World’s Oldest Cricket Club Aims to Leave Mark in Indonesia

It looks like International Cricket Council awards are good for more than just good publicity at home.

Cricket Indonesia was twice honored by the ICC for having the best youth cricket initiative, and while the Under-15 Ultra Milk Junior Development Program may eventually produce top players, it also brought a more immediate dividend.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), founded in 1878 and one of most famous clubs in the world, began a weeklong tour of Indonesia on Thursday.

In addition to coaching sessions, the MCC also hopes to leave its mark on the game’s development by playing a number of matches against local cricketers in Jakarta and Bali.

“The MCC now will add the pace to that movement. We just want to come and speed up that process,” MCC captain Keith Thomas Medlycott told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

The MCC arrived on Wednesday after touring Japan last week and holding coaching clinics to encourage cricket at the grassroots level there. It held a clinic at the British International School on Thursday before facing a Jakarta Cricket Association side on Friday.

Medlycott said he did not have to spend too much time introducing the game on Thursday as most of the students had already tasted cricket through Cricket Indonesia’s programs.

“It was fun, and the kids enjoyed it. We — Stuart Barnes, Andrew Cloke and I — also gave a motivational speech about living the dream in front of the kids,” Medlycott said.

Friday’s limited-overs match at the Crown Ceylon Cricket Ground in Cibubur, East Jakarta, ended in a 94-run victory for the MCC, which bowled out the JCA side for 156 after scoring 250-9 in its 50 overs. Dihan Silva led the JCA with an all-around effort, scoring 45 in 42 balls and taking four wickets for 12 runs.

The MCC will also play matches on Saturday and Sunday in Cibubur before departing for Bali, where it will face a Bali XI at the Udayana University Oval in Jinbaran on Tuesday.

After taking in the first match, Medlycott said Indonesia has some quality talent.

“For the moment, I think Indonesia [cricket development], especially in Jakarta, if I see the way they train, the way they play, has been extremely positive,” he said.

Sunday is the focal point of the MCC’s visit. A clinic with children from the Junior Development Program begins at 9 a.m., and British Ambassador to Indonesia Martin Hatfull is scheduled to address the players and students at 10 a.m. A Twenty20 match will follow at approximately 10:30 a.m.

Medlycott said the most important part of cricket’s development was introducing it to the children at the grassroots level.

“[The students] should have a structured school league with perhaps 12 schools in it. If you give them a chance to play cricket at school, it would be a good start,” he said.

“It would be a great help if you could have a couple of seniors there guiding them. I think that’s one of the advantages of the MCC coming here. We have several players who were lucky enough to play for England, so we have a really big knowledge pool.”

One of the JCA players who enjoyed a rare opportunity to face the MCC was 17-year-old Rizky Tri Rubby.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the world. Hopefully it will not be the only one,” the first captain of Indonesia’s U-15 team said.

(This article was published on www.thejakartaglobe.com on Oct. 16, 2009)