Welcome to the new Cricket Indonesia official Website. This site aims to provide you with all the latest information about the development & playing of cricket throughout Indonesia!

News - May 149, 2008
New Indonesian cricket chairman promises local edge

Congratulations to Dr Abdullah Antaria who recently became the first national, elected as chairman of Cricket Indonesia.

The medical doctor replaces long time chairman, Sachin Gopalan.

Dr Antaria spent years at the Indonesian embassy in Australia, where his son Eki played cricket at one of the local clubs.

Eki now plays in the Jakarta league and is one of Indonesia's most promising young players.

News - March 14, 2008
ICC Global Development Awards 2007 - Best Junior Cricket Initiative

Cricket Indonesia has been acknowledged in the ICC Global Development Award for 2007 by taking out the global prize of Best Junior Cricket Initiative for it's Tetrapak program.

Ray Mali, the ICC president, who served as one of the four global judges alongside former ICC presidents Ehsan Mani and Malcolm Gray and MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw, said: "This whole process has shown once again the outstanding work being done in the development of cricket around the world. It was immensely difficult to select the winners but those lucky enough to be chosen reflect the contributions they have made to our wonderful worldwide sport. Everyone involved, winners and those not chosen, deserve immense credit for their efforts."

The award winners and respective categories are as follows:

Best Overall Cricket Development Program Bermuda Cricket Board
Best Women's Cricket Initiative Oldenburg U-19 Women's Tournament (Germany)
Best Junior Cricket Initiative Tetrapak U-19 Development program (Indonesia)
Best Cricket Promotional and Marketing Award - Hong Kong Cricket Sixes (Hong Kong)
Best Spirit of Cricket Award in Partnership with UNAIDS - National Commission for School Cricket (Mozambique)
Photo of the Year Award "It's a Catch" (Bermuda)
Volunteer of the Year Jos Heggleman (The Netherlands)
Lifetime Service Award John Wright (Ireland) and Laurie Pieters (Namibia)

Each Global award category is allocated US$2000 of equipment to be received by the winning national cricket body.
Source - © Cricinfo

News - Febuary 11th, 2008
CI wins 2 ICC Development Program Annual Awards for 2007!

Due to their continued outstanding development, Indonesia was awarded both the “Best Junior Cricket Initiative Award” and the “Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Award”. This was due recognition for several of their initiatives including combining drinking milk, the sport of cricket and environmental awareness amongst Junior cricket development.

2007 ICC East Asia – Pacific Development Program Awards: 

News - January 31st, 2008

ULTRAMILK DISCOVER CRICKET PROGRAM

Porompong – Bandung Barat

The Ultramilk Discover Cricket Program was successfully launched on Saturday 26th of February jointly hosted by DIKNAS PENDIDIKAN & KEBUDAYAAN KABUPATEN BANDUNG BARAT (PADALARANG), JAKARTA CRICKET ASSOCIATION and CRICKET INDONESIA. The event was inaugurated by Drs.Husen R Hasan. M.Pd, Ketua Diknas Pendidikan & Kebudayaan Kabupaten Bandung Barat and Cricket Indonesia Chairman Sachin Gopalan. Also present at this event were Cricket Indonesia’s Secretary Prakash Vijaykumar and Surendran Menon, the Marketing Head of PT Ultrajaya.

Thanks to the hard work put in by the Cricket Indonesia Coaches Yeri Rosongna and Zackaria Awang over the last couple of months in Bandung, School Children from as many as 20 different schools participated in this inaugural program. Over the next couple of months these schools will receive training on a regular basis with assistance from their local sports teachers as well as Cricket Indonesia coaches. These training programs will culminate in a regional tournament to be held in June 2008.

Through the Discover Cricket Program sponsored by PT Ultrajaya, Cricket Indonesia aims to introduce cricket to various other regions in Indonesia and raise the popularity of the game of cricket along with educating the schools kids, teachers and parents on the nutritious benefits of drinking milk.  

Link - Webalbum Photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/cricketindo/UltramilkDiscoverCricket 

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Cricket 'could become a national sport'

Sports News - November 19, 2007

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Playing cricket has been part of Andre Siahaan's life since 2004. The 15-year-old boy enjoys every second of batting and bowling.

"I started playing cricket when a cricket coach named Pak Zack, introduced the sport at my school in Bogor. I like the game because it's fun and easy to play. I can play as a batsman or a bowler," said the student of SMPN 8 state junior high school.

The boy, who is a member of the Kaki Seribu Cricket Club of Jakarta, has already run up a string of achievements.

This year, he joins Indonesia's junior national team and has taken Indonesia to the semifinals at the Super Eight Tournament in Malaysia.

He was also selected as the country's Young Player of the Year at the 12th Jakarta International Cricket Sixes on Sunday at the Ceylon Cricket ground in Cibubur, East Jakarta.

"This is a big surprise for me. I'm very happy. I hope I can be an international player like Andrew Flintoff of England. I think cricket is a promising sport and I'm sure that Indonesia will have a great national cricket team," Andre said.

Andre is one of the few Indonesian teenagers playing cricket. The sport is unpopular in the country compared to soccer, volleyball and badminton.

Cricket Indonesia chairman Sachin Gopalan is among those who intend to introduce the sport to Indonesians and is targeting the next generation.

"We want cricket to be Indonesia's national sport. Cricket is growing fast in the Asia-Pacific and Indonesia is a big country with more than 200 million people. We will keep introducing the sport to the children by taking it to schools," he said.

Gopalan said cricket was a suitable sport for Indonesians.

"Cricket is more about hand and eye coordination and strategy, just like badminton. Indonesians are good at it. Cricket is not about a big body or strength. In soccer or basketball, strength is important, but in cricket it comes second.

"The most important is the strategy. Small players even can be great ones if they have brilliant strategy. I predict that in the next five to 10 years Indonesia will be one of the top cricket countries," Gopalan said.

To achieve the objective, Indonesia would need coaches, equipments and fields.

"We need full time employees because Cricket Indonesia (CI) officials are working voluntarily now. We also need grants to set tournaments and build training centers," said Gopalan.

At present, there are training centers in Bogor, Karawang, Jakarta, Bali and Flores.

CI is building another center in Bandung. Next year, it plans to develop training centers in 16 places including Banda Aceh, Yogyakarta, Jayapura and Surabaya.

As cricket will be played at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, Gopalan hopes to send an Indonesian cricket team to the event. Therefore, CI is working with National Sports Council (KON), Education Ministry and the State Ministry for Youth and Sports Affairs.

"We are aiming to make cricket a member of KON. One of the requirements is having chapters in at least 11 provinces in Indonesia. Next year, we hope to achieve that," said Gopalan.

The International Cricket Council through its regional development manager for the east Asia-Pacific, Matthew Weisheit, said the government's support is a must to develop the sport.

"Basically we need professional administration, grants and facilities to develop cricket in Indonesia. I've already met with officials from the sports ministry and the signs are very encouraging," he said.

Sports ministry deputy assistant James Tangkudung agreed. "Cricket is a promising sport and the government surely will facilitate its development. But it also depends on how the organizations in Indonesia will expand the sport," he added. (trw)

News - September 6th, 2007

Indonesia in KL cricket tourney

JAKARTA: Indonesia will make its debut at the International Youth Cricket Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Sep. 6-9.

The squad of boys, all under the age of 15, will compete against teams from Singapore, Thailand, Australia and Malaysia in a round-robin format.

"Cricket is a unique sport that has a long history of bringing nations closer together with its principles of sportsmanship, healthy competition and spirit of brotherhood," Cricket Indonesia chairman Sachin Gopalan said in a statement Tuesday.

"Hopefully, this tournament will help promote better understanding between Indonesia and its neighbors."

The team, led by captain Rizky T Rubbi and accompanied by coach Melven Ndoen, is made up of students from different schools in Greater Jakarta that have been involved in the Cricket Indonesia development program for the last several years.

Milk producer Ultrajaya is the team's main sponsor for the event. --JP

Source - Jakarta Post

News - August 5th, 2007

A Unique Partnership to benefit children in Indonesia:

Report by Prakash Vijaykumar.

A unique combination combining drinking milk, the sport of cricket and environmental awareness has been initiated by Cricket Indonesia along with Tetra Pak Indonesia, EcoBali and PT Ultrajaya Milk industry in Indonesia. The original idea conceived by John Stevenson, the captain of the Indonesian national team took shape after several months of discussions between Tetra Pak and Cricket Indonesia.

The objective of this program is to promote the milk drinking habit and to introduce the sport of cricket among schoolchildren in Indonesia and at the same time educating the kids on the importance of recycling and keeping the environment clean with the help of EcoBali. Tetra Pak Indonesia will provide training to schoolteachers and cricket and nutrition minded parents on the nutritional benefits of drinking milk which they will then pass on to children. Cricket Indonesia and Tetra Pak will jointly contact the village institutions dealing with improved nutrition and clean environment to mobilize them in the process.  

Through this program, Cricket Indonesia will distribute 500 cricket kits to schools, with each kit containing cricket gear which was specially ordered from India, literature on nutritional benefits of drinking milk, a CI developed “Introduction to Cricket” manual and loads of free samples of milk cartons which were specially provided by PT.Ultrajaya a leading milk company in Indonesia.

The pilot program kick started in Giyanyar, Bali in June with a one day cricket workshop for teachers and parents which was supported by DIKNAS (Education Department) and KONI (National sports Authority of Indonesia). A 100 teachers and parents from 50 different schools turned up for this workshop. The workshop was opened by the Regent of Giyanyar, Mr.Anak Agung Gede Agung Brata, and was also attended by Dr. Gde Ngurah Indraguna Pinatih, nutritionist from the Center of Anti-Aging Medical Studies at the Medical Faculty of Udayana University, who explained the benefits and advantages of drinking milk. The CI coaches then took over and demonstrated how to play cricket followed by the Eco Bali volunteers explaining the importance of recycling and environment awareness.

Over the next couple of weeks, the CI coaches along with nutrition experts from Tetra Pak  and volunteers from EcoBali will travel to different schools in the Bali region expanding the game of cricket and alongside promoting the milk drinking habit to school children and Tetra Pak’s carton recycling program. These primary school kids have now included cricket into their daily curriculum in school. Throughout the program, students receive free milk from PT Ultrajaya Milk Industry.

This program will culminate in a two day tournament to be held in Giyanyar on the 15th of September, with participation of primary school children from 4 districts in Bali. This socialization program’s success is owed to the hard work of the CI committee, its development officers, coaches and the volunteers from Tetra Pak and EcoBali.

With the success of this pilot program, CI along with Tetra Pak now plans to implement similar programs in all the other parts of Indonesia in the coming months. The kid’s keenness to learn a new sport through a program which spreads the message of health through milk and clean environment is seen as a success story in Cricket Indonesia’s development efforts.

Photo Links:
Workshop in Giyanyar
http://picasaweb.google.com/praks666/TETRAPAKCRICKETINDONESIASOCIALIZATIONPROGRAM

Tetra Pak Program http://picasaweb.google.com/cricketindo/TETRAPACKPROGRAM

News -July 5th, 2007

Komodo wins the annual Bajo 20's!!

By Chad Paull

The annual Bajo 20’s, held in Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores from June 13 to June 16, was once again an outstanding event and cemented this unique tournament as a permanent fixture on the Indonesian cricket calendar. Eight teams comprising mainly students from the local school participated in the event with Cricket Indonesia coaches and a number of expatriates based in Jakarta and Bali, flying in especially for the event and joining the local teams.

Played at a frenetic pace on a concrete wicket with astro turf, the event was the talk of the town with players and local supporters traveling many kilometers on foot to be a part of the cricket action.  Such was the level of enthusiasm, with bowlers jogging back to their mark between deliveries, fielders running to change their positions at the end of each over and new batsmen sprinting to the crease at the fall of each wicket, that four 20 over a side matches were able to be completed during the day.  Spare a thought for poor old Ian Jasper, who had the unenviable task of scoring the 160 overs per day over the duration of the tournament.  He barely had time to put ink to paper before the next ball was delivered and deserved more than anybody the cold Bintangs on offer at the end of the day’s play.  

With each team comprising the full 11 players, bowlers were restricted to 4 overs each and batsmen were required to retire after reaching 30 runs.  With the innings limited to 20 overs, batsmen could afford to be aggressive, both in their shot selection and running between wickets, and as a result boundaries and run outs were common insertions to the scorebook.

In an entertaining final the team of Komodo beat the two time defending champions and tournament fancy, the team of Rajawali, and after witnessing the post match celebrations one could easily believe that the winning team had just won the World Cup of cricket.

News -June 19, 2007

WACA Strengthens Partnership with Indonesia

The WACA strengthened its partnership with Cricket Indonesia (CI) when Coaching Officers Charlie Burke and Simon Barras visited Bali and Jakarta in late May.

Jakarta was the first destination with the annual Jakarta Cricket Association dinner held at the Le Meridien Hotel. Former Australian cricketer Greg Matthews was the special guest. The WACA donated a signed 2006-07 Retravision Warriors bat, which was auctioned off and raised $AUD800. This money will be put to use for equipment and resources for CI.

Bogor, 40 km from Jakarta, is a thriving cricket area with many of the schools participating in competitions and cricket programs. Burke and Barras held a training session for the best under 15s, as well as several clinics with local schools that take part in cricket programs.

Training facilities are a little different to what is on offer at the WACA – the net used for the under 15s was in the front yard of a house, and the road was used for fielding practice. The majority of schools in the area use basketball courts or other concrete areas for cricket training.

During the training sessions CI Development Officers and Nicholas Mortimer (CI National Development Coordinator) joined both WACA coaches as part of their own professional development.

Bali was the next destination as the best under 16s and under 19s in the region had two days of coaching at the main ground, Bukit Oval in Udyana. The coaching included fielding, batting and bowling techniques as well as some centre wicket practice.

The visit was again a great success and is something the WACA wishes to continue for years to come.

“We hope that over the years the WACA continues to see a steady improvement in all aspects of cricket in Indonesia and we appreciate your efforts and the important role that you play in our development,” said Mortimer.

Source http://www.waca.com.au/

Please visit the WACA website for more info.

News -May 24, 2007

Indonesian Umpire at ICC WCL DIVISION 3!

ICC umpire Shahul Hameed today travels to Darwin where he will officiate in an ICC World Cricket League Division 3 event.

Cricket Indonesia would like to congratulate Hameed and wish him the best of luck on his tour.

For more details about this event visit the NT Cricket website.

News -May 16, 2007

The Indonesian cricket board has announced an ambitious US$200,000 three-year development programme aimed at spreading the game outside its traditional base of expats.

A report in The Jakarta Post quoted Cricket Indonesia chairman Sachin Gopalan, who said that the campaign would target "individuals and middle-sized companies who are interested in the development of cricket in Indonesia. The idea is to prove to those involved in cricket development that this program is a serious and long-term one.”

Board secretary Prakash Vijaykumar said that the association was planning to publicise the game across the country. “We are starting to introduce the sport in new areas in cooperation with National Sports Council provincial chapters in places such as Banten, Riau, East Kalimantan, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. We want to transform cricket into a popular sport for Indonesian people.”

Cricket Indonesia & Tetra Pak

Cricket Indonesia today signed a landmark deal with packaging manufacturer Tetra Pak. The deal aims to support Cricket Indonesia development programs. A major socialisation program to be held in concunjunction with CI, Tetra Pak & environmental NGO 'Eco Bali', is set to get underway in Bali starting ealry June cumlinating in a major tournament event for school kids in Bali.