Tokyo Giants C.C. beat Tokyo British Embassy C.C. in Quarter-final

July 20th: Ageo Ground
Tokyo Giants C.C. easily beat Tokyo British Embassy C.V. by 5 wickets to qualify for smi-finals.

Adore C.C. forfeit their quarter-final to Indian Engineers C.C.

June 5th:
Adore C.C. forfeits their quarter-final to Indian Engineers C.C. due to overloaded schedule.

Quarter Finals Update

Here is the current status of PFC Quarter Finals:

Kytes beat Paddy Foleys by 54 runs.

Engineers beat Adore by forfeit.

Giants to play Embassy on July 20th at Ageo.

Nagoya vs Wombats is being rescheduled to July 26th.

Preamble

The Pacific Friendship Cup (PFC) was established in 2000 for a simple reason - to give Indian Engineers and Shizuoka Kytes an excuse to play each other more often (hence the inclusion of the word “Friendship” in the tournament name). We ask that all entrants acknowledge that sentiment by playing their matches not only in the Spirit of Cricket, but also in a spirit of friendship.

When it started in 2000, this was a three-match series between the Indian Engineers and the Shizuoka Kytes. Since then, the format has been changed twice on the way to the current (2008~) Golden Bat competition.

Previous winners are as follows:
2000 - Indian Engineers
2001 - Indian Engineers
2002 - Indian Engineers
2003 - Tie - Indian Engineers and British Embassy
2004 - Wombats
2005 - Indian Engineers
2006 - Wombats
2007 - Wombats

In changing the format of the tournament, we also hope to bridge the gap created by the division of the old KCL into two smaller leagues, which has had the unfortunate result that many teams, including some of the best in the country, no longer meet in structured competition.

Please contact us if you want to enter next year’s competition.

Quarter-Finals: Shizuoka Kytes vs. Paddy Foley’s

Shizuoka Kytes comfortably win in spite of Paddy Folley’s strong rearguard

Shizuoka Kytes CC: 214/9 (40 overs) (Extras, 50; A. Harvey, 48;A. Burr, 3/40)
Paddy Foley’s CC: 160 (29.2 overs) (Zahid Khan, 46; Extras, 41; Arbab Mohammad, 4/24, A. Harvey, 3/14)

Shizuoka Kytes CC beat Paddy Foleys by 54 runs.

Shizuoka Kytes CC will meet winners of Tokyo Wombats vs. CC of Nagoya in semi-finals.

Neil Harrison reports:

It was PFC day down at the ACO as the Paddy Foley’s Cricketers arrived in Shizuoka for the first round of the Pacific Friendship Cup in it’s shiny new 8-team straight knockout format complete with trophy - the fabled Golden Bat!
This time it was Kytes’ turn to provide the no-shows, as several of Kytes’ erstwhile finest decided to get Pissed For Christmas on the day before the match. Mark had set himself up as Dobber-in-Chief and sent his Captain sly snapshots of Kytes on the pop in the park on a merry cherry blossom Saturday. “Don’t worry, I’ll be done by six” he assured his Captain. His Captain naively assumed this to mean 6pm on Saturday, as opposed to 6am on Sunday. At least Mark showed up, though. We’ve yet to hear from Bunny or Danushka.
Paddy’s had 12 players so they sportingly offered Kytes their extra Eric. The Grand Old Man was summoned from the Scorer’s Mound to make up the XI. The Captain won his second toss of the season and chose to bat under clear blue skies.
Zahid opened the bowling from the Bridge End and bowled a good line with a “varied” length. Alphonse smacked a full toss through the covers, but the next ball was on a length outside off and cut back sharply off the pitch to take out off stump. Bit of rolling might have prevented that, Matthew.
Toddler came out to join Arbab and these two trundled along quite confidently, taking a particular liking to the width on offer from Andrew from the Lone Tree End. Arbab was playing confidently and scoring freely before he turned a full toss from Alex straight to Neil at square-leg. Toddler played a couple of peachworthy cover drives before getting the first of four PFC (Pretty F#$%ing Clueless) LBW decisions. Don Prelis and Ashley put on a rapid, stress-free 65-run partnership to get the innings back on track and comfortably set at 118/3 at drinks. These added another 20 before Ricky re-introduced Zahid and got the breakthrough. The Captain came in and smacked a few fours before smacking Alex straight down Hassim’s throat at long-on. Ashley was looking good for the first Kytes’ ton since the corresponding fixture two years (two years!) ago, but on 48 (64 balls, 7×4) he got the second PFC LBW of the day and after that the innings drifted off into a succession of short thrashes before Suresh and the Grand Old Man got together to steady things up to the close on 214/9.

Zahid (8-0-2-39) was the pick of the bowling, but didn’t get the success he deserved. Andrew bowled well after a loose start, and it was odd to see he didn’t get a second spell. Jeff, Alex and Neil also chipped away with wickets at regular intervals to keep the run rate down, but the 51 extras was unnecessarily generous.

With the Paddy’s openers ready to go, the Captain was wondering if his bowling attack would stretch any further than 2 this time around. The good start was there again, with Alphonse starting with a wide and a wicket and Arbab straight into bowling maidens. Neil and Suley played solidly for a while, but Neil was trapped in front by one that stayed low. Hassim smacked his first ball straight back over Arbab’s head for four but got the third PFC LBW next ball. Arbab bowled two more in quick succession while at the other end Alphonse was having no luck with Chinese cuts and loopy dobs into space. After 15 overs Paddy’s were 50/5 with one foot in the barbecue pit. And then there was a double bowling change. Mark replaced Alphonse for his farewell 5-fer and Toddler came on for Arbab. In the space of 5 overs, Rob and Zahid doubled Paddy’s total and the score at drinks was 105/6, Rob having smacked one of Mark’s many longhops straight to Ashley at midwicket. The interval saw another double bowling change, this time Suresh replaced Toddler (who, with combined figures of 5-0-0-53 in the first 2 matches of the season, announced his retirement from bowling - “Right, from now on, I’m a specialist batsman”) and Ashley replaced Mark (who is off to revive cricket in Kyoto, possibly by making everybody feel good about their batting). The run rate dropped and finally Zahid fell for 46, bowled by Suresh attempting one heave too many. Ashley tidied up at the other end, bowling Alex and a hamstrung Ricky, and then benefitting from the fourth and final PFC LBW of the day.
Paddy’s were all out for 160, giving a reasonably comfortable 54-run win for the Kytes, although the margin could have been much more emphatic if 3 easy chances had been held.

Arbab (8-4-4-25) bowled his 8 straight off and seemed to have sealed the game before Kytes’ change bowlers decided to offer Paddy’s a way back into the match. (Arbab’s figures after 2 matches are 16-9-6-34.) Alphonse (7-0-1-32) had another good showing, but 12 wides and a no-ball spoil those figures. Ashley (4.2-0-3-14) made a good return after a bad day out against the Wombats.

The end of the game meant the start of the festivities, with a barbecue on the Terrace in the last of the afternoon light and a fire to ward off the cold. Quite the experience. You should try it.

Thanks again to Paddy Foley’s for the match, the beer and the company; it’s a pleasure every time, and this one was one of the best. We look forward to seeing you again later in the year.
Thanks to Eric for being a Kyte for the day.

Man of the Match: Arbab Mohammad - Another excellent spell with the new ball, and 4 more maidens to go with the 5 from last game. Shame about the butterfingers though!

Japan Pacific Cup being expanded in 2008!

The Japan Pacific Cup has been expanded to 8 clubs from 2008 and will include:

Older Members:
Tokyo Wombats CC (2007 winners)
Shizuoka Kytes CC
Tokyo Britsh Embassy CC
Tokyo Indian Engineers CC

New Members:
Adore CC (Japanese Club)
CC of Nagoya
Paddy Foley’s CC (The oldest Tokyo Irish Pub Cricket Club)
Tokyo Giants CC