The Japan Cricket Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

After a bit of a hiatus, the pod is BACK!

In this episode, we talk to Jake Kusuda-Nairn, who has temporarily moved to Japan this year to develop his cricket while helping out part-time at the JCA.

We also chatted to Jake about his early life in Japan/Australia, how he has found the move to Japan, how his cricket has gone this season, and much more!

Lastly, I talk about how this year's standings are shaping up in all our domestic leagues from the JCL T20 to the Junior U15 and U19 leagues.

On this episode of the Japan Cricket Podcast, some special guests join me to cover the very busy month of exciting tournaments that concluded at the Sano International Cricket Ground.

Some topics include:

- Josh Brown's explosive batting in the Japan Premier League (literally breaking windows)

- New debutants and milestones in the Japan Vs Mongolia Series (Tani #50)

- The Western Eagles getting revenge on the Eastern Waves

- Nikhil Pol making the Futures League look easy

It's a case of back to the future on this episode as I am joined by former Japan Under 19 captain Marcus Thurgate, and current captain Koji Hardgrave-Abe to talk about the recent World Cup Qualifier in Darwin.

Marcys relives some of his experiences and compares them to what we witnessed in the early part of June, while Koji gives us the inside view of how things came together.

At the end of the pod I do a quick two minutes on the format, more specifically why New Zealand were taking part.

Jenny Thompson is the envy of most cricket fans right now, as she travels the globe playing cricket in as many countries as she can possibly get to. She visited in Japan in late April and took in the surroundings of Sano and the SICG, as well as travelled to Nagasawa to play a match in the Japan Women's Cricket League.

On this episode I catch up with Jenny a couple of months after her visit to Japan, find out where she is now, why she's on this mission and what she is learning along the way. Jenny and I go back a long way and there's a shameless plug for my book in here too!

If you'd like to follow Jenny on Her World Cricket Tour then check out her Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Apologies for the audio quality on this, my old laptop exploded recently (seriously, it actually exploded) and I've lost all my editing software so this is raw, unedited and slightly echoey. Hopefully you can make it all the way through and don't mind me telling staff halfway through to stop rustling so much!

The sakura is out and the new cricket season is almost upon us! The Japan Cricket League will kick things off this Saturday and I am joined by Commuhnity Cricket Manager and regular guest on the show Dhugal Bedingfield to make a few wild predictions which will inevitably be horribly wide of the mark. We'll also chat briefly about Dhugal's other role as Head Coach of the Men's Japan National Squad and the busy nature of the year ahead for them. Feel free to follow the show on Instgram as well as the Japan Cricket Assoication on all of our platforms, but especially YouTube where you can watch plenty of the action throughout the season.

Welcome to the final episode of Season Two! On this extended episode I wrap up the season, going back to competitions that finished as long ago as August such is how far behind I've got! 

To go through everything I am joined by three of the Japan Cricket Associations finest in Dhugal Bedingfield, Deano Ruhode and Reo Sakurano-Thomas. The boys give their thoughts on an array of competitions, fail miserably to pick a Team of the Year and then go head-to-head in a highly competitive quiz that may or may not have been scored correctly...

For those who like to skip through, here are the timings: 

• East Asia Cup (until around 14mins) 
• Japan Junior Leagues (until around 28mins) 
• Japan Cup Finals (until around 38mins) 
• JCL T20 Finals (until around 43mins)
• JCL (until around 54mins)
• JCL Team of the Year (until around 62mins)
• Quiz

Thanks as always to BRB Munde for the backing music, and to everyone who has listened this year. See you again in 2023!

Welcome to groundsman extraordinaire, Todd Luckhurst! In a quick chat in the stands at the SICG during the Men’s East Asia Qualifier back in October. It’s a short episode and I apologise for the sound quality, first show recorded by phone….probably not a long term strategy.

It started with Japan Men's first ever T20 International, was followed by a series win, and ended with a first ICC tournament trophy in our hands in fifteen years! So naturally I was pretty excited to get Dhugal Bedingfield back on the pod to talk firstly about the three-match bilateral series against Indonesia, and then dissect the 2024 ICC World T20 East Asia Pacific Sub Regional Qualifier B win. We have 11 debuts to talk about, a first ever T20 century for Japan, a five-wicket haul on debut and much else besides. We were so excited we waffled on a bit longer than we intended, but hopefully you'll all enjoy it.  Special thanks as always to (birthday boy) BRB Munde for the backing music, and of course to everyone who came out to support the team in person, and those who sent their best wishes from afar. 

INTERNATIONAL CRICKET IS BACK IN JAPAN! We have only waited three and a half years for international cricket to resume in Japan, and almost four years for our men to take the field, so please forgive the excitement!  

In the first of a series of short, unedited episodes over the coming weeks, I chat with the Japan Men's Team Head Coach about selecting a squad for the first time in so long and then the upcoming international series with Indonesia which starts on October 9th, followed by the T20 World Cup Qualifier being held in Sano from October 15-18. There's even a throwback to the series one jingles...

If you don't already then now really is the time to follow, subscribe or whatever it is that you do on the Japan Social Media pages, here they are:  

• www.twitter.com/CricketJapan 
• www.facebook.com/cricketjapan 
• www.instagram.com/japan_cricket 
• www.youtube.com/JapanCricket 

There is also plenty of information on www.cricket.or.jp including post match reports plus schedules, announcements etc. 

My next guess is the new kid on the Japan Cricket scene. Born in Toyama but raised predominantly in New Zealand, Reo Sakurano-Thomas has been instrumental in the success Sano Cricket Club is enjoying this year, while he is also taking the game to the local community as part of his role with the Japan Cricket Association.  We discuss all that, as well as the challenges around relocating to New Zealand as a five-year-old with no English, and then doing the reverse trip as a 22-year-old. He tells me all about his first impressions of cricket in Japan, both the club scene as well as his early training sessions with the Japan National Squad as well as his ambitions for both club and country.  Before I speak to Reo I cover a fair bit in the domestic round up, wrapping the Japan Cup Regional Qualifiers as well as giving an update on the Japan Cricket League Divisions One, Two and Three. I cast my eye over the Under 19 and Under 15 leagues as well as the University Championships which concluded a short while ago.  As ever thanks to BRB Munde for the tunes, and to everyone for tuning in. You can find the show on Instagram if you'd like to contact me, and you can leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts.