to capitalize on the tiring bowlers as was strategically and minutely planned.

With a low target to defend KB threw the bowlers around and unearthed some! Shige got us an early wicket but we stalled as the unseemingly experienced AQ batters defended well. Wides again afflicted us but there were some bright spots. Okuto got an early start with the ball and improved with each over. He was unlucky not to nail their best opener in a classic over. And while his actual stats do not flatter, Taiga got us our second wicket bowled with a cracking delivery, and a handful of his deliveries show he could develop another skill as a swing bowler. In the end AQ got there easily. Perhaps the best deliveries of the day came from Mr. Esky with two nicely chilled watermelons that both teams shared with gusto!

On the same day the 3rd XI were battling away on Sano 1A, the JCL T20 side were playing their first match of the season against the Tokyo Falcons. The Falcons won the toss and tried the same tactic the 3rd XI were using on the riverside ground, by having the Sharks field first. The Sharks bowlers did a great job and bowled the Falcons out in the last over, Muneeb taking 4/18 and Hamid, Ash and Khan taking 2 wickets apiece. At the end of their innings the Falcons were on 130. Despite the oppressive heat the Sharks batsmen cracked on and slowly but steadily chased down their target. Opener Ghufran’s 45 off 40 was a great contribution, and Marcus and Muneeb finished off the innings at a good pace, the Sharks achieving the target on the last ball of the 19th over, the Sharks winning by 5 wickets. Ghufran was man of the match.

The last Sharks match of July, on July 28th was another JCL T20 battle, this time against Max. Unfortunately this contest was not to be as fortunate for the Sharks despite a good performance. Having won the toss the Sharks elected to bat, and 7 of the Sharks batters achieved a strike rate of more than 100 as they put up a total of 150. Max`s opening batsmen put up 71 runs before being dismissed, but it was the 3rd batsman who did the damage adding 46 off 26 balls. In the end Max chased the Sharks down in the 19th over to win by 7 wickets

At the end of an eventful month, with many great performances, the Sharks are 2nd in JCL Div1, 9th in JCL Div2, 4th in JCL Div4, 5th in the Japan Cup, East Kanto Division 1 and 6th place in group A of the JCL T20.

Finally July (27th, in the heat of Sano River Ground 1A to be exact) saw the creation of a new word:

Sharksmanship (noun) [uncountable] fair, friendly and convivial behaviour exhibited during a cricket game by a member of the Chiba Sharks Cricket Club.