Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) have announced a collaboration, that would see them receive financial support for development of cricket at the grassroots through Cricket Adiwira Program and the Women’s Development Program. The collaboration with Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) will see MCA receive MYR 4.6 million (app USD$1.12 million) under the YSD sponsorship program over a three-year period, which will be used to conduct 4 programs per year, per school, where 32 players will play in each program, with an aim to achieve 458 schools in 3 years. Tournaments like the National Schools Championship, conducted at the beginning of 2020, will have more funding in the coming years to have more participation and outreach within the country.
Yayasan Sime Darby or Sime Darby Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Sime Darby Berhad, Sime Darby Plantation Berhad and Sime Darby Property Berhad, which has been offering scholarships to outstanding and deserving individuals to funding impactful conservation, outreach and development programs since 1982.
Malaysian Cricket targets to lock in a total of 1,500 schools under Adiwira Cricket program, under the guidance of 1,100 teachers trained by Malaysia Cricket in the past 12 months. The entire program will be overseen by one development manager and ten (10) development officers throughout Malaysia. Malaysia Cricket COO Dinesh Muthuraman said “Children are the future and sports as we know, provides a positive sense of belonging, while demanding much discipline. In the sport of cricket, discipline is very much needed as it encompasses many technicalities. Inculcating a love for cricket and growing into a disciplined individual augurs well for the players and their families in so many various aspects of life.
With this sponsorship and a dedicated team working towards a targeted reach of 1,500 schools via the entry level Cricket Adiwira, program, we are confident that cricket in Malaysia will develop into being one of the major sports, thus giving a lifeline to young people who may otherwise ill afford a proper life."
The Girl’s Development and High-Performance Pathway Program will see Malaysia Cricket use the investment to develop both the U19 and Senior squads, with various qualification pathway events being in line in the coming year and 2022 with regards to U19 Girls Cricket World Cup qualifiers, ICC Women's T20 World Cup qualifiers and Commonwealth Games qualifiers, and will look to organize centralized training, with participation in quality competitions to gain valuable experience and exposure being the top priorities for the board to realize their vision. Malaysia Cricket, in a bid to improve Women's cricket in the country organized the inaugural edition of Super League T20 in 2019, which saw overseas players from Australia and Thailand also take part. Such events in the coming years also stand to gain financially in terms of attracting more overseas players coming to take part, which also provides the domestic players the opportunity to play alongside International players and learn from their experiences. The National U19 Women’s Program will see a selection process conducted for the National camp through the U12, U15 and U17 National School Championship tournaments, from which the selected players will then be called for a national camp, which will be under the supervision of National Women’s Head Coach.
Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) President Mr. Mahinda Vallipuram said “We have worked tirelessly over the years to establish structures which would give us the ability to deliver on our aspirations and targets. We are of the opinion that participation at an early age is key to long term sustainability that will allow Malaysia to be one of the top playing countries in the near future.
There are no shortcuts to development and it requires a medium to long term process to enable growth and performance. It is a journey that will continue to evolve positively. I trust that other corporate organizations will come forward to forge partnerships based on our vision, initiatives, structure and the ability to deliver on our plans. I am glad that Malaysia as an associate member country have been able to contribute to one of the key priorities of ICC in the year of 100% cricket and in women’s year of cricket.”
