Japan to host first ever international tournament

Japan to host first ever international tournament

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Four ICC East Asia-Pacific countries -- Fiji, Indonesia, Japan
and Tonga -- will compete in the ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket
Challenge 2004 event.

The winner will compete with another EAP nation, Papua New
Guinea, together with a further six countries from other ICC
Development Program regions (Asia, Europe, Africa and America) at
the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series event in Malaysia in February
2005.

The event also sees the Japan Cricket Association hosting an
international tournament for the very first time. The venue, Fuji
City, has two adjacent grounds, one of which has only recently
been completed, said an ICC media release from Fuji City, Japan,
on Tuesday.

The teams will play four 50-over matches in the round robin
event, concluding on Saturday May 29 with a final and playoff. On
the opening day Fiji faces Tonga, while Indonesia takes on hosts
Japan.

Two local television stations will also be present on the
final day to record short segments for an evening highlights
package.

The ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket Challenge forms part of the
ICC World Cup Qualifying Series, where ICC Associate and
Affiliate Members from the five Development Program regions
compete in a series of qualifying tournaments on their way to a
possible place at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.

This is the fourth international tournament in the East Asia-
Pacific Region since the inception of the ICC East Asia-Pacific
Development Program. Previous events were the Pacific Cricket
Championships (2001 in New Zealand and 2002 in Samoa) and the
East Asia Eights (2002 in Perth).