COMMENT | Ignoring women’s success is not just cricket
COMMENT | To say the fortunes of Malaysian sports are floundering will be a misconception. To say they are fluctuating will be more accurate.
The hockey team which finished fourth in the 1975 World Cup was an achievement which has yet to be repeated. These days, the team is making valiant efforts to qualify for the final rounds.
Incidentally, both our men’s hockey and football teams won the bronze medal in the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran.
Our badminton and squash players have kept the flag flying in the international arena with individual flashes of brilliance.
Football, once a powerhouse in Asia, have been reduced to minnows losing out to Vietnam and Thailand in regional tournaments. But last month, there was something local fans have to shout about...
COMMENT | To say the fortunes of Malaysian sports are floundering will be a misconception. To say they are fluctuating will be more accurate.
The hockey team which finished fourth in the 1975 World Cup was an achievement which has yet to be repeated. These days, the team is making valiant efforts to qualify for the final rounds.
Incidentally, both our men’s hockey and football teams won the bronze medal in the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran.
Our badminton and squash players have kept the flag flying in the international arena with individual flashes of brilliance.
Football, once a powerhouse in Asia, have been reduced to minnows losing out to Vietnam and Thailand in regional tournaments. But last month, there was something local fans have to shout about.
On June 12, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was among the 53,000-strong crowd which watched the Malaysia men’s team qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup Finals for the first time in 42 years.
Three days later, he announced that the government would consider rewarding the national football team and holding a celebration over their qualification.
He said the matter will be jointly discussed with the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) soon.
“It will be about celebrating (Malaysia’s qualification) or any form of contribution that we can give... we will discuss this,” he was quoted as saying.
Two weeks later, Malaysia stunned Hong Kong by 12 runs at the Kinrara Oval to qualify for the Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup for the first time in a historic achievement for women's cricket in the country.
When Malaysia hosted the 2018 Women’s Asia Cup, it lost all five matches in the six-team tournament.
There were no VIPs watching the historic occasion. Except for a few dozen cricket diehards, the achievement was marked with just hugs, handshakes and pats.
Making waves
To draw comparisons between football and cricket would be an exercise in futility, especially in terms of popularity, crowd support and funding.
But comparisons have to be made in terms of world rankings. The football team, after having qualified, moved from 154th to 147th. The cricket team moved to 29th in International Cricket Council’s rankings - up three notches.
Besides this achievement, Malaysian cricket has been making waves on the international scene on and off. Last week, the captain of the men’s team, Virandeep Singh, became the first Malaysian to score 1,000 runs in international cricket.
In April, Virandeep bowled a remarkable over, which saw six wickets fall in six consecutive deliveries in a Nepal Pro Club Championship match in Bhairahawa, Nepal.
Ten years ago, another Malaysian was making headlines around the world. In 2011 and 2012, Arul played for Somerset in the English County championship and in 2011, he opened the innings with Andrew Strauss and recorded a career-best of 156 against India at Taunton.
The following year, Arul and Marcus Trescothick achieved the feat of scoring 5,000 runs between them as an opening pair at an impressive average of 55.
Arul gained international renown when he set a new world T20 bowling record by taking 6 wickets for 5 runs against Glamorgan at Cardiff in July 2011.
In 2013, Arul retired from professional cricket at the age of 29 due to serious injuries in both of his knees. He went on to become a teacher of business studies and work as the director of Cricket at Queen’s College Taunton.
In 2018, in advance of the London Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, he was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II to recognise the contribution of those in the Commonwealth diaspora from across the UK who have made a notable contribution, either of their own or the wider community.
A relic of the Empire
Why so much on a sport which has not been popular after independence. When the British left our shores, the manicured turf pitches were left to idle and turn derelict because cricket was believed to be a relic of the Empire.
In a previous article, I wrote: Those days, cricketers who were selected for foreign tours had to fund themselves. Some successfully sought support from their employers like the National Electricity Board (now Tenaga Nasional) while others took loans from cooperative societies.”
Unlike other sports, cricket has avoided being used by politicians for their agendas. Since the late Hamzah Abu Samah (a great cricketer in his time) stepped down in 1981, the game has always been headed by those who have the love and passion for the game.
Not that Hamzah did not have these qualities, but at that time he was already heading the FAM and the Olympic Council.
Internationally, there is so much buzz and money in the game. Last month, the streaming and TV rights for the Indian Premier League - the world's richest cricket competition - for the next five years have been sold for a record US$6.02 billion (RM25.8 billion).
On the local front, cricket was and is still the poor cousin getting the crumbs compared to the millions spent on other sports which have not brought the desired results.
Officials are not going out there with a begging bowl but sometimes, support, backing and encouragement can inspire even the underdog.
Successes, like that of the football team, need to be celebrated and so do the feats of the team of young women who have taken Malaysian cricket to the fore.
Howzat - Winifred Duraisingam bowls them over in women's cricket
R NADESWARAN, a cricket lover is a veteran journalist and writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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