Japan book U-19 ICC Men’s World Cup 2026 ticket

New Delhi: Japan became the 14th nation to seal their place at the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 on Monday thanks to a dominant 115-run victory over Fiji, capping a scintillating, unbeaten week at the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier in Sano.

The home side began the week with impressive wins over PNG (by 106 runs and by 71 runs) and Fiji (6 wickets) and arrived at Monday’s fixture knowing a fourth victory would see them advance to their second U19 Men’s CWC.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first without their usual captain Nikhil Pol, the opening pair of Hugo Tani-Kelly (38 runs) and Nihar Parmar (36) made a solid start, putting on 78 runs before Parmar fell, bowled by Liga Manara. The dismissal of Tani-Kelly with

the scores at 91 for two prompted a mini-collapse for Japan but critical contributions from Charlie Hara-Hinze (21) and Kazuma Kato-Stafford (25) helped steer them to a competitive 167 all out in 43 overs.

16 teams will be competing at the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 in Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Ten teams automatically qualified for the event as the best-placed Full Member nations from the 2024 edition: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.