National cricket team to have int'l debut

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A national cricket team is to participate for the first time in an internationally recognized event the East Asia Pacific (EAP) cricket tournament in Japan in May, an Indonesian Cricket Foundation (ICF) official has said.

ICF chairman M.K. Kuresh said that the squad would consist of approximately eight Indonesians, while the remaining positions would be filled by eligible expatriates.

The local squad members were all from the Bali International Cricket Club (BICC), whose members were already quite advanced, Kuresh told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"Indonesia would have a better chance of getting into the cricket world cup than into the soccer world cup," Kuresh said, adding that the locals were surprisingly natural players.

He said that in the next three or four years, Indonesia might excel in the world of cricket.

The EAP tourney itself was a qualifying path toward the world cup, and although still far away, many expatriates and cricket observers were optimist about Indonesia's potential, he said.

Recently, the ICF received a Global Development Award as having the Best Overall Cricket Development Program from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the second consecutive year.

The ICC, the world cricket governing body, also gave the ICF its Best Junior Development Initiative award.

The ICC's EAP regional development manager, Tim Anderson, told the Post that the ICC was delighted to see the fast development of cricket in this country.

"It's remarkable to see in a short period that the number of people introduced to cricket in the country has grown from about 30 to 6,000," Anderson said.

It is estimated that some 6,000 school students have played cricket in Greater Jakarta and Bali, with a junior tournament to be held in the capital city later this year.