The qualifiers feature Japan and fellow cricket minnows Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and South Korea.
Local resident Yuya Okimasu, who watched Japan play Vanuatu with his wife and two young children, told AFP that they had only heard of cricket because his daughter watched the Australian cartoon Bluey.
“I’m looking at the rules as I’m watching the game because I don’t understand it, but it looks fun,” the 34-year-old, who was attending his first cricket match, said.
Bouncy pitch
About 300 people turned up to watch Japan’s opening game on a windy weekend morning, most sitting on deck chairs within earshot of a commentator guiding them through the basics of the game.
Temporary stands will be in place at the Asian Games, taking the capacity up to around 2000.
While the continent’s star players may be used to grander surroundings, they are unlikely to be disappointed by the quality of the pitch.
That is the responsibility of Asitha Wijayasinghe, who also curates the pitch at the 35,000-capacity Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka.
Adam Birss, Korogi Sports Park’s Asian Games operations manager, says the pitch is likely to be “bouncy”, despite typhoon season usually arriving in Japan in September.
“I would say that it should act like the pitches in Pakistan, which are bouncy but also take spin,” he said.
“It’s got a grippy surface, so if you put spin on the ball, it will spin off.”
Korogi Sports Park is part of an ambitious strategy to popularise cricket in baseball-mad Japan, which world governing body the ICC sees as one of its “priority countries”.
Playing numbers are on the rise, and the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) has had some success in carving out a tentative foothold for the sport in and around Tokyo.
Cricket’s inclusion in the Asian Games was only confirmed in April last year, and the JCA argued unsuccessfully that it should be played in Sano, a hotbed for the sport about 100km outside the capital.
Curious spectators clutching rulebooks watch a game in Japan’s brand-new cricket ground, four months before it hosts matches at the Asian Games. Photo / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP
‘Vacuum area’
JCA chief executive Naoki Alex Miyaji says Nagoya is “a huge vacuum area for cricket” and he worries that there might not be enough time to drum up interest there.
“Creating something here with the Asian Games is an ideal situation, but not when you’re talking with 15 months’ preparation,” he said.
Miyaji is also concerned about the long-term future of Korogi Sports Park, which will be shared with baseball teams when the Asian Games are over.
The question of who maintains the pitch is another unresolved issue, but Miyaji hopes the venue can be “one of the key ingredients of the growth of cricket in Japan”.
The local mayor has been an enthusiastic supporter, and there is certainly interest among those watching Japan’s game against Vanuatu.
The Japanese players do their bit, beating their opponents by 30 runs.
With only four months to go until the Asian Games begin, Japan’s players are hoping the buzz continues.
“The ground looks in incredible condition given that they only started building it a few months ago,” said Japan captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming.
“Excitement is the overwhelming emotion that we’re feeling about it.”
– AFP