The Jakarta Cricket association launched year-long celebrations of its silver jubilee at a Gala event at Hotel LeMeridien on Sunday. Indian cricketing legend Sandeep Patil was the guest of honor and he regaled a room full of cricketing enthusiasts with funny and insightful anecdotes from his times as both a player and head of India’s national selection committee.
The Jakarta Cricket Association was established in 1992 and its first league concluded in 1993 with a Gala dinner which had the English cricketing great Fred Trueman as the guest of honor. The JCA recognized and rewarded its first executive committee members Wilfred Schultz, KK Ralhan & Praba Madhavan for their pioneering efforts in setting up the association.
What began as eight teams getting together to play organized cricket in 1992 has now blossomed into a 2 divisions format with 16 teams competing for league honors. The JCA also acknowledged the contribution of its past presidents who helped not only grow cricket in Jakarta, but also helped promote the game in the country where close to eighty thousand kids have been exposed to the game across the vast archipelago.
Earlier on Saturday, the coach in Sandeep Patil came to the fore as he spent some time inspiring the National men’s cricket team before they embarked on their tour to Philippines to compete in T20 World cup qualifying tournament later this month. Sandeep was also felicitated by the Gandhi Memorial Intercontinental School and he spent time talking to the children and espousing the need for discipline, courage & resilience in order to succeed.
Meanwhile, the winning teams and star individual performers of the 2017-18 JCA league were also awarded at the Gala dinner. Muhammad Alfhariz won the best Indonesian player of the season award. Ahmad Ramdoni took home the best wicket-keeper award for Division 2 while Praveen Uppal won the best bowler award. Keyur Moradia had a stellar season last year taking home both the Best batsman and MVP awards for Division 2.
Srinivasan Govindraj won the best wicket keeper award for Division 1 the best bowler trophy was scalped by Vipin Chawla. Ben Burgess was the standout player in Division 1 winning both the Best Batsman & MVP awards.
