Coach: Dhugal Bedingfield
Captain: Marcus Thurgate
Last Edition: Did not Qualify
Best Finish: NA (Maiden Appearance this year)
Team Overview: This is a proud moment for Japan as the U-19 side is the first team from the country to qualify for any of ICC’s global events. Even though they would find it tough to match the quality of the other sides like India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Group A, this will definitely be a big learning curve for the young outfit. Their spirits are high too and they would be raring to put their best foot forward. 11 players from the current squad will also be eligible to feature in the 2022 edition of the tournament and they will surely be rich in experience next time.
Talking about this edition, they seem to have a capable leader in Marcus Thurgate. He was the leading run-getter in the national U-19 tournament and averaged a massive 66.00 along with a scintillating strike-rate of 181.65. Their bowling will depend a lot on Yugandhar Retharekar. The 16-year-old was the leading wicket-taker for Japan in the last East Asia Pacific Qualifier. He registered eight wickets in the tournament and will play an equally important role this time around. Japan boasts of a quality all-rounder in Neel Date too. He finished among the top 10 run-getters and wicket-takers in Japan’s U-19 domestic tournament last year. So it looks like they have the ingredients to have a decent outing. It’s just that they need to use the resources well.
Squad
Marcus Thurgate (c/wk), Neel Date (vc), Max Clements, Tushar Chaturvedi, Ishaan Fartyal, Sora Ichiki, Leon Mehlig, Masato Morita, Shu Noguchi, Kento Ota-Dobell, Yugandhar Retharekar, Debashish Sahoo, Reiji Suto, Kazumasa Takahashi, Ashley Thurgate
Fixtures
Saturday, January 18: New Zealand v Japan (Absa Puk Oval, Potchefstroom)
Tuesday, January 21: India v Japan (Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein)
Saturday, January 25: Sri Lanka v Japan (Absa Puk Oval)