The Japan National Teams have a busy year ahead with multiple competitions now confirmed. 

Head of Cricket Operations Alan Curr said: “Everyone here is excited at the prospect of a full international schedule after such a long time without international tours. To have our Men’s, Women’s and Under 19 team all in action in 2023 means fans of Japan Cricket are going to be in for a feast of competitive cricket.”

Men’s Japan National Team

The Men’s team will be in action immediately after Golden Week with a Sri Lanka Emerging Squad touring Japan from the 10th – 15th May. The visitors will travel to Sano to help display the positive relationship between the two nations and help our men prepare for a busy year. 

In July the Men will travel to Papua New Guinea to play in the 2023 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Final. The tournament will be a double round-robin with Japan up against hosts PNG, plus the Philippines and Vanuatu with the winner qualifying for the T20 World Cup to be held in the Caribbean and USA in 2024. 

In late September the men will participate in the rearranged 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China as part of Team Japan. This will be the first time the Japan Men have participated in the Asian Games and further news on this will be published once the participating teams and format is announced. 

Lastly, the men are due to participate in the 2023 Men’s East Asia Cup alongside China, Hong Kong and Korea. Dates for this are still to be confirmed. 

Women’s Japan National Team

The Women’s team are one step further back on the pathway to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and will compete in the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier this year. 

The tournament will be held in Vanuatu in early September with the team travelling in late August, to compete in the seven-team tournament. The winner of the event will qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier to be held in either late 2023 or early 2024.  

The Women’s team is also due to participate in the 2023 Women’s East Asia Cup in China. We hope to announce the host city and schedule soon.

Japan Under 19 Team

The Japan Under 19 team will take the field for the first time since the 2020 World Cup in South Africa when they travel to Darwin to play in the ICC Men’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier. 

This will be a seven-team tournament and Japan will start their campaign against heavy favourites New Zealand. The other five teams participating are Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu. 

Full Schedule (in date order)

May 9 – 16: 

Sri Lanka Emerging Squad Tour to Japan (Men’s Japan National Team); Sano, Japan

June 10 – 22: 

ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier; Darwin, Australia

July 20 – 30:

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP Final; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

August 30 – September 9:

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier; Port Vila, Vanuatu

September 29 – October 8:

19th Asian Games (Men’s Japan National Team); Hangzhou, China 

To Be Confirmed

Men’s East Asia Cup 2023

Women’s East Asia Cup 2023

We wish all our teams the best of luck and hope that everyone in Japan will get behind them!