Kobayashi Century as Japan Defeat Bhutan in ACC U16 East Zone Cup
- 2025-06-22
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- National Team (Men U19)
A landmark century from Kaisei Kobayashi-Doggett led the Men’s U16 Japan National Team a huge victory over Bhutan on day one of the ACC East Zone Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
Bhutan won the toss and chose to bat, a decision which looked promising when Hugo Tani-Kelly was dismissed in the third over after a boundary-laced 19 from 15 balls.
That was as good as it got for the Bhutanese Japan took the contest away from them over the following two hours.
Opener Monty Hara-Hinze (60 off 85 balls) and Kobayashi-Doggett put on a partnership of 162 runs in 29 overs as Japan built an imposing total and shattered the Bhutanese captains hopes of keeping them under 100.
Although regular wickets fell following the end of the 2nd wicket partnership, cameos from Skyler Nakayama-Cook (30 off 29) and particularly Gabby Hara-Hinze (42* off 18) boosted the total to 312 for six from 50 overs.
The innings however, belonged to Kobayashi-Doggett, who became just the 7th player to score a century for Japan in all formats, and did so in the very first game for the Under 16 team.
His innings included nine boundaries and a six that was crashed over midwicket to show that Japan were taking control of the contest.
There was visible emotion upon reaching the milestone in the 38th over, having battled through the 90s as the extreme heat and humidity began to take its toll.
Despite batting for 109 balls for his total of 104, Kobayashi-Doggett then took the new ball and assisted Japan in making early inroads to the Bhutanese top order, trapping opener Jigme Sandrup LBW for a second-ball duck.
His new ball partner, Ishan Kumar Lal was the attack leader however, clean bowling two of the top four as Japan reduced Bhutan to 14 for three in the sixth over.
After that it was all about survival for Bhutan, but the left-arm spin of captain Charlie Hara-Hinze meant that Japan were able to get off the field without going the full 100 overs, his four wickets costing just 11 runs as Bhutan were all out for 97 in 37 overs as Japan completed the win by 215 runs.
Remarkably, Japan used ten different bowlers in the innings, with Tani-Kelly, Kouki Yoshida and Luke Mynard all collecting a wicket as Japan showed impressive depth with both bat and ball.
Next up for Japan will be defending champions Nepal on Tuesday.
The full match schedule is as follows:
- 22nd June (Sunday) 11:00 – Japan vs Bhutan (Japan won by 215 runs)
- 24th June (Tuesday) 11:00 – Japan vs Nepal
- 26th June (Thursday 11:00 – Japan vs Singapore
- 1st July (Tuesday) 11:00 – Japan vs Indonesia
- 3rd July (Thursday) 11:00 – Semi Finals
- 5th July (Saturday 11:00 – Finals
*Match times are JST
**Matches are 50 overs
All matches will be shown live on the Asia Cricket Council YouTube Channel