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The Japan Cricket League (JCL) is a domestic tournament played every year in Japan. The 2022 edition of the tournament will get underway by the end of this month. The main purpose of this tournament is to give a chance to cricket players in Japan to compete against each other. The interesting thing about Japan Cricket League is that the games are played only on weekends.
The Japan Cricket League is played in the one-day format. Each team gets 40 overs to play in an inning. Due to games played only on weekends, the tournament goes on for almost 7-8 months. The competition is made up of three divisions with 27 teams in total as of 2020. In each division, all teams play each other once and culminate in the semi-finals and finals to decide the eventual winner.
This year, the JCL will begin on April 29. The inaugural edition of the tournament was played way back in 2006 and was won by Tokyo Wombats. Also, Wombats are the most successful team with four titles so far. The last edition of the Japan Cricket League was won by Chiba Sharks. They had defeated Tokyo Falcons by 118 runs to lift the title.
Japan Cricket League Winners in the past:
Tokyo Wombats- 2006
Tokyo Wombats- 2007
Tokyo Wombats- 2008
Tokyo Wombats- 2009
Chiba Sharka- 2010
Sano- 2011
Sano- 2012
Sano-2013
Paddy Foleys- 2014
Max- 2015
Max- 2016
Sano- 2017
Max- 2018
Chiba Sharks- 2019
Tigers- 2020
Chiba Sharks- 2021