By Gockle
October 16 2025

The picture is the most relevant result when one searches 'Japanese Cricket' on the sport image database at SN HQ.  It's a bit more serious than that as today the nation plays the first of 2 games that could send it to the T20 World Cup if it could win them.  They face the UAE for that honour.  The Emirates would like to finish their campaign with a win and four points that could put them in the third place for the tournament and send them to India instead.  Tonight the other two counties who could be there start their final attempt to qualify.  Qatar need a win to finish their effort on four points while Samoa need to win both games they have left to be in the same position.It's all still very interesting after all these games and all this time.

Game 9 Super 6's - UAE v Japan @ Turf 1 Al Amerat Oman Thursday 15 October2025

A bllistering hot day with Japan batting first in the afternoon sun.  The UAE won the toss and put Japan in first with a possible third place the reward for a win today.  Japan get two bites of that particular cherry because they have two games left.  If the UAE lose today they finish on 4 points.   If Japan lose they go into tomorrow with the same four point option open to them if they win their last game.  BUT UAE will cliunch the third place for the World Cup.  The difference is that they can only go clear and take third IF they win both their games so today is important to both sides.

With all that in mind, Siddique faces off against Fleming and Anand with a brisk mountain wind across the ground this afternoon.  A couple of wides add to Japan's four runs and they start the game with 6 from the first.  Dhruv Parashar takes the second and Anand's first four plus a couple double the Japanese score.  

Junaid Siddique continues with the third and both the Japanese opening pair are solid in their strokeplay and defence.  But it all goes 'pear shaped' in the 4th over from Hadair Ali.  Abishek Anand is run out by Farooq from the first ball for 10 from 16 and later in the over the other opener Flemingi s caught by Farooq again for 4 from 5.  In the space of 6 balls Jaan have gone from 16 for 0 to 19 for 2 with Ben Ito-Davis and Rahman at the crease with little to their name.

UAE introduce Zahid Ali for the next over and the new pair look to establish themselves while taking no real chances.  But Haider is not finished and he bowls Ito-Davis at the end of his next over to leave Japan staring at 25 for 3 at the end of the 'Powerplay' overs.  It is not looking good for those 6 points one has to say. 

It does not get beter as new man Ravichandaran arrives and leaves in the space of 2 balls in the Zahid Ali over that next takes place.  He comes on strike and is then caught by Chopra without scoring bringing Charles Hinze to the crease.  He helps finish the over at 29 for 4 but does not survive the next one as he is bowled by Parashar for 2.  Declan Suzuki helps Rahman  take the score to 39 for 5 but it is a dire positin to be in still 2 overs from the halfway point.

Irfan's 9th deos not offer any respite as Suzuki is caught by Waseem for 6 and Japan's trail of woe continues.  Takahashi comes in and he at least gets the score to 44 and then helps Japan reach 50 by the 10th over drinks break.  He then stays a coupld of balls into the second half of the innings before he is also caught by Chopra off the bowling of Irfan for 2  - 50 for 7.  A new name in these games Wataru Miyauchi is the next Japanese bat and then new pair rech 52 for 7 by the conclusion of the 11th.

Rehman who has been holding up his end while all this mayhem has been going on finally loses that battle in the 12th when Haider bowls him for 23 from 26 with 3 fours.  One has to beleve that for Japan it is only time now.  In comes Sugaya-Slater at number 10 with 56 on the board and 8 overs ahead of him and Miyauchi to play this innings out.

They put a partnership together against the bowling of Farooq and Haider (20 for 3 from his 4) but it ends when Siddique returns for the 15th and with 72 on the board, Slater is LBW for 2 and the last man arrives in the form of another new name on the team sheet Abdul Samad

But to give these two credit, they take the game to the end of the 20 overs.  They pass 100 with a Miyauchi six in the 19th over and Miyauchi finishes with 45 from 32(with 3 fous and 2 sixes) while his last partner add 11 from 13 as they pull the score to 116 for 9 after 20 overs

It's not a winning score but it is at least a fighting one

Sharafu opens with Waseem Mohammed and if these two get in this might be over quite quickly.  The opening overs come from Slater and Samad.  Sharafu goes after Samad in the first over taking a six and a four off him while Waseem does the same to Slater in the second but working in fours.  Either way they have 26 by the end of the 2.

After that attack, Hinze is preferred for the third over but it seems to make no difference he takes two fours off him as well.  It does not look like this is going to end well for Japan today.  UAE see m to be operating at 10 per over and have reached 50 at the end of the 5th on that basis.  51 for 0 with 35 from 20 for Waseem and 16 fom 10 for Sharafu

Rahman takes the last in the 'Powerplay' and the sixes keep coming.  51 becomes 66 and where wickets kept falling and runs were rare the exact opposite is happening as the bats seem to be in little or no danger and the runs are flowing freely.

Anand bowls the 7th an keeps it quite tight but it is Declan Suzuki who makes breaks this 70 run partnership by removing Waseem for 42 from 28 at 70 for1.  Out comes Rajesh Kumar to take his place as his side need 47 from 12.4 overs.  Samad  returns and goes for 24 from his 2 over spell so far as Sharafu sends him over the rope more than once and the score moves to 86 for 1.  

Some fan in the stands has upset a couple of the Japanese players who are engaging in word games with him. It's weird, all is commments are in Arabic and all theirs are in English - weird.  Slater takes the sides to the drinks break at 91 for 1 and it hould be over quite soon with UAE in no real danger or time constraint.  They need 26 from 60 balls and they are unlikely to look to get them in singles.

Takahashi bowls and Sharafu hits him for four to move to 46 but he doesn't get all of the next one and he is caught for that 46 at 95 for 2.  This brings Chopra in who is off the mark with a straight six and the 101 is up for the Emiratis.  He hits a second one in his first 3 balls and 107 leaves them needing 10 for four points anda say inthe third place position because Japan will not get six points now with this defeat

Hinze bowls the 12th and they are within 6.  Suzuki  bowls the ball and the game is over from the bat of Kumar.  UAE take the 2 points winning by 6 wickets with 118 for 2.

It was all a bit easy to be honest and UAE must be kicking themselves that they have started to put bat to ball effectively too damn late ithe contest to be in real contention for the top spots.  I suppose it doesn't make any difference now they have the third spot.  Congratulations to them.  The other three nations are now playing for the minor spots as the three qualifying nations are decided by the result of this game.  All that is decided tomorrow is whether Oman and Samoa end on 8 points with an Omani win and an Nepalese loss.  Can't see that happening to be honest.  Expect Nepal to clear the board and finish with maximum points.

Man of the Match - Haider Ali

Game 10 Super 6's - Samoa v Qatar @Turf 1 Al Amerat Oman Thursday 15 October 2025

This game no longer determines either side's chances of coming third because of the fact that Japan lost to the UAE earlier.  For Samoa this is about taking a victory back home - possibly two.  For Qatar it is 4 points puts them in a different position in the table to 2 points.

Qatar won the toss and chose to bowl first so they open their bowling attack with Baig versus Solia and Darius Visser.  Solia gets one single run from the Qatari bowler.  The second over is bowled by Ikrmullah Khan and a leg bye plus another single run move the score to 3 for 0 after 2.  2 more runs are scored before Baig strikes for the first time as Visser is caught by Jamil for a single run from the 7 faced and Samoa are 5 for 1. Benjamin Mailata is the next man in and after a quiet 4th over once more from Khan,  the new man starts to try and impose himself in the 4th with a couple of boundaries in the 5th.  This moves the score on to 19 and Solia joins in during the 6th when Asim is introduced into the Qatar attack.  After a six, Solia  misses a straight one and is out LBW at 27 for 15 from 18 and the new man to the crease is Samuel French to face the first from Rehman.  Over the next two overs from these two bowlers, the Samoan's move the score to 44, especially thanks to the heavy hitting of Mailata who sends Rehman into the stand at the Pavilion end.

This prompts the introduction of Owais Ahmed for the 10th over.  He calms it down a little and Samoa are a run short of the half century when the drinks break comes.

Louis comes into the attack for the first over of the second half of the ininngs.  A two takes the batting side over 50 to 51 but as French tries to push on, he is squared up and bowled at 52 for 3 for 6 from 9.  Mailata (26 from 30) is now joined by his captain Caleb Jasmat who bats out the eleventh without adding to the score.

Owais is back for the next and the bats move the score to 61.  But it is Louis who makes the next breakthrough as he bowls Mailata at 65 for 4 for 40 bringing Fatu Tiai to the middle. Asim  takes the next one and bowls the Samoan captain for 3 from at the same score.  Out comes Sulluloto to face Asim and most of the 14th over at 65 for 5.

Niether Samoan has a run to their name and Asim presently has 10 for 2 from his 2 and a half overs.  It's a contest.  It may not be a long one but it is going to be an aggressive one as Sulluloto sends one out of the ground at the second attempt - he missed the first. 74 for 5 and the large bats now face Owais for his third.   Sulluloto shows a fine touch as well as he guides one down to the boundary with a deft touch.  Although the fielder cuts it off and they only get two it is another side to the man's game. At the end of the over he should be walking back in but Daniel the Qatari fielder cannot hold on to a catch he probably ought to have and the partnership goes on.

The two bats show they are also sharp between the wickets as the run a very fast and very fine two from a glance into the midfield.  You really would not want to get in the way of either of them going at full pace.

Owais will bowl out with the 18th at 89 for 5.  A six from Sulluloto takes that to 95. A second one takes the score to 102

Baig returns for the 19th for his last one.  He has Sulluloto caught behind from his second ball.  In comes Sola to take his place at 105 for 6.  The bowler finishes with 2 for 31 from his 4 and he went for 16 off his final one.

The last over is given to Ikramullah who has only gone for 4 from his previous 2 overs.  The second sees Sulluloto run out going for a second run - he is the slowest of the two it seems!  In comes Solomon Nash at 125 for 7.  He absolutely shanks one straight up and is caught for 0. 125 for 8 with 1 ball to go and Fatu Tiai at the crease.  He takes a quick single but Finau (the new man) doesn't get there and is run out.  126 for 9 is the final score with Tiai on 30 from 19.  Ikramullah finishes with 8 for 1 from his 3 overs.

Qatar need 127 to win and take their total for the tournament to 4 points and give them 4th place in the table unless Japan beat Oman tomorrow.

There response is started by Liyanage and Zubair Ali  with the former taking the first ball from Caleb Jasmat the opposition skipper.  Both men break their ducks and Ali hits the first boundary of the innings to move the score to 5.  Solomon Nash opens the bowling at the 'Mountain' end and the pair add 3 to the total.  A strong solid start from the Samoan bowlers.  It improves even more in Jasmat's  second over as Liyanage goes to a caqtch from Ben Mialata for 3 from the 9 balls faced at 12 for 1.  In comes Shariq Munir who is off the mark with a single and with the help of a wide progresses the score to 14.

Both Ali and Munir take fours from Nash in the fourth and add 10 to the score but Kurtis Hynam-Nyberg gets revenge as he has Munir caught by Douglas Finau in his first over for 6 from 6 at 26 for 2 in the 5th.

Mailata comes on to bowl to complete the 'Powerplay' overs as Muhammed Asim joins the batting. Ali takes 11 from him in 3 balls of the over and Qatar reach 41 for 2 after 6.  Jasmat turne to Darius Visser for the 7th and he holds the Qataris to 5 more.  Then Saumani Tiai (who comes up on the scoreboard as Fatu Tiai) is introduced for the next one and Qatar pass 50 with a single from Asim  off the fourth ball. Visser continues with the 9th and Hynam-Nyberg takes the game to the 10th over drinks break with the opposition moving the score to 72 for 2 needing just over 50 runs for victory in the 60 balls remaining.

Another new bowler in Samson Sola takes the start of the second half and holds the batting pair to a mere 3 but Qataris break out with 2 fours in the next Nash over as Ali moves towards a personal 50.  He reaches that with a two from the last ball of Sola's next.  A personal milestone coming off 42 balls and moving his country to within 3 runs of 100.  It is also helped by four wides fromthe bowler!!

Tiai returns for the 14th and with victory in sight and 8 wickets in hand the Qataris start to push for the end of the game. Asim hits 2 fours as they move to 109 for 2 while Jasmat brings himself on for the 15th where Qatar seal the game effectively with 15 from the over with an Asim  six and four which move him to 49 and the score to 4 short of the required total at 124 for 2.

Asim hits the next ball from Nash for four which givew him 53 from 30 and takes the game for Qatar at 128 for 2, a victory by 8 wickets and 2 points to finish their tournament with 2 wins and probably fourth place.  Asim deservedly gets the Man of the Match award and that brings the penultimate day of the qualifiers to an end.

Man of the Match - Muhammed Asim