The Japan Cricket Podcast

Welcome to Season Two of the Japan Cricket Podcast! The 2022 season has arrived and we already have news of a ridiculous innings played in the Japan Cup, and it's not even April.  In this episode I wanted to preview the Japan Cricket League (JCL) with a primary focus on Division One and so I asked Dhugal Bedingfield, the captain of the defending champions, to join me once again as we do a run...

A bonus episode of the Japan Cricket Podcast as host turns interviewee for the YouTube Channel Cricket Spectacle . On this episode I'll talk a bit about how I ended up working for the JCA, what the landscape was like when I arrived and what it looks like now as well as the challenges of getting cricket into Japanese schools.   This is not the only place I have popped up lately however, you ca...

As the bleak midwinter continues it seemed a good opportunity to look back over the conversations had during the first season of the Japan Cricket Podcast and pick out some of the best answers from my guests. Everyone who came on the show was wonderfully engaging and refreshingly open about their experiences, so if you haven't listened to all the episodes yet then I do suggest you use the off seas...

It's the Grand Finale of Season One...who thought it would have this many episodes? After an extraordinary year we wrap up with a bumper episode, the longest yet, so you can take all winter to listen to it if that's what's required.  The bulk of the show is spent discussing all the JCA run competitions, not just the winners and top performers but also how they are structured. We start with th...

In Part Two of my chat with Marcus Thurgate we talk about his surprise at being called into the National Squad as a 14-year-old, why he missed the last tournament that Japan won, the fateful day when Japan qualified for the Under 19 World Cup in the strangest of circumstances, and what it was like to lead his country at a World Cup in a country like South Africa.  As always, please do remembe...

As the season draws to a close I am joined by Chiba Sharks wicket-keeper and opening batter Marcus Thurgate who gives us the inside scoop on how the Sharks have managed to make three JCL Finals in the last four years, winning two of them including the 2021 edition. Marcus talks about growing up in Chiba and going through the Japanese school system, his desire to give back to the Sharks in the year...

A shocking break from tradition and all previous rules thrown out of the window as I have not one but two guests on the podcast today and release the episode 24 hours earlier than normal with the Japan Cricket League Grand Final taking place this Saturday.  In this episode I give a very brief explainer of the JCL before inviting on the captains of the two clubs who are participating. Firstly...

After a one week break for a trip back to the UK the pod returns this week with another Tokyo Wombat: Richie Bracefield. the former club president talks to us about his near perfect debut in the JCL back in 2016, the challenges of running a one-team club, his Japanese heritage and how Kane Williamson caused him to break up with his girlfriend.  If you'd like to learn about Richie's favourite...

Finally I am joined by a current international player! Erika Oda is also the first female to come on the pod, and we discuss her early success in baseball and track & field before work took her away from sport. We go on to talk about her nightmare debut, her experience playing cricket in New Zealand, how the J-BASH is filling the gaps in women's cricket in Japan, and her goals for the future.&...

In part two of my chat with Raheel Kano, we discuss the progress he saw the Japan Under 19 team make across three tournaments and that first ever win (under his captaincy). He tells me about how international cricket showed him parts of the world he never expected to see, his ambition of getting back into the senior Japan squad and gives the best answer yet to the "favourite thing about Japan" que...

This week I am joined by former Wyverns CC and Japan Under 19 captain Raheel Kano. We discuss his early life split between Japan and Pakistan, how joining the Gunma Sport Speaks program aged 10 got him on the Japan Cricket pathway, and how strong leadership is so important in a club environment.  Raheel tells us what a great player he would be now if only he had come through the current set u...

I am joined this week by Shun Hashiba, a near 20-year veteran of the Japan Cricket scene with his club, Adore. Hear how Shun spent his formative years in New Zealand (including playing alongside a genuine NZ legend), the challenges facing University cricket in Japan, his desire to bring back  two-day cricket, and his time in the Japan National Squad as Cap Number 57.  Shun has also start...

All the way from Brisbane, Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming joins us to discuss his formative years in Japan before moving to Australia. The challenges, and privileges, around dual nationality, the Under 19 World Cup experience from a coaches perspective, and a player taking a shower in all his kit... Kendel also suggests everyone watches this video .  As always, please do remember to rate and review...

This week my guest is from the Alpha Quashers Yokohama Cricket Club: Vasanthan Jayakumar. You can hear all about his unusual introduction to Japan Cricket, for an expat at least, as he came through the University League with Keio Uni, and ended up being a core member of the Japan Cricket League Committee, without whom domestic cricket in Japan would struggle. He also talks about fights in the old...

My guest this week is...me! No, I am not interviewing myself, although that would be fun, I was invited to join the excellent team at Emerging Cricket to discuss the Under 19 World Cup Qualifier cancellation and the ICC decision to hand Papua New Guinea a place at the 2022 World Cup ahead of Japan, because they had a better team 10 years ago (really, that's why). A slightly longer podcast than nor...

I am honoured to welcome my first Japanese guest onto the podcast, and it is The Number One Groundsman in Japan himself: Yoshitaka Uehara! Listen to Yoshi talk about how he began his cricket by playing in the Japanese two-day league(!), the time he nearly missed the plane home when touring England with the Japan team and what he learned by playing club cricket in Melboure, Australia. Yoshi also te...

In this episode I continue my chat with Japan International cap number 065! Jarrad tells me all about what it was like to represent Japan and the sacrifices that went with it, as well as the subtle differences in touring Papua New Guinea compared to Samoa. We also touch on the Japanese governments policy on holding multiple passports as well the impact a coach can make with even a small word of en...

Plenty of stories from one of the founding members of the Tokyo Wombats led me to split this interview into two parts.  In this episode you can hear how a young Jarrad's fascination with secret ways of communicating led him to study Japanese, and how the Wombats were formed out of a game of Aussie Rules Football. Tales of the infamous Wombats Van and the importance of enjoying cricket, off th...

The in-form player in Japan joins me this week, fresh from a career-best innings in the JCL. Listen to Vinay Iyer talk about his early years in Mumbai, how he was nearly lost to cricket altogether due to his love of a different sport, the secret behind his recent performances and the two Indian superstars he came up against in his youth.  Please do remember to rate and review the show...if yo...

This week I chat with one of the founding members of the Chiba Sharks, Chris Thurgate, who takes us through his journey to Japan, years of tough losses which ended with a glorious victory, and latterly his time as an ICC Umpire. His kids get a mention too, and his pride at watching the next generation of cricketers come through and how surreal it was to watch them on TV at the Under 19 World Cup.&...

Join me, Alan Curr, as I chat with the reigning Japan Cricket Player of the Year, Sabaorish Ravichandran of Tigers Cricket Club. Hear about how he came to Japan in 2015 without a single piece of cricket equipment, how he thrives on pressure, and how he almost ended up playing for the Alpha Quashers. Sabaorish will also discuss his ambitions for club, and more importantly country, now that he has b...

This summer the long awaited Japan Cricket Podcast is launching! The show will feature interviews with the people who have made, and are making the world of Japan Cricket what it is today.  Although not officially associated with the the Japan Cricket Association, the interviews will be conducted by the JCA Head of Cricket Operations; Alan Curr. The show can be followed on its own Instagram a...