By Anton Lloyd-Williams
The Chiba Sharks are always keen to spread the love of the great game in the wider community and on Saturday 23rd of April, we were joined for training by the locally based Jinta Cricket Club.
Jinta CC is a kids club overseen by Yumi Ishimoto of the JCA Chiba Office and 8 of their members came to Kashiwa for the session; Aki chan, Masato kun, Masaki kun, Keito kun, Naoki kun, Kanna chan and Naoya kun. They were joined by Dave L, Richie, Anton, Vicky, and Koji of the Sharks as well as Kurumi san of the Japan women’s national team and Rui kun, a young, local Japanese player who learned the game in England (and learned it well).
In front of a good crowd of parents, The Sharks and Jinta CC split into two mixed teams for a high energy game of Quick Cricket that gave everyone a chance to swing the bat, run and chase balls. Some solid batting at the top order of Dave L’s team saw them win a close game, inspite of heroics in the field from Vicky’s team.
It was great to see the enthusiasm and skill of the kids which will hopefully keep them interested in the sport. The Sharks are also planning to help Ishimoto san to organize future sessions in Urayasu and build up a strong base of cricket players in Chiba.
Once everyone was thoroughly worn out, the two sides shook hands and Jinta CC continued their training in the next court while the Sharks got down to the business of tweaking their skills in anticipation of our opening fixture up in Sano.
The Sharks got a good work out and were put through their paces by their special guest players; With the bat, Kurumi san showed off her immaculate driving and relentlessly punished anything on or widish of the leg stump and at the other end, showed why she took a hatful of wickets at the recent Asian Games. Rui kun, a young fellow of 14 years age, gave a strong impression of what a talent for the future he is and that future is not far away. He bowled at a good pace and often found a testing line with a dose of inswing. He even popped in the odd change-up ball for good measure. With the bat, he showed some assured, classical technique and played his drives and cuts without fear. Definitely one to watch!
Many thanks to Ishimoto san for organizing the training event and also to the Jinta CC players and their parents. A special thanks also to Rui’s mum for supplying some well earned refreshments at the end of training. We hope this is the start of many more such sessions to promote the game of cricket and provide a good source of exercise and fun for all.
