Java wins national cricket's first game

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Java's cricket team defeated its Balinese opponent by virtue of a faster run rate in the first match of the National Cricket Championship at Ceylon Cricket Ground in Cibubur, East Jakarta on Sunday.

The game was pushed into an early close due to heavy rain at around 2:00 p.m.

A press release from the Indonesian Cricket Foundation (ICF), made available to the Jakarta Post on Monday, stated that batsmen from both teams had struggled to score runs as no batsman was able to score more than 30.

The top scorer was Yeri from Bali with 28 runs.

Bali batted first and started positively before Mahesh (9) was caught in the slips off the bowling of Watson. Watson bowled tightly and with a genuine pace, conceding only nine runs off five overs.

After the initial breakthrough, wickets began to fall at steady intervals as no Bali batsman was able to stay at the crease long enough to build an innings.

Srivinas Krishnan was the pick of the Java bowlers taking 4-13 off four overs.

He announced his presence in the game by taking two wickets off successive balls in his first over, to dismiss the former Western Australian player Ray Elliott (1), and Chad Paul (20).

Soni Hawoe (16) and Dhiraj (13) offered some brief resistance later on in the Bali innings.

Dhiraj managed to hit the Java leg spinner, Sachin Gopalan, for two sixes in his brief spell at the crease.

But Bali was only able to post a disappointing 130 runs off 31.1 overs, failing to use its allotted 50 overs.

The Java bowlers all performed well with Boomi Rajan taking 2 for 28, the young Ashwin Sunder taking 2 for 34, and Sachin Gopalan 1 for 17.

With the Java team containing seven recognized batsmen, it was expected to make runs with relative ease, but it struggled against some tight and disciplined bowling and tended to give its wickets away too easily.

The next National Championship fixture will take place in Bali on March 20th, acting as preparation for the Asia Pacific Cup world cup qualifiers, in Vanuatu, next year, in which Indonesia has been invited to participate.