The 15 players and six staff who will travel to Namibia for the 2026 Under 19 World Cup have been confirmed today.
Head Coach Reo Sakurano-Thomas had some difficult decisions to make, with two players returning to the team which travelled to UAE for the recently completed ACC Premier Cup.
Nikhil Pol and Timothy Moore return, while Kazuma Kato-Stafford retains the captaincy.
The players chosen are:
- Charles Hara-Hinze (Northern Suburbs Cricket Club)
- Gabriel Hara-Hinze (Northern Suburbs Cricket Club)
- Montgomery Hara-Hinze (Northern Suburbs Cricket Club)
- Kazuma Kato-Stafford (Akishima Aviators Cricket Club / Northern Suburbs Cricket Club) – Captain
- Kaisei Kobayashi-Doggett (Randwick-Petersham Cricket Club)
- Timothy Moore (Lions Cricket Club / Chiba Sharks Cricket Club)
- Skyler Nakayama-Cook (Streatham Cricket Club)
- Ryuki Ozeki (Sano Braves / Sano Cricket Club)
- Nihar Parmar (Alpha Quashers Yokohama Cricket Club)
- Nikhil Pol (Tokyo Falcons / Chiba Sharks Cricket Club)
- Chihaya Sekine (Sano Braves / Sano Cricket Club)
- Hugo Tani-Kelly (Northern Suburbs Cricket Club)
- Sandev Aaryan Waduge (Kawasaki Knight Riders)
- Kai Wall (Barron River CC)
- Taylor Waugh (Northern Suburbs Cricket Club)
＊The header photo was taken at the ACC Premier Cup in the UAE (Nov.).
Japan have been drawn in Group A of the tournament alongside defending champions Australia plus Sri Lanka and Ireland.
The team will depart for Africa on the 5th January with warm up matches against Tanzania and the West Indies scheduled for January 10th and 12th respectively.
The management team will be led by Alan Curr as Team Manager while Men’s team captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming reprises his role of Assistant Coach as held at the 2020 World Cup and at the successful qualifier tournament earlier this year.
- Team Manager: Alan Curr
- Head Coach: Reo Sakurano-Thomas
- Assistant Coach: Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming
- Consultant Coach: Duncan Harrison
- Trainer: Hiromu Inoue
- Social Media: Benjamin Ito-Davis
Match Schedule
- 10th January (Saturday) 17:00 – Japan vs Tanzania
- 12th January (Monday) 17:00 – Japan vs West Indies
- 17th January (Saturday) 17:00 – Japan vs Sri Lanka
- 20th January (Tuesday) 17:00 – Australia vs Japan
- 22nd January (Thursday) 17:00 – Ireland vs Japan
All times are Japan Standard Time. All matches are 50 Overs.
All matches will be available to watch on ICC TV and the JCA Social Media platforms will be active with plenty of content and behind the scenes clips – so be sure to follow closely!
JCA SNS:
