TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
PCI encouraged to grow cricket in Indonesia
Aiming high: A batsman hits a ball in a match during the 2015 National Championship in Bogor, West Java
Change Size
Aiming high: A batsman hits a ball in a match during the 2015 National Championship in Bogor, West Java.(Courtesy of cricketindonesia.or.id) (Courtesy of cricketindonesia.or.id)
A
span class="inline inline-center">Aiming high: A batsman hits a ball in a match during the 2015 National Championship in Bogor, West Java.(Courtesy of cricketindonesia.or.id)
The fledgling but ambitious Indonesian Cricket Association (PCI) has been urged to explore all the nation's cricketing resources in order to promote the game in the country.
'PCI needs to work closely with established bodies such as JCA [Jakarta Cricket Association] and Cricket Bali to popularize the game and give an opportunity to budding youngsters to develop their talent by playing against high quality players,' JCA media coordinator John Dulip Kumar told The Jakarta Post recently.
Jakarta and Bali are among the few regions in the country where cricket has already gained a foothold.
PCI was only formed in 2011 but its chairman Azis Syamsuddin reiterated his ambition for Indonesia to win gold in cricket at the next multi-sport Southeast Asian [SEA] Games, which will be held in Malaysia in 2017.
'We are aware the sport is relatively new in Indonesia, but we are confident we can deliver gold for the nation,' lawmaker Azis told the Post in an interview.
He would not single out the most likely rival, saying all participating nations would have equal strengths.
As part of the buildup to the SEA Games, the association sent the national team for friendly games to several countries, including world powerhouse India.
Kumar viewed the trip and training camp in Jaipur, India, as a step in the right direction but he emphasized the importance of a two tier approach for the development of the game in the country.
'On the one hand, PCI has to offer high performing coaches to some of its star players. On the other hand, they have to develop more depth of talent within the regions where cricket is already gaining a foothold. In the quest for numbers, the risk of dilution is very high,' he said.
Azis, who took on his post last year, said he was looking to step up development programs for young athletes, coaches and tournament officials.
'We hope for government support for the program,' he said, cautiously anticipating a lack of funding for the campaign.
PCI is currently grooming some 30 players who will be reduced to 14 for the SEA Games.
Having become an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council [ICC] in 2001, grouped in the East Asia Pacific region, Indonesia has sent teams to international tournaments with Perth, Australia, being the country's first playing ground in 2002.
The team's ICC event was the ICC EAP Cricket Cup in 2005, followed by an appearance in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2014. PCI may learn from the competition that the Philippines may become one of Indonesia's toughest opponents at the SEA Games.
The PCI establishment is an indication of government's recognition of the sport after decades of negligence as well as the awareness of the need for a nationwide campaign to promote it to local people.
The association currently has branches in 17 of 33 provinces. Jakarta and Bali developed the sport earlier than in other provinces and dominated last year's national championship.
The formation of the International Sports Club of Indonesia [ISCI] in 1971 planted the seed for cricket in Jakarta. But it was not until the formation of JCA in 1992, thanks to an initiative by Indian and Australian expatriates, that a cricket league was established.
In the first year, the league had eight cricket clubs, four of which ' Indorama, Ceylon, Senayan and Rebels, are still involved in the competition, which now has 16 teams split into two groups. The league runs between August and May in three venues over Jakarta and Purwakarta, West Java.
'With 16 teams and over 350 players actively involved, JCA provides an avenue for expats and locals at all levels to participate,' JCA President Avakash Lohia said.
'So players who have played at the highest levels in their home countries as well as kids in and just out of school get a chance to play at their level thanks to the two tier JCA cricketing system,' he said.
He said young Indonesian cricketers who had made it to the national level had all benefited from playing against senior cricketers from India and Australia.
'Today, these young Indonesians are able to compete head-to-head against seniors from cricket-playing countries,' he said.
The Chairos Tigers team, made up almost entirely of Indonesian cricketers, was reported to have recently defeated the oldest club in the country, the Ceylon Cricket Club, in the JCA league.
'It shows the level of the game has progressed among Indonesian boys,' Lohia said.
