In a Baseball playing country Japan, cricket is gradually finding its foot with country’s captain saying “our dream” is to make it to the qualifying rounds of the World Cup.
Currently, Japan has an estimated 3,000 players and 200 teams, with the game no longer a minor game in the country. Japan is preparing for a major international tournament which no longer sounds shocking as it would have done just a few years ago, the Guardian reported.
Last November, the Sano ground in the bed of Fuji mountain, which is the first dedicated cricket pitch in Japan to meet international standards, will host Japan, China, South Korea and Chinese Dragons from Hong Kong in the first ever East Asia Cup.
The Japanese team is poured with young blood, the youngest player of the team is just 15-year-old. The hosts are aiming to reach the latter stages is a proof of how quickly the sport has developed in recent years, according to Naoki Alex Miyaji, chief executive of the Japan Cricket Association.
“The gap in ability in international tournaments used to be huge,” Miyaji, 37, said. “We didn’t have what it took to build an innings. If we batted first we were lucky to make it through to lunch,” he was quoted as saying by the British paper.
Miyaji has fallen in love of cricket as his mother is Scottish. He played cricket during his summer holidays in England, before taking it up at Keio university in Tokyo and going on to make his debut for Japan in 2000.
The Nippon’s cricket’s turning point came several years ago when Miyaji returned from working in England, eager to share his love of cricket with his compatriots. The local authorities also promised to bring fans at Sano cricket ground.
Japan’s current captain Masaomi Kobayashi had not witnessed a single over of cricket until curiosity prompted him to start playing at university.
“This is a young side, so we have a lot to look forward to,” said Kobayashi. “Our immediate aim is to become one of the top three or four teams in the region.
“But our dream is to one day make the qualifying rounds of the World Cup.”