Record Breaking Japan Defeat Maldives
- 2025-11-22
- News & Articles
- National Team (Men U19)
The Men’s Japan Under 19 team made a dream start to their ACC Premier Cup campaign in UAE with a near perfect performance against the Maldives which set multiple records.
Japan welcomed three players on debut, but it was their all time leading run-scorer, Nihar Parmar, who dominated proceedings and improved his already impressive record.
An opening partnership of 46 with debutant Taylor Waugh (11) showed positive signs, but it was the 141-run combination with Hugo Tani-Kelly (62 from 52 balls) which put Japan well on top.
Parmar batted through to the 39th over, eventually dismissed for a chanceless 156 from 132 balls – the second highest score by a Japan player following his own 160 earlier this year.
Monty Hara-Hinze, also on debut, kept momentum going with 67 from 50 balls while captain Kazuma Kato-Stafford hammered 59 from 33 balls to lift his team to 422 for seven – the highest score ever by a Japan team.
The result looked a foregone conclusion, and so it proved as the Japanese bowlers shared wickets around to quickly dismiss the Maldives for 56 to secure a win by 366 runs, another record in terms of winning margin. The third debutant, Alex Watanabe-Dawson, collecting two wickets along with Tani-Kelly,
The team are next in action on Monday against Oman, who defeated Qatar in the other Group C match on Friday, with the winner taking a significant step towards the semi-finals.
Match Schedule
- 21st November (Friday) PM2:00 – Japan vs Maldives (Japan won by 366 runs)
- 24th November (Monday) PM2:00 – Japan vs Oman
- 26th November (Wednesday) PM2:00 – Japan vs Qatar
- 29th November (Saturday) PM2:00 – Semi Finals
- 1st December (Monday) PM2:00 – Final and 3rd Place Play-Off
All times are Japan Standard Time. All matches are 50 Overs.