- Match Report
- Scorecard
- Highlights
Wombats Deny Embo Maiden Japan Cup Win
by Vikram Ragunathan
On a bright, sunny Sunday all the Wombats gathered nice and early at the YCAC — early enough that we could get 30-40 minutes of net practice in before the game. Even our cheerleader, Dino, came out of hibernation from Fuji. The T20 skipper Evan won the toss and chose to bat first. In order to give all the blokes a chance to bat and bowl, the skipper shuffled the usual batting order and sent in Big Mike and Payne to open the Wombats’ innings.
Our first wicket fell early when Payne top edged one off Sanjeewa to gully/3rd slip. Vik walked in at number 3 and rotated the strike to big Mike who was putting away the loose balls to the boundary. Both were able to put on a partnership of 47 runs before the second wicket fell. Vik lofted one straight off Des to the mid-on fielder after making a small contribution of 17 runs. Making his debut for the Wombats at 44 was next batsman Adam Birss. He started his innings with a glorious cut shot through point. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t played cricket for a very long time.
Both Mike and Adam were going good but then the Embassy got their next scalp when Adam was bowled by Sanjeewa. Steve Palmer walked in but couldn’t block a slower one from Keith and was bowled. He trudged back to the pavilion, regretting that he wasn’t able to spend much time in the middle as he was thoroughly enjoying the batting after scoring his first runs for the Wommies. In came the Skipper who tried to hit a few sixes with some mighty swings off Keith’s bowling but unfortunately couldn’t connect with any. Our fifth wicket fell when Evan was caught and bowled by Simon. Mike reached a fabulous 50 and we were cruising to a very defendable score. Abbott went in next and played a quick cameo by hitting the first for six, followed by a four. He scored a quick 10 runs and was caught in the deep by Robert off the bowling of Simon.
In walked Patmore to put on a 35-run partnership with Mike, including 3 balls smashed to the boundary. Mike faced the most of the last over and tried to heave a few to the boundary but ended up missing all 4 balls. He then decided to run on the last ball and was run out by Brent. Wombats scoring 138 from 20 overs for the loss of 7 wickets.
With a good score to defend we opened our bowling attack with Adam Cronin and AJ. Both bowled tightly and we thought we had our first wicket when AJ bowled one straight on to Keith’s foot, prompting an appeal from the entire team. The umpire decided otherwise and didn’t give it out. The very next ball the said batsman was hit somewhat high on the pad and perhaps it was going down leg-side, but the umpire thought he could even it all out by giving this one LBW instead.
Not before long, AJ got us our next breakthrough by diving and taking a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Shakil. In walked Francis Ford Coppola a.k.a Sanjeewa with his GoPro attached to the helmet. Not sure what he was thinking there but it was a good enough reason for Patmore to list all the famous directors in Hollywood. Rob and Sanjeewa put on a good partnership and were looking dangerous. Both were able to send the loose balls to the boundary. Cronin and AJ finished their first spell and as first change, Luke and Patmore were brought in to the attack. Patmore with his flighted leggies, bowled a good over when Francis Coppola skied one to mid-off. AJ had to run back and was able to bucket a very well-judged catch to break the partnership.
We were soon in the death overs and the Embassy needed 58 runs from 48 balls. Vik and Dean were brought into the attack to finish off the innings. Robert was still going good with some really nice shots, sending the loose balls to the boundary. He then skied one to Palmer at mid-on whose mind was elsewhere, probably thinking of the Champions League final, as he dropped one of the easier ones. Vik then got the next wicket when Simon top-edged one to Mike in the covers. Dean then struck with the big wicket of Robert, flooring the stumps with an absolute ripper of a delivery.
With a combined effort from Ev and Vik, a couple of players were run out trying to steal singles after hitting straight to the fielders, and the wickets then fell in quick succession. Embassy needed 14 to win in the last over and Vik bowled a full toss on his second ball. The batsman smashed it to deep square leg. Jamie Payne put in a dive to stop the ball reaching the boundary, subsequently saving two runs — a big turning point in the game. Apparently he was trying to take the catch, which would have been another highlight of the game.
For the rest of the over, the opposition only managed singles and on the very last ball Redi danced down the pitch trying to hit a six but completely missed. Patmore collected the ball and stumped him to end the game. The Wombats were home for their first win of the Japan Cup and Deano was declared the Man of the Match for his excellent bowling performance. We enjoyed a few pitchers of beer at the YCAC bar and then a few more down to the German beer festival to enjoy the rest of the Sunday.
| Tokyo Wombats CC vs British Embassy CC |
| Japan Cup 2018 (South Kanto), YCAC, Kanagawa, May 6, 2018 |
| Toss | Tokyo Wombats CC |
| Umpires | Indian Engineers CC |
| Result | TWCC won by 7 runs |
| TWCC MoM | D Abbott |
| Tokyo Wombats CC Innings: 138/7 (20.0 overs) |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| J Payne | c K Franklin b S Rupaningalge | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| M Farrell | st D Barker† b B Kininmont | 50 | 48 | 5 | 0 | 104.17 |
| V Ragunathan | c S Rupaningalge b D Thomas | 17 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 121.43 |
| A Birss | b Palihawadana | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| S Palmer | b K Franklin | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 18.18 |
| E Hitchman* | c & b S Lavender | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 42.86 |
| D Abbott† | c R Newman | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 200.00 |
| A Patmore | not out | 23 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 143.75 |
| A Jacob | dnb | |||||
| L Eyes | dnb | |||||
| A Cronin | dnb | |||||
| Extras | (b 0, lb 0, w 20, nb 5) | 25 | ||||
| TOTAL | (7 wickets) | 138 |
| Fall of wickets |
| 3-1 J Payne, 50-2 V Ragunathan, 73-3 A Birss, 78-4 S Palmer, 91-5 E Hitchman*, 103-6 D Abbott†, 138-7 M Farrell |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| B Kininmont | 4.0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 4.00 | ||
| S Rupaningalge | 4.0 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 8.25 | ||
| R Rajapaksha | 1.0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 12.00 | ||
| D Thomas | 1.0 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 15.00 | ||
| R Palihawadana | 4.0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 3.50 | ||
| K Franklin* | 4.0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 5.75 | ||
| S Lavender | 2.0 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 12.50 |
| British Embassy CC Innings: 131/9 (20.0 overs) |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| K Franklin* | lbw b A Jacob | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| R Newman | b D Abbott† | 42 | 45 | 6 | 0 | 93.33 |
| S Mostaq | c & b A Jacob | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| R Rupaningalge | c A Jacob b A Patmore | 26 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 104.00 |
| S Lavender | c M Farrell b V Ragunathan | 13 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 86.67 |
| R Rajapaksha | run out (E Hitchman* / V Ragunathan) | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| B Kininmont | run out (D Abbott†) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| R Palihawadana | st A Patmore b V Ragunathan | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| D Barker† | run out (E Hitchman* / V Ragunathan) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| J Stevens | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| D Thomas | dnb | |||||
| Extras | (b 0, lb 1, w 30, nb 1) | 32 | ||||
| TOTAL | (9 wickets) | 131 |
| Fall of wickets |
| 24-1 K Franklin*, 29-2 S Mostaq, 81-3 S Rupaningalge, 108-4 S Lavender, 120-5 R Newman, 123-6 R Rajapaksha, 130-7 B Kininmont, 131-8 R Palihawadana, 131-9 D Barker† |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | wd | nb | Econ |
| A Cronin | 4.0 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 8.50 | ||
| L Eyes | 3.0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 8.00 | ||
| A Jacob | 4.0 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 4.25 | ||
| A Patmore | 2.0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6.50 | ||
| V Ragunathan | 4.0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 4.75 | ||
| D Abbott† | 3.0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 7.67 |
Catches
- Stunning catch by AJ at mid off to dismiss Embassy batsman Sanjeewa who was building a good partnership with Rob, off patmore’s bowling.
- Another diving catch by AJ off his own bowling.
- Michael with safe hands at cover/extra-cover, bagging a top edge by the batsman off Vik’s bowling
Dropped Catches
- Steven “full-mong” Palmer dropping a skier at long-on when Robert lofted one in the air. There was a fair bit of wind, so perhaps the ball moved a little. Or maybe thinking about the Champions League final.
Quotes
- Patmore: “I’m sure AJ wouldn’t mind giving Vik the clap.”
Great Moments in Sport
- Jamie’s fantastic save at deep mid-wicket in the last over to stop a boundary — a turning point in the game. We would have been defending 2 from 2 balls if he had not saved the boundary.
- Steve scoring his first runs for the Wommies.
- Patmore getting his first wicket for the Wombats.
- Adam Birss making his debut at the young age of 44.
- Mick’s first 50.
Golden Thong Nominations
- Steve Palmer, going “post-mong”, giving his lowlight during the highlights. Apparently he doesn’t like the current way and wants to mix it up a bit.
- The embassy bloke who came out to bat with this on his head!
Wyndham Estate Man of the Match