Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) President Shammi Silva today (April 25) returned to Colombo from his official visit to Japan, where he further strengthened the cricketing ties between the two sporting nations, Cricket Age exclusively learns.
Silva, also the chairman of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) finance and marketing committee, was accompanied by SLC secretary Crysantha Kapuwatha. Silva’s heartwarming gesture, on the behalf of SLC, was a part of his board’s program to help Associate Member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In March, SLC had signed an MOU with the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) to help the emerging cricket nation to develop its game through collaborations, exchanges, and also providing expertise pertaining to the game.
Cricket Age understands that during his visit, Silva again assured JCA to extend SLC’s full support by sending players, teams, coaches and curators to help Japanese cricket. It was also discussed to send Sri Lanka teams to play T20 matches in Japan as well as to host their teams, while opportunities will also be given to their players to train with the LPL squads. The discussions were also held over providing technical, grassroot level and skills honing support to Japan.
Japan is a country rabid for baseball but with little traditions for the bat and ball sport of cricket. However, ICC sees Japan as a growth country for cricket considering its population and GDP. It is also seen as a country that could potentially host a World Cup down the track.
As for as cricket is concerned, there is genuine hope that with more resources Japan can make a mark in cricket given the raw talent of children honed on a diet of baseball. The belief is that Japanese kids will be good at cricket because of baseball, particularly in the fielding and throwing. In addition, they posses good hand-eye coordination as well.
With the grassroots being developed, it’s inevitable that Japan is seen as an alluring destination for the blossoming T20 franchise cricket circuit. For Japan, the focus, right now, is to ensure cricket is in the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya.
