In its effort to streamline and strengthen cricket in Japan, the Japan Cricket Association(JCA) has taken initiative to bring some of the tournaments taking place in various parts of the country under one umbrella, thus shedding the image of a body to conduct cricket only for the Japanese.

The bold initiative yielded immediate results with the Kanto Cup, arguably the primary expat tournament in Japan, agreeing to the JCA proposals.

During the AGM of Kanto Cup held at the YCAC premises early February this year, which was attended by representatives of both JCA and Japanese clubs, JCA forwarded a proposal to this effect.

Under this new initiative, JCA hopes to bring the Kansai League, the Kyshu League and the Universities competitions, apart from Kanto Cup under its umbrella in future. The top teams from these regional championships will compete for a national championship.

During the AGM, the JCA proposed a two-division league format for the Kanto Cup from 2002 with this year's competition results determining the placement of teams in each division.

Of the 13 teams, including five Japanese teams, the top seven will go to the First Division and the rest will form a Second Division, beginning season 2002.

The subsequent years will see the bottom two teams from D1 demoted to D2 and the top two teams from D2 promoted to D1.

The Kanto Cup teams have agreed to this proposal and decided to name the new tournament as Kanto Cricket League (KCL). A seven member Kanto Cricket League Committee was chosen the same day that would organise the Kanto Cricket League under the auspices of JCA.

JCA is also mulling the possibilities of a similar structure being proposed for other tournaments such as the Kansai and Kyushu leagues that currently are being conducted independentlyby the respective bodies.

JCA hopes that having these tournaments conducted under its auspices, thereby acting as an umbrella body of cricket in Japan will make the game of cricket and JCA more visible and will help integrate the expat and local cricket seamlessly.

As JCA sees it, another advantage accrues from this arrangement is the expected improvement in standards of cricket in Japan and increased competition for recognition among various teams.

JCA has reorganised itself to create, among other things, Competition and Public Relations departments. A special project team named Japan Championship Committee has also been created to organise an All Japan Championship from 2002.

These measures, JCA hopes, will increase the awareness and popularity of the game in this country and have the potential to attract sponsors which in turn will make the game more attractive to the native Japanese, both to take part and follow.

However, a larger and clearer picture on the success of this format and initiative will only emerge in 2002 when it becomes "officially official" and more stringent rules for the scoring disparities - which has been the bane of Kanto Cup, umpires and residential status of players will be enforced.

The new KCL schedule is available at www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/. Follow the link `Kanto Cricket League'.

The following is the group structure of KCL for 2001:

Group A
Friends XI
Adolescents C.C.
Wyverns C.C.
Fuji Far East C.C.
Indian Engineers C.C. (www3.ewebcity.com/iecc/)
Shizuoka Kytes C.C.   (www.japan-cricket.com)
Tokyo Sri Lanka Lions C.C.

Group B
MAX C.C.
Tokyo Bay C.C.
Millennium C.C.
Tokyo Giants C.C.
British Embassy C.C.
YC. & AC.

New Insurance for the teams

As a separate initiative, JCA has introduced a group insurance scheme for all teams. This scheme with an annual premium of JPY 1,400 per person will cover all cricket-related injuries. This includes injuries occurred at home or on the way to a cricket match or practice!

ICC Development Manager visits Japan

The ICC Development manager for East Asia-Pacific region, Matthew Kennedy visited Japan in March to study the existing facilities and to explore the ways to improve the game in this part of the world. During his visit, Kennedy met with the JCA representatives and other key people apart from attending a KCL Organising Committee meeting. He also visited the grounds in the Kanto and Tokai regions and discussed the budgetary requirements of JCA, training requirements of umpires etc. JCA was given a set of scorebooks, counters, books on cricket and other things as part of the ICC development support.

"We are also studying the possibility of Japan taking part in international tournaments such as the South China Sea Championship", Kennedy said. The other probable participants of this tournament are Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Chinese development team and the Philippines. "Hong Kong is currently doing the feasibility study of hosting this tournament this year", he said.

Although, he had to do with the help of an interpreter, Kennedy said he had a fruitful visit.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd