Popularity of cricket on the ascendency in Japan

Popular for being a baseball crazy country as well as producing baseball players of international repute, cricket is set to make a sparkling entry into the country. The skipper of the Japanese cricket team also added that playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup was a dream for the nation. In recent times, The Guardian has also reported that the country boasts of almost 3000 cricketers and has also toyed with the idea that the country could one day compete in a major international tournament no longer sounds as preposterous as it would have done just a few years ago.

Naoki Alex Miyaji, chief executive of the Japan Cricket Association also added that Japan’s team is very youthful with their youngest player being just 15 years of age. This is clear evidence of the growth of cricket in a land where baseball has been wearing the sporting crown for decades.

“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.

“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.

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“But our dream is to one day make the qualifying rounds of the World Cup.”

Japan’s 33-year-old captain, Masaomi Kobayashi, had not witnessed a single over of cricket until curiosity prompted him to start playing at university. “This is a renewal phase for the Japanese team,” said Chris Thurgate, an Australian and a board member of the Japan cricket association.

“There’s genuine competition for places in the national team now that we’ve expanded the player base and there are more junior players coming through,” Thurgate said.

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