South Korea tour of Japan - June 2004

South Korea tour of Japan - June 2004 © ICC

Only a matter of weeks after the conclusion of the ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket Challenge, international cricket was again on the agenda in Japan with a touring side from South Korea visiting on the last weekend in June.

Three days of cricket were planned with the visitors, who were mainly university students. Unfortunately weather prevented any action on the Friday, however conditions improved to allow for play on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Saturday games were very successful. The local staff for the tournament did a great job in organising around 30 Japanese players from a mixture of our University, Development and National teams, as well as some stronger women's players to come down for the day. The morning saw 2 games of 8's with a couple of Japanese players added to both Korean squads. Both Korean teams batted first scoring 82 and 105 respectively, although a couple of handy contributions from Japanese players helped bump up the scores. The Japanese teams were able to overhaul the totals in both games with a couple of overs to spare. Quite good games however, and for many of the Japanese and Korean players it was their first game of 8's.

In the afternoon there was a round robin tournament of 6's, which was very enjoyable. All the teams had a make up of a couple of Japanese, a couple of Koreans and one female player. This proved a very good mix as it gave a great chance to the players to integrate with each other. The sign language within the teams, as well as the general communication, improved dramatically as the day went on.

A final and consolation final was played at the end of the day, with the winners and loser proving fairly irrelevant compared to the fun of the day.

Sunday's game will be a very good learning experience for all players. It was the first game that our Japan A team (basically our development team) had played together, but most these players are now participating in the Kanto Cricket League, which is the premier competition in Japan. Therefore all of the Japanese players were quite experienced and have been playing for many years.

The Japan team batted first and started to compile runs without taking too many risks, just waiting for the odd loose ball and always being helped by a couple of extras per over, mostly wides. A couple of difficult catches went to ground, but the openers managed to put on around 120 for the first wicket in about 23 overs, before one of the Korean's who was bowling fairly well around the wicket bowled one of our openers neck and crop with a very good delivery.

The Japan team had a good start behind them and the next 3 or 4 batmen all contributed to a total of 300 in the 40 overs, with our other opener going on the record the first century ever by a Japanese batsman in an international match. It was not a great innings, but patient and well paced all the same. We certainly look forward to the first Korean century coming when we visit there next year.

Unfortunately the total proved a little too challenging for the Korean team, but there were some very good shots played at times, just a lack of experience was the main downfall for the majority.

The Korean Captain, Kim, was extremely impressive in his composure and leadership, managing to bat the entire innings and remain not out. A rare feat indeed and well deserved. Should he have had a little more support from one or 2 other batsmen I am sure that Korea could have put on a total far exceeding the eventual total of around 90.

I really want to complement the Korean team on how they behaved and how they interacted with the Japanese players. There were nothing if not enthusiastic, and there are some good athletes within the squad who could make very good players with a few more years experience and coaching under their belts.