Padding up in the paddies puts some samurai swagger into genteel old game

FUJI, Shizuoka -- Beneath the shadow of Mount Fuji and with a bullet train roaring by in the distance, the man striding forcefully out into the field of battle is clad in garb that strongly resembles the armor of his samurai ancestors of old.

Behind the iron face grill on his helmet, he wears a look of steady resolve backed up by protective padding and the blade of willow he wields to both defend and attack.

But Tatsuro Chino is not going to war. The battle he's waging at the Fuji Cricket Ground is one on behalf of the Japan national cricket team, which is warming up for its debut assault on the World Cricket League Division 5 tournament to be held in the English Channel island of Jersey from May 23 to 31.

Chino, 24, Japan's vice captain, wicket-keeper and opening batsman, only converted to cricket at 18 after a friend introduced him to the game.

"I like cricket because you can bat a long time. And each time you get someone out it has much greater value than in baseball. I love the feeling of having the whole team celebrate after taking a wicket," Chino says.

With regular skipper Tetsuo Fuji unavailable, Chino marshals Japan in a practice match against reigning Kanto Cricket League Division 1 champions the Tokyo Wombats, showing an astute knowledge of the game that belies his late start. Among the bowlers in his arsenal for the game is Naoki Alex Miyaji, a stalwart of cricket in Japan.

Miyaji typically opens the bowling for Japan, but that's not the only way the 29-year-old son of a Japanese father and Scottish mother bends his back on behalf of the game in this country. He's also the CEO of the Japan Cricket Association (JCA), an NPO entrusted with the task of promoting the world's second-most popular participation sport in a land where, for the majority, Cricket is the name of a fashion label.

Despite the iconic surroundings of the playing headquarters at the foot of the country's most sacred peak and bullet trains hurtling past at regular intervals, Fuji Cricket Ground is also symbolic of the state of the game's status in Japan. Its two pitches are among no more than a handful found throughout the entire country. And they're located about 150 kilometers from the center of Tokyo, making a trip there a costly effort in terms of both time and money, an even greater drain considering the core of the game here revolves around university student players.

Nonetheless, Japanese cricket is making inroads. Miyaji estimates there are about 2,000 senior and junior cricket players in competitions that include expatriate-centered and university leagues. JCA has branches in Kanto, Kansai, Hokkaido and Shikoku. Nationwide, almost 6,000 boys and girls have been taught about the sport.

Uenomiya High School in Osaka has recently become the first school in the country to make cricket an option in its extra-curricular program. As most Japanese players don't start playing the game until they reach tertiary education level, Miyaji is confident the JCA will be able to tap into the solid university base and reach deeper into the education system to introduce the game to younger players as is happening in places such as Uenomiya, a powerhouse in Japanese school sports.

"We've got big plans and a very bright future," Miyaji says. "We've just got to keep working at it."

Cricket in Japan has a history dating back to the 1860s. But the sport never caught on the way baseball did after the American sport was introduced much later, though cricket's nature of one-on-one contests, teamwork in the field and grinding out a solid platform over a long period of time are all values that have long been highly and widely esteemed by Japanese society.

Japan is an associate member of the International Cricket Council, a body made up of representatives from 101 countries that administers the sport globally on a multi-tiered structure. At the top of the pyramid are the nine Test playing countries and below them are the Associate and Affiliate members. Japan is an Associate member currently ranked equal 36th in the world. The main ICC Associate and Affiliate teams take part in the five division World Cricket League, which Japan will compete in for the first time next month.

Japan qualified by winning the East Asia-Pacific (EAP) Trophy in a competition in Auckland, New Zealand, late last year and will send a squad of 14 to represent the nation. The Japanese are confident of doing well in the league.

"We're going there to win it. And if we play to our potential, we can win (the division)," Richard Laidler, the Japan Men's National Team Coach, says, adding that a top four finish to guarantee retaining its place in the league instead of being sent back to regional competition "is a minimum goal."

Laidler notes that the strong baseball tradition in Japan makes the transition to cricket a comparatively easy one because of the sports' shared skills of catching, throwing and hitting. But he concedes the famous Japanese work ethic that has served the country so well in business hasn't quite had the same benefits for its national cricket team. Many of the university players who led Japan to the EAP triumph have since graduated and began working full time with the start of the new fiscal year on April 1. In a country where long overtime hours and near-total dedication to the company are still greatly valued social virtues, getting time off work to play in a tournament for a sport most people barely know about is next to impossible. Even though a large chunk of the squad Laidler will take to Jersey will be new faces, he is unconcerned.

"It's a privilege to put the red cap on. I consider it an absolute privilege to come here and be the national coach," he says. "Unavailability can sometimes give opportunities. Sometimes you take kids and throw them into a game and they prove to be better than expected."

That same work ethic sometimes acting as a hindrance to the game's progression is a factor vice captain Chino says also helps Japanese players with their cricket.

"I think it's in the Japanese character to work hard and study hard. We study the game more," the 24-year-old gloveman says, his opinion as straight as the bat he displays at the crease with a poise that's extraordinary considering he only started playing cricket on the verge of reaching adulthood. "Japanese players may not have the greatest natural techniques, but we study the game more than most and we make a great effort. We get a lot of help from coaches and helpful foreigners on other teams. And I think we get that help because they see how hard we work at putting their advice into practice."

It's the collective aspect of the game that national team leg spinner Kenji Murata finds appealing.

"Everybody is involved," the 26-year-old tweaker says. "In baseball, only the pitcher throws. But in cricket, the whole team has to get in on the act."

Leg spin is a bowling art said to be one of the most difficult skills of all to pick up. In fact, this type of bowling is so difficult, the English inventors of cricket have been trying vainly for centuries to come up with an international standard leg spinner.

"It just came to me naturally," says amiable Murata, who started playing at 18 and boasts career-best figures of 7-10 taken for Chuo University in a student match against arch rivals Keio.

Japanese may not always have picked up the game as naturally as those in countries where cricket is a major sport, but simmering support is gaining heat. Expectations are certainly high among the sport's global administrators.

"Cricket has certainly come a long way in the past few years in Japan. Senior playing figures have risen close to 50 percent since 2002, with over 1,100 senior cricketers now registered. The real strength in the future of Japanese cricket, and the area that is vital to creating a sustainable environment, is the junior playing/involvement numbers. From 2006 to 2007 the number of juniors that the game reached had risen over 50 percent to over 5,158," Nick Frayne, ICC-EAP Project Officer, says.

"The JCA's partnership with Cricket Victoria (based in Melbourne, Australia) continues to grow, and is one of best run alliances in the East Asia-Pacific Region. This partnership, with a focus on improving the quality of coaches in Japan, will continue to promote the ongoing process of improving knowledge amongst coaches of all levels throughout Japan. This also ties in with the ICC East Asia-Pacific's focus on creating a sustainable environment where the JCA can become more and more self sufficient. With cricket now a truly global sport thanks to the ICC Regional Development Program, the opportunity to drive significant development is enormous. One of the main requirements for significant improvement for cricket in Japan is for the continued development of new cricket ovals, net facilities and training areas. With Japan now competing in World Cricket League Division 5 against such nations as the United States and Singapore, the ability to attract significant corporate support is encouraging."

Also encouraging for Japan is the form of vice captain, opening bat and samurai-lookalike Chino, who notches up a half century and then marshals the team from behind the stumps when it goes out to bowl. He'll be hoping to emulate Japan's past master swordsmen and cut a swathe with his cricketing blade with the national team in Jersey. (By Ryann Connell)

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