Japan Cricket Association Awards
The Japan Cricket Association acknowledged their top performers for the 2011 season at the annual awards dinner on Sunday night.
The affair was hosted at Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, bringing in club, domestic and international players.
Husband and wife team Naoki and Shizuka Miyaji were named as the men's and women's players of the year. Shizuka Miyaji was also named as the Women's League MVP of the year. She said she was proud to receive the awards.
"I am very happy and honoured to receive the Women's League MVP and the Greg Chappell Cricket Centre Player of the Year Award. It is a result of everyone's support. As a National Team player, I will continue to work hard to compete with the top players in the world."
Naoki Miyaji, who is also the CEO of the JCA said he was pleased to gain the men's player of the year award.
"To win the Greg Chappell Cricket Centre Player of the Year Award is a great honour. It is also with great pleasure to receive this award in the same year as my wife Shizuka. I would like to thank my team mates at Sano Cricket Club as it is a reflection of the outstanding year we had, winning the SriLankan Airlines Japan Cup and also the Japan Cricket League. I look forward to another exciting year of cricket in 2012."
In domestic men's cricket, all rounder Jummei Hanada won the Japan Cricket League player of the year. "I am very honoured to receive this award. I would like to thank my team mates for their support. This award is a personal goal for the cricket season and I will continue to work hard to defend this title in 2012."
The awards were decided from the new rating system that the JCA has implemented in 2011. Hanada finished the JCL competition with a total of 617 points with 149 runs and 20 wickets. In the contest for player of the year, which includes all domestic and international cricket in 2011 Naoki Miyaji finished with 1449 points, including 416 runs and 31 wickets. His wife Shizuka claimed a total of 1417 points with 213 runs and 35 wickets.
Japan Cricket Association High Performance Manager Chris Ferguson says that the awards show that Japan Cricket is in a healthy state.
"These awards form an important part of the JCA calendar. It was great to see so many people from various JCA competitions win awards. This is due to to the amount of work that the JCA has put in to the competition structures and improving the standard of play. It was a fantastic occasion and I thought the event was run brilliantly by JCA Development Manager and women's national captain Ema Kuribayashi."
