Shogo Kimura becomes the first man to play both baseball and cricket professionally…
It’s an age-old comparison between cricket and baseball. Both are fundamentally similar game. Both have innings, runs, bats, and balls. But then again, that is where the comparison ends for most people. Despite baseball being one of the most popular sports in Japan, with its popularity out-shined only in the USA, not many would expect someone from the land of the rising sun to make the switch in sports. Step up (now to the stumps instead of the plate) 37 years old Shogo Kimura.
Hailing from Osaka, Kimura had been playing in the Nippon Professional Baseball League for 14 years. He was released last year from his team but wanted to continue playing professionally. Soon after, the Japanese baseball players association approached him on behalf of the Japanese Cricket association and convinced him of switching to cricket.
Admittedly, Kimura said he knew very little of the sport itself, but he knew enough to believe that some of his skills as a baseball player, most particularly his primary position of infielder, would carry over and serve him well during the transition. These skills, however, could not prepare him for the batting side of things. He already has accumulated many bruises on his upper body, as well as a broken toe from what must have been quite the yorker.
Ex-Japanese baseball player Shogo Kimura aims for cricket career https://t.co/kYhSgR1Qb7
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) January 29, 2018
By the looks of it, his main problem so far has been adjusting to the fact that balls will be bowled towards his body and that unlike baseball, while you’re in your batting stance, your feet must be ready to adjust to the line and length. All that said, Shogo Kimura seems to cope well with deliveries that end up near his waist.
Over the past month, Kimura has been in Mumbai and Delhi to watch the IPL and gain a better understanding, as well as a close-up look, at the game he is now a part of. This, he has declared, is his primary goal. For starters, he will represent Japan in the ICC World T20 qualifiers. Kimura and his supporters are also targeting a stint in Australia, citing the earlier start to the season as the reason.
Should he perform well there, we might as well see him in the IPL next year. So far though, Kimura has played in only four club games in Japan, with a top score of 62. And however his journey may end up in a couple of years time, Shogo Kimura will have definitely made a mark on cricket in Japan.