Wombats Eclipse Star Kings

by Joe Lewis

There are cricket pitches where the ball flies off the bat, races across the outfield and boundaries feel inevitable. Then there was Sano Riverground 1B. With Sano 3 ruled too wet before the match, some determined captaincy diplomacy from Muhammad Ali and the Kings skipper secured Riverground 1B instead. The pitch was incredibly slow, with long grass swallowing up even the sweetest of ground strokes. Balls that looked destined for four would simply stop dead after a few feet. It was going to be a day for patience, running and, above all, using the full 40 overs.

The Wombats won the toss and chose to bat, with Ali stressing to the team that they would need to build rather than simply swing. A score of 150-plus looked like it could be very competitive.

Wombats innings

Ali and Masaki Kawashima opened the batting, but it didn’t take long for the pitch to reveal its true nature. Masaki creamed one through the off side, only for the ball to come to an almost comical stop. Running was going to be everything. Unfortunately, the Wombats suffered an early blow when talismanic run-scorer Ali was given LBW off Kumaresan after a number of previous appeals had been turned down. From the Wombats’ vantage point, the ball appeared to be heading down leg after clipping Ali’s thigh, but the third appeal finally brought the wicket. tough one for the skipper — but Kumarasan finally had his breakthrough.

Masaki, however, refused to change his approach. He came onto the front foot, played Kumarasan particularly well and began patiently accumulating singles alongside Kavin Jinasena. The partnership took the Wombats to 59 before Kavin fell for an important 15, edging behind off Sampath. His innings included a glorious six that just cleared the bowler’s head — exactly the sort of contribution the Wombats needed on such a difficult surface.

Tanzeem joined Masaki, and once again Masaki simply carried on doing what was working. The pair put together another vital 50-run partnership, constantly rotating the strike, running hard and frustrating the Kings. The Kings’ bowlers could be dangerous when hitting their lengths, but a steady stream of extras also kept the scoreboard moving. Eventually Tanzeem, attempting to break the shackles, was bowled for 17.

Then came the moment of the innings. Masaki continued alongside Mario, finally reaching his first competitive fifty for the Wombats. It was his best innings for the club so far: composed, chanceless and perfectly suited to the conditions. 54 from 89 balls. On another pitch, that might have been 100 from 89. Masaki’s ability to keep finding gaps, keep the scoreboard moving and occasionally produce a glorious boundary was exactly what the Wombats needed. His eventual edge behind brought a fantastic innings to an end, and the Wombats had lost the man who had held their innings together.

Mario then decided it was time to add his own flavour, using his guns to muscle some very useful boundaries. Mike Flow and Ieuan Hames attempted to continue the rotation-of-strike strategy, although both had relatively short innings. Mike, however, showed some serious fight after taking a nasty bouncer into the ribs. The very next ball he smashed away for a couple. On a day when the pitch was making batting miserable, it was a superb bit of resistance.

Mario continued attacking, while Rao Abid arrived with even more intent. The pair were devastating. Between them, they accounted for more than half of the Wombats’ boundaries, with Mario favouring fours and Rao favouring sixes, despite Captain Ali’s increasingly futile attempts to tell him to take it easy. Neither man appeared particularly interested in taking it easy. Eventually Mario was adjudged caught — although he remains firmly of the opinion that he never touched it — while Rao was also caught attempting another big hit.

That left the Wombats’ tail. Krishna, in only her second match, and Archer did an excellent job rotating the strike and keeping the innings moving. They survived almost to the final ball, before Krishna sacrificed her wicket in a run-out to keep Archer on strike. Joe Lewis came to the crease. He gave the strike back to Archer. And then Archer produced arguably the greatest moment of the day. With the final ball approaching, Archer launched a mighty six down fine leg, giving the Wombats one final push before Joe was run out from the last ball. Tokyo Wombats: 192 all out.

The 33 extras would later prove extremely significant. On a pitch where runs were incredibly hard to come by, 192 was a serious total.

The Kings chase

The Kings had a very different strategy. Their top order contained three players capable of enormous damage, with their traditional approach being to attack the boundaries early before allowing the middle order to finish the job. Rao Abid and Archit had other ideas. The Wombats’ opening pair put together an excellent spell, and the battle between the two sides’ opening batsmen was fantastic to watch. There were play-and-misses, edges, lofted shots and boundaries — but there was one major problem for the Kings. They didn’t seem particularly interested in running. They hit three sixes between them, but whenever a boundary wasn’t found, the rest of the over tended to disappear into dots. Despite all the fireworks, they were barely keeping pace with the Wombats.

Worse for the Kings, their normally destructive openers were being forced to run more than usual — and the fatigue began to show. In his fifth over, a relentless Archit finally broke through, trapping one of the fading openers plumb LBW. Soon afterwards, Rao Abid forced the other opener into the air, where Mario Grant took an excellent catch in the deep. The Kings were suddenly 2/35 after eight overs.

The Wombats had removed two of the most dangerous players in the opposition lineup. But there was still a long way to go. Archer continued his magnificent spell and soon removed the Kings’ number four as well, leaving the Wombats with their tails up. Then came the crucial partnership. Sriram and Karthik began rebuilding, adopting a surprisingly patient approach. Like Masaki earlier, they recognised that the wicket rewarded patience. They did, however, favour lofting the ball a little more — and occasionally got away with it.

The Wombats were relentless in the field. There was constant chatter, pressure and encouragement, and the Kings struggled to find gaps. The scoreboard tells the story: it took Sriram and Karthik 12 overs to score just 40 runs. That was a testament to the disciplined bowling of Kevin, Mario and the Wombats’ other bowlers. Eventually, the pressure told. Mario produced the crucial breakthrough, with Tanzeem behind the stumps taking the catch, removing the Kings’ star batsman Sriram for 27. A mammoth wicket. Karthik now had to carry much more responsibility, and he continued to play a disciplined innings despite the pressure. Until eventually, he decided enough was enough. And unfortunately for Joe Lewis, he chose him.

Joe was thrown the ball for one over and delivered a loosener. Karthik lofted it for six. Another one. Another six. Joe tried to mix things up by aiming at the leg stump. Unfortunately, he aimed at something resembling the sixth stump. Karthik, apparently unwilling to discriminate against wide deliveries, launched that one for six as well. Twenty runs from the over. Captain Ali was not impressed.

Joe was subjected to a verbal lashing, before meekly completing the over and conceding only another three runs. Still, the damage was done. For the first time all day, the Kings had matched the Wombats’ scoring rate. The match was suddenly beautifully poised. Thankfully, Mario came to Joe’s rescue in the very next over. Karthik, now fully committed to gung-ho mode, launched Mario’s first ball high into the air. Captain Ali settled underneath it. Caught. Relief. The Kings were 5/105.

The final session

At the final break after 30 overs, the Kings stood at 128/5, requiring roughly 65 more runs. The Wombats had their noses in front, but nobody was pretending the match was over. Who wanted it more? The Wombats answered immediately. The first ball of the final session produced a brilliant run-out. Archer fielded and threw the ball back with speed and accuracy, and Tanzeem whipped off the bails just in time. The Kings were suddenly 130/6. Pressure. Their number six, Vignesh, responded by deciding that if the Kings were going to win, he was going to have to do it himself.

Captain Ali had brought himself into the attack, emerging from bowling retirement after Joe’s earlier calamity. Joe, it has to be said, felt a little better when Ali was promptly hit for a couple of sixes. Vignesh was swinging hard and hitting cleanly, desperately trying to drag the Kings towards the finish line. Ali, however, remained disciplined, continuing to bowl a good length despite the punishment. Then another crucial wicket. The Kings’ number eight launched one into the deep, where Ieuan took the catch and unleashed a magnificent Celtic roar. The Wombats were nearly home. 143/7.

The wicket exposed the Kings’ tail, and suddenly it was becoming clear that the remaining batsmen were going to struggle to produce the runs required. The Wombats were tiring and a few more wides began to creep into the bowling, but the pressure remained. Then, in the 35th over, Archer delivered the killer blow. The last recognised Kings batsman tried to open up his shoulders and attack. Archer bowled him. 156/8.

The Kings still required around 36–37 runs, but the writing was now firmly on the wall. Ali claimed the next batsmen with a sharp stumping by Tanzeem, before Rao Abid delivered the final blow — trapping the last batsman plumb in front. Tokyo Star Kings: 160 all out. Tokyo Wombats win by 32 runs.

A massive Wombats victory

It was a victory built on adapting to the conditions. The Wombats couldn’t rely on boundaries. They had to run, rotate the strike, bowl patiently and field with intensity. Masaki’s magnificent 54, Rao’s three sixes, Archer’s outstanding bowling spell, Tanzim’s wicketkeeping, Mario’s crucial breakthroughs and a series of superb fielding efforts all played their part. Most importantly, the Wombats held their nerve when the Kings threatened to swing the game back their way. A 192 total looked competitive. By the end of the day, it proved more than enough.

Wombats 192 all out.
Kings 160 all out.
Wombats win by 32 runs.

A massive result in the Division 2 playoff race. Well played, Wombats. Up the Wombats!

Coming soon…