The Women’s Japan National Team won their second match in a row at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier 2023, beating Samoa for the first time in nine years.

The win was once again led by Erika Oda at the top of the order, who shared a 63-run partnership with Akari Nishimura in just 43 balls, before being calamitously run out for 46; yet another score in the 40s. Along the way she struck seven boundaries, four coming in a row, in a 28-ball innings that got Japan off to an absolute flyer. 

Ahilya Chandel then combined with captain Mai Yanagida in an unbroken stand of 73 from 57 balls, making a career-best 28* while Yanagida made her best score in five years finishing 36* as the team finished on an imposing 152 for three.

Samoa had a great start of their own as Via Andrew (19) and Ailaoa Aoina (34) put on 67 for the first wicket. Leg-spinner Erika Toguchi-Quinn broke that partnership in the 11th over, her first international wicket, and suddenly Japan roared back into the contest taking three wickets for no runs at all in the space of five deliveries with run-outs accounting for two of them. 

Nonoha Yasumoto continued her good start to the tournament with another wicket as well as a catch and run out, while Toguchi-Quinn ended with figures of two for 23 as Samoa were eventually restricted to 104 for eight from their 20 overs, meaning a win by 48 runs for Japan.

Coach Dean Ruhode was buzzing after the game: “It’s always great to beat a team ranked higher than you and getting on a roll with two wins in a row is only going to give the players more confidence. I believe in them, lots of people back home believe in them, and now they can genuinely start believing in themselves too.”

Sunday will be a rest day in the tournament and Japan will return to play Fiji on Monday at 11:30am Japan time. 

Match Schedule (Japan Time):

• Friday 1 September – Cook Islands vs Japan, 07:30
• Saturday 2 September – Japan vs Samoa, 11:30
• Monday 4 September – Fiji vs Japan, 11:30
• Tuesday 5 September – Papua New Guinea vs Japan, 07:30
• Thursday 7 September – Indonesia vs Japan, 07:30
• Friday 8 September – Vanuatu vs Japan, 11:30

JCA Official Social Media:

• X：https://twitter.com/CricketJapan
• Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/cricketjapan
• Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/japan_cricket

Women’s National Team Partner

• Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd.

Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. specialized in providing services and products related to ICT (information and communication technology). Partnering with various global ICT vendors and supporting more than 1,500 companies, MKI offers best-in-class solutions to customers.

Website: https://www.mki.co.jp/english/