Japanese Women’s Cricket in Focus
The bat “cracked” as the ball rocketed off it. Fielders ran hard to intercept it before it hit the fence. It’s a race to make runs or stop them. This wasn’t Australia versus England at Lord’s. It was J-Bash Pinks against J-Bash Yellows, Japanese women’s cricket.
A passionate display of skill
Did you know there is Japanese women’s cricket? You might have. They play on the international stage. Well, on a beautiful Sunday in April 2021, I photographed a game. The teams contained national squad members. It was a chance to use my new Fujifilm XF100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens.
This time, the venue was the BST Nagasawa Sports Ground in Kanagawa Prefecture. While it wasn’t the Sydney Cricket Ground, it’s a quality place and accessible from central Tokyo. A walk to the ground followed the twenty-minute train ride from Shinjuku to Ikuta Station. It gave me time to think about my shooting plan for the day.
A day of cricket
The event started with a social women’s bash in the morning, which was fun. Participants learned more about cricket and will hopefully take up the game in the future. The main event was in the afternoon. I looked forward to seeing fireworks.
The teams, J-Bash Pinks and J-Bash Yellows, had appropriately colored shirts. Japan’s national and international players were everywhere. Shouts of encouragement echoed across the field all day. Fist bumps flew that day, signs of teams eager to get the game underway.
Naotsune Miyaji and Darshak Bhuptani umpired the game. Both men have served Japanese cricket for a long time. Naotsune was a member of Japan’s National Men’s team. Darshak played with Yokohama’s Alpha Quashers.
The match: A low-scoring but gritty contest
The game turned out to be a low-scoring affair. J-Bash Yellows made 102 for the loss of four wickets. The Pinks struggled to eight for 70 runs.
In retrospect, that should have been expected. None of the players played much cricket the previous year due to the pandemic. The game was their first in a while. It should have been considered a warm-up match. While no one made a huge individual score, several chipped in with useful ones.
Standout performances
The pick of the batters was Nao Tokizawa. Her positive, aggressive style was a joy to photograph. When she hit her two huge sixes, I had the XF100-400mm zoomed all the way in, tracking the ball against the sky. Capturing peak action like that requires a fast shutter speed, at least 1/1000s, to freeze both the player and the ball.
Shizuka Miyaji got the highest score of the day. She made 34 from 51 balls, including one six. Her skills aren’t limited to batting; she also bowls a useful left-arm spin, giving me another style of action to capture through the lens.
The best bowling figures went to Kiyo Fujikawa. She ended with three wickets for nine runs off four overs for the J-Bash Pinks. Her bowling was effective and economical. At 18, she is young. How she develops in the future remains to be seen, but she has the hallmarks of a good Japanese Women’s cricket player.
Glimpses of brilliance
While a few catches went down, a couple of stumpings stood out. It was good to see a batter dance down the pitch with the ball barely missing the bat. The keeper whipped the bails off quickly. I bet a few Japanese curse words were muttered on the walk back to the pavilion.
The game gave us a taste of everything. There were glimpses of what the batting might be. The bowling seemed capable. No one bowled express pace, but the mediums were accurate, neat, and tidy. Australia’s Chelsea Moscript also put on a good display of wily legspin. Some of the fielding was excellent. It was a pity we didn’t see more runs, but I was satisfied.
Putting the Fujifilm lens to the test
Cricket is played on a large field. The XF100-400mm ( 152-609mm on a full-frame camera) gave me the reach I needed. The players were big in my EVF (Electronic ViewFinder). I had a fast and accurate autofocus system that tracked running players easily. It was a great day for sports photography.
A bright future for Japanese women's cricket
In the end, the low-scoring match at Nagasawa was more than a game; it was a fresh start. It was a glimpse of the passion and potential within Japanese women’s cricket. For me, it was the perfect challenge for my new lens and a satisfying day of capturing the emotion of a sport finding its feet. The women’s big scores will come. The grit, determination, and flashes of brilliance I saw through my viewfinder at BST Nakagasawa prove the game’s future is bright.
Rohan Gillett
Rohan has photographed Tokyo since 2011. He shoots it with his Canon EOS R5. The project will take more than one lifetime to complete.
