Japan hoping surprise cricket U-19 World Cup appearance is just the start

They score one even mild upset and... boom! Everyone becomes cricket "fans."

Please, god, no...and I'm British!

cricket is a game I always thought would suite the Japanese.

Agree - from an aesthetic perspective, it does fit Japanese culture, rather than the more boisterous and in-your-face baseball, focusing more on elegance, even down to the all-white uniforms of the players.

Perhaps in recent years it has moved more in the direction of baseball, with shorter, brasher games, with coloured uniforms and music etc, but the slower paced five-day test match is still at the top.

Kazu my little friend, exactly where did I disparage baseball? In fact I said if you like baseball I get it. It just happens many nations consider cricket a national sport.

Your ignorance about cricket can be fixed with an Internet seach. Now that's embarrassing. When I was at school we had baseball classes for those not into Rugby, Aussi Rules, League, Soccor, Gailic Football, Fencing, compeditive origami, pig pong, jazz ballet, interpretive dance, sure I'm aware of baseball. Don't be so serious about a game, there will be another next week.

Wishing the Japanese Cricket team much success in their bowling, batting, fielding, and catching endeavors at the forthcoming Cricket World Cup in South Africa.

Cuba? Which is funny as its hands off for the league.

I understand that cricket is a international sport but baseball is just as global as cricket.

I'm not so sure. Cricket ranks as the No.2 sport in the world by popularity (2.5 billion fans). Football (Soccer) is No.1 at 4 billion.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html

Baseball (500 million) is played by some people around the world, but outside of the US and Japan and possibly the Carribean, I can't think of any countries where it is a major sport.

99.9% of Japanese have no idea what cricket is and could not explain even the simplest detail of how the game is played. I'm very surprised they have a team in the world cup. This is the very first I have heard of it. I suppose it is a good thing for cultural diversity.

But if you are a cricket fan, Australian, British, Jamaican, New Zealander, South African, Irish, Indian, Pakastan, Shrilankan, Bangladesh, and others I'm embarrassed I can't remember the others.

to Cricky

What you should be embarrassed about is not the fact that you don’t remember all the countries that play cricket but the fact that you are implying that only the US and Japan plays baseball.

I understand that cricket is a international sport but baseball is just as global as cricket. I hate people who comment negatively on baseball when they don’t really understand the sport and that is ignorance imo.

Your ignorance on the sport of baseball is... “awrsom”.

Cricket has come from a soporific "gate ball" type deathly boring game to something that makes you sit up and watch. Modern cricket is worth watching. I'm very happy to see Japan take an interest in this. It suits this climate!

Something I never thought to see, a cricket article on JT :)

Well good luck to them, Like Cricky above, cricket is a game I always thought would suite the Japanese.

Awrsom, would love to see it more. Baseball if you are American, or Japanese I get it. But if you are a cricket fan, Australian, British, Jamaican, New Zealander, South African, Irish, Indian, Pakastan, Shrilankan, Bangladesh, and others I'm embarrassed I can't remember the others. But it's an international game played everywhere. Japan making a splash is great. Requires not size, strength but skill. A fair playing field. Japan could do well if given support.

Not a sport I watch but good for them.

It would be nice to have some cricket news on JT now and again. The World Cup came and went last summer without a single article, even after that incredible final.

Come on JT, give it a go!