Windhoek, Jan 23 (IANS) Japan may have finished their second ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup group stage campaign without a win, but skipper Kazuma Kato-Stafford chose to reflect on an ‘unbelievable experience’ of featuring in the competition, saying that it’s not everyday one gets to face higher-ranked nations.

Though Japan lost to Ireland, Australia and Sri Lanka, they had some standout performances to take positives from. Hugo Tani-Kelly became the first Japan player to score a century at this level by making 101 not out against Sri Lanka, while Timothy Moore claimed three wickets in the same match.

Against defending champions Australia, Tani-Kelly made 79 not out, while Kato-Stafford returned with figures of 2-42 from nine overs. “It’s not every day an Associate nation gets to come up against three full Test level nations and three of the best in the world.

“(It was) absolutely huge. An unbelievable experience. We’ve got a number of guys, I think more than half the squad, available for the next World Cup, so it’s a really good experience for them, especially playing under pressure, playing against some world class players, who I have no doubt will go onto big things,” Kato-Stafford was quoted as saying by ICC on Friday.

He further expressed pride on how his side had handled pressure of being in a mega event. “Just being able to put Japan Cricket on the world stage is just a really good honour and hopefully it’s onto bigger and better things from here. We’ve learned how to (handle) a lot of pressure against us.

“A few teams got off to really good starts against us, so being able to bounce back from that, being able to use our different options. Normally we’ve been reliant on a few bowlers through the middle (but) this time around we’ve been able to rely on a few other guys.

“With the bat, especially, I’ve been really happy (that) I’ve been able to rely on a number of players who have really stood up for us, so I’ve been really happy with that. Happy overall with the experience, the fight we’ve shown and being able to play our Japan way,” elaborated Kato-Stafford.

Japan will next face U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup debutants Tanzania on Saturday in a grading fixture, with both teams seeking their first win of the tournament and sign off on a high.

–IANS

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