Japan qualify for ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2020 for the first time ever

[Tiger96]

Japan have qualified for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup for the first time ever as they have been confirmed winners of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup EAP Qualifier.

Japan will travel to South Africa in early 2020 to participate in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup after securing qualification on home soil.

At the Sano International Cricket Ground earlier in the day, Vanuatu overcame a fightback from Samoa to chase down the total of 56 with in the 20th over with two wickets to spare.

Samoa won the toss and opted to bat on a seaming pitch and were in immediate trouble losing three wickets in the first three overs.

Samoan batsmen tried to rejuvenate the innings but unfortunately for them they were unable to forge out any substantial partnerships and were eventually bowled out for 56.

Vanuatu opening bowler used the conditions to his favour causing all sorts of trouble for the Samoan batsmen, on his way to collecting personal best figures (8 for 18 off 8.2).

With the conditions still overcast, the Samoan bowlers fought back bravely taking wickets at regular intervals.

Vanuatu captain Bettan Viraliliu (23 off 42) made the most of his chances to anchor the innings however was eventually dismissed with the score at 6/47 in the 18th over.

Vanuatu managed to scrape through passing the Samoan score with two wickets in hand, although some lion-hearted bowling from the Samoan opening bowlers of Sitanisilao Toutai (2 for 21 off 8) and Lester Evile (5 for 23 off 9.4) almost snatched an improbable victory.

Andrew Mansale, coach of Vanuatu praised the bowling advice from former New Zealand Test Player Brent Arnel who joined the team during the week.

“Brent gave us a few tips during the week, the result was that one of our bowlers, Edwell Kalfau took eight wickets and the way he bowled was just unbelievable, where he used the conditions really well to his advantage”.

The day capped off a fascinating week in Sano, which showcased the best of youth cricket in the East Asia-Pacific region

Summary Score

Samoa 56 (16.2) Kalfau 8/18 (8.2) defeated by Vanuatu 8/57 (19.4) Viraliliu 23, Evile 5/23 (9.4) by 2 wickets

Japan defeated PNG by walkover

Thankfully, Japan has not been yet flooded by Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis so the entire Japanese squad is indigenous.

Even Nigeria qualified for the same U-19 World Cup for the first time.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/1238902

 

[Titan24]

Good for the game and on top of that its really good to see local Japanese kids forming majority of the team unlike HK, CAN and UAE where immigrants form the majority of the squad.

 

[Bewal Express]

If the ICC are funding this, then this is a total waste of money.

 

[Ronaldo7]

If the ICC are funding this, then this is a total waste of money.

Why?

 

[Bewal Express]

Why?

When cricket is dying in Zimbabwe and Windies, why invest in places that has have less chance of expanding than me being picked for Brazil in the FIFA WC.

 

[Slog]

Nice to see it’s locals and not desi expats

 

[gazza619]

Nice to see it’s locals and not desi expats

Was thinking the same.

 

[shaz619]

This is absolutely massive! I wish them well

 

[gazza619]

When cricket is dying in Zimbabwe and Windies, why invest in places that has have less chance of expanding than me being picked for Brazil in the FIFA WC.

I think WI are doing ok.

I am really worried about Zim though. They seem to be a forgotten force. What a shame! I am pretty sure them Zim kids have a lot of talent. Hope ICC is doing everything possible.

 

[Sin Nombre]

T20 has rescued Windies cricket and kids are again into it.

 

[Bewal Express]

I think WI are doing ok.

I am really worried about Zim though. They seem to be a forgotten force. What a shame! I am pretty sure them Zim kids have a lot of talent. Hope ICC is doing everything possible.

WI have talent but on the ground Cricket is in real trouble, just look at the pathetic crowds​ against England. The ICC should be investing in WI, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Ireland and Nepal. Any money used anywhere else is a total waste. Cricket will always remain limited to a small number of countries and any attempt to expand beyond areas where there is no connection to the game is waste of the money.

 

[Syed1]

Always nice to see teams winning on the back of home grown talent unlike a few other sides hint hint

 

[Slim]

If the ICC are funding this, then this is a total waste of money.

When cricket is dying in Zimbabwe and Windies, why invest in places that has have less chance of expanding than me being picked for Brazil in the FIFA WC.

Silly post. Japan is a first world country and its players are indigenous. I thinks its a fantastic move. I hope the game grows in the country.

 

[Slim]

Going to support them after Pakistan in the upcoming WC. I hope they make it large.

 

[Bewal Express]

Silly post. Japan is a first world country and its players are indigenous. I thinks its a fantastic move. I hope the game grows in the country.

It shows your lack of understanding on how cricket has spread but I can't spend time educating- Not in a trillion years will Japan play any worthy level of Cricket because there is no cultural or historical connection to the game. If this is financed by the Japanese then all well and good, but the ICC needs to spend money on the countries I have mentioned because it can be developed in those places.

 

[Captain caveman]

Japan used to have its own baseball league. If we can get these guys to convert from baseball to t20 cricket, that will be huge for the sport of cricket!
The chinese will also invest in t20 cricket , if they see japan is doing well at it, due to their rivalry.
I also agree more money from ICC should be invested in zimbabwe, pakistan, WI, ireland, netherlands, scotland, hong kong and nepal cricket.
No point wasting money on afghanistan , as their country is unstable and corrupt. Anyway , india is supporting them.

 

[Revolution]

Congratulations Japan.

 

[JattMaula]

Excellent. Happy that local japanese kids are playing the best sport in the world.

 

[Babbar]

Japan will do well in cricket in a few decades. They came from nowhere to do well in NBA and Football. I am more worried about Zimbabwe, Pakistan as they are going down the tube. Hoping that Champions Trophy win and good result in this world cup will help Pakistan cricket get funding.

No hope for Zimbabwe as the country itself is totally chewed.

 

[Dios]

They qualified due to the opposition forfeiting. While it's great for the young kids involved this probably means very little if anything at all for the development of Japanese cricket. Every few years we hear a story like this come out of China, Nigeria, USA and now Japan. Unfortunately, cricket will continue to be a narrow sport lacking wide appeal being played by the same few countries at the highest level. Maybe a Nepal might join the club a few years down the line and that's the best you can hope for.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Japan has excellent baseball pedigree... They have been trying hard to pay cricket seriously in the past 8-10 years. It was only a matter of time they qualified, they can reach afg or ire level in the next few years in limited overs formats.

Good luck and kudos to Japs.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

People should remember they were pathetic in field hockey too few years back and now they are competing well and won their first ever gold in recent asian games in both men n women's event!

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

They qualified due to the opposition forfeiting. While it's great for the young kids involved this probably means very little if anything at all for the development of Japanese cricket. Every few years we hear a story like this come out of China, Nigeria, USA and now Japan. Unfortunately, cricket will continue to be a narrow sport lacking wide appeal being played by the same few countries at the highest level. Maybe a Nepal might join the club a few years down the line and that's the best you can hope for.

We do not want new test playing nations, if these countries play good limited overs cricket, that is enough. We will have more countries to choose from to play serious WC.

 

[hadi123]

That's great! Happy for them, and good to see it's built on proper Japanese cricketers and not expats. I hope their senior team can make it large. Even if they can get to Scotland/Netherlands level that would be great,

 

[Mamoon]

Just saw their highlights against India.

I have never seen a more atrocious team. India could have played with 3 players and still obliterate them.

You can pick a random gully team in India or Pakistan and they would thrash this Japan U-19 side.

ICC has to ensure that they maintain the standard of the U-19 World Cup. Such teams make a mockery of the quality of U-19 cricket.

 

[Mamoon]

You have to question the teams that they beat to qualify. Do they even know what cricket is?

When such teams qualify, they should play a series against a major side before playing the World Cup. If they are clearly lightyears below the required level as Japan are, they should be disqualified.

 

[Mesozoic]

The Nepal u19 team has more cricketing talent in their fingernails than this entire japanese team. Extremely unfair to them. Shows why regional qualification is always a farce for a sport like cricket.

 

[Mean&Green]

Just saw their highlights against India.

I have never seen a more atrocious team. India could have played with 3 players and still obliterate them.

You can pick a random gully team in India or Pakistan and they would thrash this Japan U-19 side.

ICC has to ensure that they maintain the standard of the U-19 World Cup. Such teams make a mockery of the quality of U-19 cricket.

These type of teams are easy money for bookies this is like a jackpot.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Lol at you lot laughing at Japan.

Laugh at the sides who lost to this Japan side

 

[minamino]

Lol at you lot laughing at Japan.

Laugh at the sides who lost to this Japan side

They didn't really qualify on merit, They qualified because PNG players were caught shoplifting.

 

[Ryw]

^ ^ ^
Sport: PNG U19 cricketers facing ban after shoplifting in Japan
Ten players from the Papua New Guinea Under 19 cricket team face an extended ban from the sport after being caught shoplifting in Japan.

The players were suspended by Cricket PNG on Saturday after stealing from a handful of shops in Sano, just over an hour north of Tokyo, where they had been competing in a regional qualifying tournament for the Under 19 World Cup.

With only four players available for selection PNG were forced to forfeit their final qualifying match against Japan, gifting the hosts a spot at next year's tournament in South Africa.

Cricket PNG Chief Executive Officer Greg Campbell said Japan is strict on crime and the offending players were fortunate local police did not press charges and allowed them to return home.

"They were caught doing some stealing, which is a no-crime policy in Japan," he said.

"It's not as bad as people said but our point of view, my point of view and the board's point of view is it doesn't matter whether it's one item or 10 items - it's the same crime.

"They've got no charges laid against them - everything has been cleared.

We got all the items back, we paid for them at the shops they were taken (from) and donated that to charity, is what I can gather from our team manager, and the shopkeeper didn't press any further and they left the country so they have no charges against them whatsoever."

Papua New Guinea have attended the Under 19 Cricket World Cup on eight occasions dating back to 1998 but Greg Campbell said suspending them was the right decision.

"Well it was never an option in my mind or the team manager's or the ICC (to let them play the final game) - they did wrong mate. We shouldn't let them go through, they did wrong," he said.

"Although it wasn't on the cricket field: nothing to do with any part of the cricket, it was after the hours of cricket, but it's just something that the ICC code of conduct and Cricket PNG's code of conduct we we don't accept.

If they hadn't of done it the ICC might have done it and we would have welcomed it, but we did it straight away."

The Garamuts squad, including four players who did not steal any items, arrived back in Port Moresby on Tuesday, and the team management met with the offending players and their families yesterday.

"The parents understand it now and were of course not very happy...the bottom line is we had to get them out," Campbell said.

"A crime in Japan is anything from 5 to 10 to 15 years - there's a no crime thing - so that was our main priority was the boys.

"They're young men and they probably didn't know better and got caught into peer pressure, so we'll do our own investigations moving forward but it's mishap they've had and we want to move on and get these kids back playing cricket and hopefully they become better PNG people."

Greg Campbell said the players will be informed of further sanctions imposed by Cricket PNG on Thursday, but stressed the players are young and the organisation has a duty to support them.

"They realise they've missed a World Cup and what harm it's probably done to us reputational-wise," he said.

"I don't think it will hurt us financially, I'm not sure yet.

"I spoke to all the sponsors today and they're right behind us. They know we did everything right and they were really happy with the way we conducted ourselves and pulled the team out and spoke to the sponsors individually, and the main priority was - even from our sponsors - was that the young boys are ok, they're back here and we will look after them in the future.

"I think it will hit down the track when they're not playing in World Cups and they're not allowed to play cricket - that's when our priority is to look after them with counselling."

Greg Campbell said the offending players apologised to members of the local community in Japan after returning the stolen items and will also visit the Japanese embassy in Port Moresby.

The ICC is investigating the incident while Cricket PNG said it will review its protocols around representative teams touring overseas.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international...cketers-facing-ban-after-shoplifting-in-japan

 

[MMHS]

Normally, gap between juniors of new entrants vs established teams are narrower in most sports because it’s the established system that differentiate professional players after baptism. But, in this WC, I don’t think the qualifiers filtered the best associates for the tournament - no way Japan, Nigeria should have qualified before at least 4-5 other countries. I know the walk-over issue (Japan), but still they shouldn’t have been in a position where one walkover can take them to WC.

Cricket is an unique British game for which development is not usual for new entrants - it needs lots of cultural influence, unique skill/mind set and very complex infrastructure. Above all, this game is learned, developed, mastered in longer format, which I don’t think can be appreciated in most countries, even some where cricket had been played for decades. I hope, next time ICC will be careful about the qualifiers and filters only those countries where the game has a future - not from the financial perspective, rather for the game itself. One doesn’t need to be a genius to figure out that if cricket is expanded to USA, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, , , future is gold......

Cricket will be followed and survive only in few handful countries, and I am quite happy with that. If we look carefully, expansion of cricket is limited to few clusters, within former British colony - mostly South Asia, British Isles, Oceania, Caribbean and Southern Africa. ICC will do a wise job by strengthening cricket in those areas rather than wasting their resources to globalise this game which will never happen. Only “unusual” country where cricket has a future is Canada - that too for a different reason. Cricket in Canada is also dominated by immigrants from South Asia, Southern Africa & Caribbean, but the BIG difference is that, here the immigrants are gradually becoming citizen, unlike middle-east or mainland Europe, here nice there is a chance that given proper backing, Canada might become a cricket power in future.

Cricket is almost diminishing in former strong associates like Denmark, Netherlands, Kenya, Mozambique (East Africa), Namibia - only 4/5 countries may have a future prospect, because of the geo proximity of cricket powers - Ireland, Scotland, PNG, Nepal & ZIM. And, Canada is only country which can be a good cricket nation as a stand-alone country without much of a regional/cultural influence - rest are waste of resources to be honest.

 

[JaDed]

Normally, gap between juniors of new entrants vs established teams are narrower in most sports because it’s the established system that differentiate professional players after baptism. But, in this WC, I don’t think the qualifiers filtered the best associates for the tournament - no way Japan, Nigeria should have qualified before at least 4-5 other countries. I know the walk-over issue (Japan), but still they shouldn’t have been in a position where one walkover can take them to WC.

Cricket is an unique British game for which development is not usual for new entrants - it needs lots of cultural influence, unique skill/mind set and very complex infrastructure. Above all, this game is learned, developed, mastered in longer format, which I don’t think can be appreciated in most countries, even some where cricket had been played for decades. I hope, next time ICC will be careful about the qualifiers and filters only those countries where the game has a future - not from the financial perspective, rather for the game itself. One doesn’t need to be a genius to figure out that if cricket is expanded to USA, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, , , future is gold......

Cricket will be followed and survive only in few handful countries, and I am quite happy with that. If we look carefully, expansion of cricket is limited to few clusters, within former British colony - mostly South Asia, British Isles, Oceania, Caribbean and Southern Africa. ICC will do a wise job by strengthening cricket in those areas rather than wasting their resources to globalise this game which will never happen. Only “unusual” country where cricket has a future is Canada - that too for a different reason. Cricket in Canada is also dominated by immigrants from South Asia, Southern Africa & Caribbean, but the BIG difference is that, here the immigrants are gradually becoming citizen, unlike middle-east or mainland Europe, here nice there is a chance that given proper backing, Canada might become a cricket power in future.

Cricket is almost diminishing in former strong associates like Denmark, Netherlands, Kenya, Mozambique (East Africa), Namibia - only 4/5 countries may have a future prospect, because of the geo proximity of cricket powers - Ireland, Scotland, PNG, Nepal & ZIM. And, Canada is only country which can be a good cricket nation as a stand-alone country without much of a regional/cultural influence - rest are waste of resources to be honest.

Canada is best place for it. I can see many Windies players migrating to play for Canadian cricket as well

The problem is Canadian summer will coincide with India and England’s

 

[MMHS]

Canada is best place for it. I can see many Windies players migrating to play for Canadian cricket as well

The problem is Canadian summer will coincide with India and England’s

That’s the only reason (cricket season), why cricket expanded in Oceania, South Asia, Caribbean & Southern Africa, but not in North America.

150 years back, cricket was expanded to these places by the professional English County players, who would play in UK between April to September and then head to either of the four directions in mentioned. In South Asia, first English team came was winter of 1888 & even in Dhaka, first cricket game was played among British troops at Lalbagh Gymkhana sometimes in 1870s!!!! Problem with North America is that their summer cuts path with English cricket season and hardly ever any English Team visited here. Rather, there were several cricket club in New England & Philadelphia area, who did tour UK in summer and few American cricketers actually played in Counties in 19th century.

It can definitely happen in Canada and it actually will happen - only taking too much time because ICC isn’t focusing much on the a Canadian prospect. From May to October, some of the best cricket weathers are enjoyed in Canada with broad day light & very little rain. One example I always give is Field Hockey - today Canada is ranked 10th (PAK 17, Malaysia 12, South Korea 16th!!!!), from amateur minnows as recent as 1990s and many of the players are descendants of South Asian, Spanish, Argentine, German, Dutch, French, Irish, Belgian, Polish and Australian origin, but they are born Canadian now. It will happen in cricket as well - in fact it can be better, because cricket is more popular and the size of stakeholders (population base of immigrants with cricket heritage) is much larger.

 

[JaDed]

That’s the only reason (cricket season), why cricket expanded in Oceania, South Asia, Caribbean & Southern Africa, but not in North America.

150 years back, cricket was expanded to these places by the professional English County players, who would play in UK between April to September and then head to either of the four directions in mentioned. In South Asia, first English team came was winter of 1888 & even in Dhaka, first cricket game was played among British troops at Lalbagh Gymkhana sometimes in 1870s!!!! Problem with North America is that their summer cuts path with English cricket season and hardly ever any English Team visited here. Rather, there were several cricket club in New England & Philadelphia area, who did tour UK in summer and few American cricketers actually played in Counties in 19th century.

It can definitely happen in Canada and it actually will happen - only taking too much time because ICC isn’t focusing much on the a Canadian prospect. From May to October, some of the best cricket weathers are enjoyed in Canada with broad day light & very little rain. One example I always give is Field Hockey - today Canada is ranked 10th (PAK 17, Malaysia 12, South Korea 16th!!!!), from amateur minnows as recent as 1990s and many of the players are descendants of South Asian, Spanish, Argentine, German, Dutch, French, Irish, Belgian, Polish and Australian origin, but they are born Canadian now. It will happen in cricket as well - in fact it can be better, because cricket is more popular and the size of stakeholders (population base of immigrants with cricket heritage) is much larger.

I hope so too, If India vs Pakistan Sahara cup were a regular feature all these years I’m sure it would had been by now

 

[SensiblePakFan]

You have to question the teams that they beat to qualify. Do they even know what cricket is?

When such teams qualify, they should play a series against a major side before playing the World Cup. If they are clearly lightyears below the required level as Japan are, they should be disqualified.

Call up the PNG team management lol