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Ali is the Alpha, Hits Maiden Ton
by Muhammad Ali
After a disappointing visit to Fuji in the opening game of the campaign, the mighty Wombats travelled once again to the home of cricket, the “Fuji International Cricket Ground”. It was all cloudy and there had been some rain the night before, so the toss was really critical.
Thanks to our number 1 groundman of Japan and his team who were in action early morning as McT mowed the ground just before the game to make it perfect for the play. As all the players, umpires and groundmen were on the field except our captain who was changing his newborn’s diaper in the parking lot and appeared in the ground just before the toss with a baby stroller, a bag full of diapers and feeders as if he came for baby sitting not the match.
Ali somehow made it to the toss and lost it yet again and was asked to bat first. It looked a replay of the first game as we looked promising with few boundaries and huge six from Richie before giving up his wicket to an undeserved bowl and losing his cool and threw his bat on the ground. Then comes the skipper “Muhammad Ali” who was still looking for some runs under his belt. Things looked good as both Alex and Ali put a partnership of 122 runs despite an extensive sledging from none other than our own Dino. As Alex said “It’s good for me, it keeps me going” so it did but unfortunately getting out for 60 after giving an easy catch at cover. With Ali still on crease, joined by Kobayashi san to put another good partnership of 50 runs with a lot of 2s’ and 3s’. Kobayashi san’s fitness was tested multiple times and proved to be fit enough other than one event of denying the third run, after which umpires decided to have drinks break. Both batters looked very promising, and we looked to put a good total this time but as the ship got stable, Kandasamy sent Rexi back to pavilion. Abu Bakr aka Hassan was promoted to trigger the run rate but was not able to trouble the opposition and got out early.
Then comes the new recruit, Masaki Kawashima with his stylish looking straight bat shots. We needed to accelerate, and both tried hard for it. While doing this Ali didn’t realize that he got his maiden Ton in JCL. Great moment for the skipper but the job was not done yet and he tried to give a go but couldn’t finish the innings and got out for his career best of 122 runs.
Wombats couldn’t finish well after a great depth bowling from M. Joseph, taking 5 for 35 in his 8 overs and Wombats finishing the first innings on 7 for 250.
251 looked a difficult target but very much doable for Quashers. They came out very positive by scoring 50 for the first wicket partnership in seven overs. Ali kept his faith in Alex again like the previous game and started the innings with him and Alex didn’t disappoint him with very tight bowling but unfortunately couldn’t get any wicket. As Wombats desperately needed wicket before things went out of their hands so our Alvis Presley was brought to show his symphony of swinging balls and took wicket in his very first over. This was followed with another one from Alvis in his next over. Pendulum started moving towards Wombats as Kavin kept it tight from the other end. It was 4 for 74 at the first break with all four wickets named to Yohan Alvis. Quashers kept losing wickets but also kept score ticking. Though it was 8 wickets down but Quashers didn’t give up. 29th over from skipper went for 24 runs with three sixes and a four by Kandasamy who looked promising but was later taken by Satyam. Alpha Quashers got all out for 196 with Yohan Alvis stood out with his first 5 wicket haul and becoming captain’s MVP in addition to captain himself being named the Jacob’s Creek player of the match by the196 JCA.
The Wombats secured their first win of the campaign, and they will hope to continue their winning momentum in their next match.
| Tokyo Wombats CC vs Alpha Quashers Yokohama CC |
| Japan Cricket League 2023 (Div. 1), Fuji 2, Shizuoka, April 22, 2023 |
| Toss | Alpha Quashers |
| Result | TWCC won by 55 runs |
| TWCC MoM | M Ali |
| Tokyo Wombats CC Innings: 251/7 (40.0 overs) |
Batsmen | | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
| A Patmore | c V Perumalsamy b S Pedada | 60 | 62 | 7 | 1 | 96.77 |
| R Bracefield | c R Wijesinghe b S Pedada | 14 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 107.69 |
| M Ali* | c R Kesari b L Joseph | 122 | 108 | 17 | 1 | 112.96 |
| R Kobayashi | c S Pedada b S Kandasamy | 26 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 118.18 |
| A Bakar | c R Kesari b M Dongre | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| M Kawashima | not out | 15 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 71.43 |
| B Bhinder | lbw b L Joseph | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| K Jinasena | c & b L Joseph | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Y Alvis | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| S Singh | dnb | |||||
| S Rajan | dnb | |||||
| Extras | (b 4, lb 1, w 10, nb 0) | 11 | ||||
| TOTAL | (7 wickets) | 251 |
| Fall of wickets |
| 1-23 R Bracefield, 2-148 A Patmore, 3-199 R Kobayashi, 4-200 A
Bakar, 5-242 M Ali, 6-242 B Bhinder, 7-245 K Jinasena |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| S Pedada | 6.0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.50 |
| M Dongre | 6.0 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6.33 |
| I Singh | 4.0 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 |
| Y Wagh | 8.0 | 1 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 |
| R Wijesinghe | 6.0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.17 |
| V Perumalsamy | 4.0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7.00 |
| S Kandasamy | 5.0 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.20 |
| L Joseph | 1.0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Alpha Quashers Yokohama CC Innings: 196 (31.2 overs) |
Batsmen | | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
| L Joseph | c M Ali† b Y Alvis | 33 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 165.00 |
| I Singh | lbw b Y Alvis | 17 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 43.59 |
| S Pedada | c B Bhinder b S Singh | 34 | 46 | 2 | 1 | 73.91 |
| R Kesari | c A Patmore† b Y Alvis | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14.29 |
| K Dharani | lbw b Y Alvis | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 |
| R Wijesinghe | b M Ali | 19 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 135.71 |
| M Dongre | lbw b K Jinasena | 6 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 31.58 |
| V Perumalsamy | c R Bracefield b Y Alvis | 14 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 127.27 |
| M Joseph | c R Bracefield b S Singh | 11 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 84.62 |
| S Kandasamy | c R Kobayashi b S Singh | 35 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 250.00 |
| Y Wagh | not out | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Extras | (b 1, lb 1, w 17, nb 2) | 21 | ||||
| TOTAL | (10 wickets) | 196 |
| Fall of wickets |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| A Patmore | 4.0 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4.25 |
| B Bhinder | 3.0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10.33 |
| Y Alvis | 6.0 | 1 | 34 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5.67 |
| K Jinasena | 8.0 | 1 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 |
| M Ali | 7.0 | 0 | 63 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 |
| S Singh | 3.2 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6.60 |
Catches
- Bill – taking a skied ball running in from mid-off. Ali nominating it to Richie who was sprinting in from deep mid-on. Bill takes it clean and comfortable with a big grin on his face.
- Richie’s skier down at long off to finish the game.
Dropped Catches
- Bilal: No surprise, after taking a good catch, he dropped one in the deep. Ali was pissed off but didn’t express it, as the same batsman hit him for four sixes
- Yohan – Dropped one at deep square straight to him, through the hands, and 4 runs. Right before taking 4 wickets in his first spell.
Great Moments in Sport
- Ali – the whole team was willing him towards his maiden century for the Wombats, finishing on 122 to set the platform for others to have a go. Top knock.
- Yohan – bowling in 2nd or 3rd change, completely changed the chase in just a few overs, claiming most of the Alpha’s top order, including danger man Rohit Kesari, a 5-fer in just 2nd game for the Wombats, great stuff.
Dummy Spits
- Bill- after his golden duck, said to the umpire “are you serious??” the umpire replied “yes, I am”
- Richie’s bat toss on his way off the field after being dismissed.
Golden Thong Nominations
- Hassan for his 7-ball duck. He was sent out to up the run rate!
- Richie slide tackling Hassan so that he went airborne and got folded by a pole.
