Japan has been playing international competition since 1994.

The local league consists of seniors playing 50-overs competition with nine teams and runs from March to November.

Any time you get into a situation where you can play good competition, it's always going to be a big game.

"You never have to travel into the city to play good competition," he said, "when you have it right there."

This shift to playing similar competition helped the Gophers to become one of the premier programs in the nation.

For one thing, playing stronger competition has exposed more of the Knicks' flaws.

They cannot keep their intensity, especially when they play lesser competition.

The Colonials were most successful between the 1930s and 1950s when they regularly played top-level competition.

Southport also played local competition in the late forties and early fifties.

He was unable to make the adjustments that were necessary when playing tougher competition.