The hosts began their quest for a spot in the 2020 U-19 World Cup in dominating fashion with a 174-run win over Samoa U19 and followed it up with a 70-run win over Vanuatu U19. With a four-wicket win over Fiji U19 in their third match, their next challenge was to beat PNG U19, a team which had also remained unbeaten in the leadup to the clash.

Yet, under unfortunate circumstances, PNG forfeited the match to the hosts, thereby handing Japan their first-ever entry into an ICC tournament, the U-19 Cricket World Cup in January 2020.

Cut to a little over seven months later, the Japan U19 side, under the leadership of Marcus Thurgate has been grouped alongside New Zealand, Sri Lanka and defending champions, India in Group A.

Also see – Under 19 world cup points table

With the side’s maiden World Cup encounter washed out by rain, they are certain to face a stiff task when they face off against the Priyam Garg-led India U19 side. However, more than picking up a win, the side’s focus is to gain experience from playing against quality sides says Japan Cricket’s Head of Cricket Operations, Alan Curr.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Alan speaks about cricket’s steady rise in Japan, the modules in place to promote the sport among the youngsters, the key areas of focus from the ongoing Under 19 World Cup and more.

With the Japanese Cricket Association (JCA) formalising in the early 2000s, Alan claims that cricket was played a lot by expats who came from different parts of the world such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As a result, the U19 side is a good mixture of different cultures, which has helped spread the game all over the country.

While the heritage part does add a lot of value to the overall setup, Alan refers to the heartwarming gesture made by the Japanese team post their exit from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, stressing on the importance of needing to inject the importance of maintaining values and morals at a young age.

In Japan, there’s a rule that players who represent the senior side need to hold a Japanese passport as a pre-requisite to make the side. However, in an approach to promote the game at the junior level, a youngster, irrespective of his heritage needs to have played about three years of junior cricket to represent a club.

Yet, the slight issue that has dented the rapid growth of the sport in the country is the ‘Bhukatsu’ system at the school level, which allows a child in high school to pick just one sport and does not allow them to experiment playing multiple sports.

Nevertheless, Alan bats for children at a young age needing to play multiple sports, which will undoubtedly aid in improving overall talent.

What’s interesting to note is prior to the qualifiers in 2019, the U19 side had only last taken part in a junior tournament back in 2011. Alan also spoke about the path that was taken to train the youngsters ahead of the tournament.

In the age of franchise-based cricket where most youngsters look to emulate their heroes from the T20 format, Alan claims that JCA has kept away from the shortest format of the sport, owing to multiple reasons.

One feature about Japan cricket is owing to the lack of steady funds, the senior side players are asked to pay in order to represent the nation, and that’s one obstacle that the JCA are keen on changing.

Since the country is not completely cricket-oriented, a pressing issue the JCA have faced is the loss of quality players in the youth teams once they finish their education at the university level. Most of these budding cricketers then move on to focus on their careers, but the developments made in the cricketing structure over the last five to six years has ensured the longevity of youth categories.

Turning the clock back to the U19 World Cup qualifiers, Alan drew quite a few positives from the side’s unbeaten campaign and also shed light on some impressive performers from the tournament.

Post the qualification for the 2020 Under 19 World Cup, a lot of emphases was on training the youngsters a lot more, and flying in a specialist coach from Australia was one of the ways to improve the training methodologies.

With a young batch of players from mixed origins representing Japan in the country’s first-ever ICC tournament, the Marcus Thurgate-led side will next face off against defending champions India in their second game of the tournament on 21st January in a test of skill, temperament and ability.

On quizzed about the messaged passed on to the boys ahead of the gruelling prospect of facing the Indian team, Alan says there is only one motive - to enjoy themselves, gain experience and treat every match as a learning curve.

Indeed, cricket in Japan is on the rise. And given that the youngsters are going to be exposed to some high-level cricket, they are bound to pick up a lot of tricks and more importantly gain immense experience. For cricket fanatics back home in Japan, the encounter against India will present an opportunity to understand, learn and spread the word of the sport’s positive influence on shaping careers.

Alan signs off by finally handing out his two cents on the big game against India.

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