The Barmy Army!

Whenever baseball is mentioned in my English classes some students do actually ask me about cricket due to the vague similarities of the two sports. I rarely say too much about it but since learning a few years ago that Sano City in Tochigi Prefecture was the home of cricket in Japan I have bamboozled the majority of those asking with that fact, and not a single person has ever been aware of it beforehand.

It was of course quite surprising to me as I really did not think cricket was played in Japan, and indeed it is not played by too many Japanese residents but is more for the ex-pat community from the likes of England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other such countries where the sport is popular.

A few months ago I began to look into the idea of going to Sano International Cricket Ground to see a game on a free Sunday. However, I then discovered that there were games  much closer to home such as Edogawa in Tokyo, YC & AC in Yokohama or Fuji in Shizuoka with the latter being my top choice if I was to be at our holiday home in Izu that weekend. Having Mount Fuji in the background of some cricket action was appealing but the rainy forecast for the previous day meant I knocked that idea on its head and so decided on the Yokohama one.

As a Brit myself, I was instantly attracted to British Embassy Cricket Club, and the name Tokyo Wombats was pretty appealing too. They were competing in the final of the Japan Cup South Kanto Division 2 last Sunday afternoon (September 24th) and so I took the train to Yamate station on the JR Negishi Line in Yokohama.

Yamate station is located about a kilometre south of Yamate Park which my wife and I visited back in 2014 to see the well-preserved residences from former periods of Japanese history when Westerners settled in the area; one of few port towns where foreign traders were allowed to reside. There was a tennis museum of sorts there too but who knew cricket was played so close by!

After a short walk up a steep hill I was then on a street called YC & AC dori which would easily lead me to YC & AC Field where an open gate in the wire fence was eventually my access point. I’m sure there must be a better entrance on the other side of the field but this was where Google Maps took me!

YC & AC Field played host to the first ever cricket match in Japan 160 years ago. This was a big occasion too and the match was already underway by the time I arrived. I wasn’t sure what to expect of YC & AC but had assumed it would probably be free entry and with just a handful of spectators. I was wrong regarding the latter as there were only one or two others present that were not taking part in the game in any way!

Without a visible scoreboard nearby I had no idea of how the Wombats batting was going but did have it confirmed from a fielder on the boundary that it was the 20-over game. After a while the wickets began to tumble fairly quickly with some fine catching in the field.

I had already began to walk round to the pavilion where the batting team were sitting nearby. As it was, the final man was bowled out during that walk and the players left the field for the interval with some of them congregating under a marquee tent. It was here that I got talking to the British Embassy skipper Richard Sciver.

He explained that none of them worked for the British Embassy itself and were just a team of random people of all ages (16 to 60!) and nationalities with an interest in playing cricket. He even tried to recruit me by asking if I was interested in playing but my (limited) cricketing days are few decades behind me now! Richard was a lovely gentleman and very kindly answered my questions when he probably should’ve been focusing more on his team’s imminent batting plan!

It only took about 50 minutes for the Embassy to reach their target of 70 but it wasn’t all plain sailing as a very stuttery start saw their first two batters out for ducks!

Cricket can go on for quite a long time sometimes so I was quite glad it was over sooner than expected as I still had time to hang around and speak to a couple of the players.

There was a presentation ceremony which was all done with great spirit and sportsmanship between the respective skippers.

Champions! The 2023 Japan Cup South Kanto Division 2 winners.

Cricket is one of those sports I used to watch a fair bit (when it was on terrestrial TV) as I was growing up in England in the 1980s and 1990s but eventually grew more and more distant from which was accelerated when I moved to Japan. I have jumped back on the bandwagon a few times for the big occasions featuring England or Leicestershire and now I can add seeing this British Embassy victory to that list!

• If you’re interested in watching cricket in Japan then please check out cricclubs.com which has detailed information on matches, clubs, players, venues and so on.

Bonus: The majority of the cricket matches I’ve been to were in Australia where I saw a couple of international tests in Melbourne and Perth as well as a few State games.

However, the most memorable one I’ve attended was in February 2002 when I saw a One Day International at Eden Park in Auckland where I saw England beat New Zealand.

Click here to read ‘Jumping On The Baseball Bandwagon In Japan (& Then Jumping Right Off It Again!)’ 

Click here to read ‘New Zealand v England One Day International (2002)’

Click here to read “The Magic Spray” & “Another Safety Shot” Fanzines (1992-93)’

Click here to read ‘At One Of The World’s Most Famous Cricket Grounds But For A Different Ball Game’