The brave hearts of our Lions boys were certainly on display yesterday in Sano.
A must win match for the boys to have any chance of making it to the 2024 Under 19s finals. The boys did us proud with a hard fought victory over our old foes, the Sano Braves.
We’ve never beaten the Braves to date and to do so in their own back yard, made the victory all the more satisfying. Many of their team are in the Under 16s or Under 19s Japan Academy and they are second in the league, so it was always going to be a hard match.
Tim won the toss and elected to bat.
Tim and Kirren opened the batting but the Braves opening bowler skittled Kirren with the Lions on 4. The pressure was on not to repeat a similar collapse to last year against the Braves. Taiga strode in and Tim and Taiga played some wonderful cricket strokes to get the score ticking along nicely. Tim with a lovely 6 over fine leg and Taiga with a cracking cover drive for 4.
At 1-64, Taiga was next to go, hitting one on the up to cover with Tim shortly following after playing onto his stumps. The ever reliable Eric and Nived then got us back scoring, with Nived smashing one over the bowlers head for 6 and Eric with a cracking 4. With Eric bowled, Juto came to the crease and the Lions finished at 5-130 off 20 overs.
The pressure was on the bowlers to be economical as 130 did not give us much for the bowlers to bowl at. The bowlers all bowled their hearts out.
Tim leading the charge with 2-15 off 4, Eric with 2-13 off 3, Kirren with 0-12 off 3, Juto with 2-27 off 4, Mantra with 2-25 off 4, Sam with 0-13 off 1 and Nived with 0-11 off 1. Great to see Tim rotate the bowlers, looking to mix it up and be on the hunt for a wicket.
Taiga was as lightening fast as ever behind the stumps with 3 stumpings to remove batters 3, 4 and 7 (2 being Academy players) and some diving saves to keep the extras down, with only 1 bye.
After a nail biting finish, the Braves were 8-117 off their 20 overs. Man of the match to Tim with 2 wickets, 38 runs and a catch in the deep.
A great team effort by the boys with every member of the squad contributing to the win. Big thank you to Haito from Sendai who took a catch and helped us to victory.
Stats: Highest scoring batsman : Timmy (38), best batting strike rate : Timmy (97), most wickets: Timmy, Eric, Juto & Mantra (2 each), best bowling economy : Timmy (3.8)
Player of the Match: Timmy
Team: Eric Harrison, Ethan Williams, Haito Satake, Juto Ball, Kirren Hollow, Mantra Joshi, Nived Namibar, Pratyush Bist, Sam Robinson, Taiga Hague (Wicket Keeper) Timothy Moore (Captain).
Lions, parents and coach AJ celebrate the win.
