Rookie Suda may have RI bowling future in his hands
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While other Balinese kids his age picked popular national sports of badminton and soccer to pursue, I Gede Suda Arsa dared to try something different.
And it's in cricket, still an alien sport to most Indonesians, that the 16 year old is on the road to becoming a star.
The gangly 1.65 meter tall teenager is the youngest player on the national squad recently named for the International Cricket Council East Asia Pacific Cup in Vanuatu later this month.
"He is the future of Indonesian cricket," said fellow team member Prakash Vijaykumar, adding that Suda has already shown his bowling talent. "He can break up a (batting) partnership."
The son of farmers was first introduced to the game when he was in elementary school, thanks to a pair of visiting Indonesian and Australian coaches.
The Indonesian Cricket Foundation, founded in 2000, has focused on developing cricket among young Indonesians, with a current squad of three coaches in Bali and one in Greater Jakarta who visit elementary schools to introduce students to the game.
"I had never seen such a game before but it eventually became an extracurricular activity in the school that I went to," Suda told The Jakarta Post during training last week.
At first, he found it difficult to put his hands around the grip of the bat but his talent was soon recognized. He was sent on a weeklong training camp in Perth; in 2003, when he was 14, he was named "man of the match" at a Bali anniversary cricket match.
The junior at Nusa Dua high school then tried out for the national squad.
"The test was very hard, we had to go up and down the 326 steps at Bali cliff, Jimbaran, four times and do six laps of a field."
But he came through all the rigors, one of the 14 of 26 cricketers picked for the team.
Suda is hopeful Indonesia can win the six-nation competition in the upcoming tournament, knowing that victory will benefit the development of the sport here.
"If we win in Vanuatu, the International Cricket Council will help the team with more funding."
Before he tried cricket, he wanted to be a pilot, but now his aspirations are more down to earth. If he does not continue with a career as a cricket player, he said he would like to coach future Sudas to take up the game.(004)