The Men’s Japan Under 19 team completed their second Asia Cup campaign with a first ever contest against Pakistan, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Japan handed debuts to young wicket-keeper Skyler Nakayama-Cook and Sano Braves Yuto Yageta, meaning everyone in the 14-player squad featured across the three matches.
After being asked to bowl Japan made their best start of the week, striking five times in the first half of the innings to have Pakistan under pressure at 100 for five after 25 overs.
There was a seventh wicket of the tournament for Kiefer Yamamoto-Lake, while Kai Wall collected his first with an excellent take behind the stumps by the debutant Nakayama-Cook.
Spinners Charlie Hinze and Hugo Tani-Kelly kept things tight, but the legspin of Nihar Parmar was the highlight for Japan, taking his first wickets of the tournament and ending with figures of two for 18 from six overs.
Star batter Shahzaib Khan scored centuries against both India and UAE in the previous matches, and he combined with Muhammad Riazullah in a partnership of 82 from from 115 balls to rebuild the innings.
Khan was well caught and bowled by Timothy Moore for 45, to give him a first wicket of the tournament, before Riazullah took over to finish 66 not out and lift Pakistan to 243 for six from their 50 overs.
On what has been a lower scoring ground, runs were hard to come by and although Parmar, who has shown outstanding application throughout the tournament at the top of the order, dug in again for 25 from 60 balls, the left-arm spin of Mohammad Huzaifa was too much for five of the batters as he ran through the middle and lower order to bowl his team to a 180-run win as Japan were dismissed for 63.
Pakistan progress to the semi finals, along with India who defeated UAE by ten wickets, meaning Pakistan will play defending Champions Bangladesh while India play Sri Lanka to complete the final four.
The Japan team would like to thank everyone for all the support they have received from at home and around the world, look forward to applying the lessons learned in this event when they next take the field in 2025.
The fixtures are scheduled as follows:
- 30th November (Saturday) – UAE vs Japan, Sharjah (UAE won by 273 runs)
- 2nd December (Monday) – India vs Japan, Sharjah (India won by 211 runs)
- 4th December (Wednesday) – Pakistan vs Japan, Dubai (Pakistan won by 180 runs)
Knockout matches are scheduled as follows:
- Semi-Finals: Friday 6th December
- Final: Sunday 8th December
All matches begin at 09:00 local time / 14:00 Japan Standard Time.
All matches will be available to watch live on the Asian Cricket Council YouTube Channel and live scores can be followed on the ACC Match Centre.
