The Ministry of Youth and Sports through Sarawak Sport Corporation has set up a Cricket High-Performance at Petra Jaya Sport Complex here. The new HPC facilities have five artificial practice wickets with a synthetic surfaced practice area including 25-meter bowler’s run-ups and a 6.m high safety netting surrounding the section, are comparable to other world-class training facilities in cricket test nations such as Australia & New Zealand. Each lane is retractable allowing players to have a double net with more space, or even an open net using the entire area – this can then utilize fielders as well in more match-like conditions.
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Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah hopes with the new Cricket HPC, Sarawak Cricket will be able to develop more local talents and excel in the sport of cricket at National Level. He says the new Cricket HPC is an example of his ministry’s commitment to continuously assist the sport association to uplift their achievement levels. He informs the cricket HPCs are phase 1 of a phase 3 project, with phase 2 being the cricket ground (Tender to be out soon) & phase 3 the final phase being the cricket academy where we aim to develop future State & International players, this is in line with High Performance Cricket Centers in the United Kingdom, Australia & New Zealand, India the leading nations in the world for cricket. The state has currently 5 athletes selected playing in the National U19 team.
Andre Richards (Head of High Performance Unit) also concluded by saying the Cricket HPC is a part of the planned high-performance sports center the government has agreed to build to strengthen its sports infrastructure in efforts to make Sarawak a sports powerhouse in the country as announced by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg recently. He is confident that with the availability of a high-performance sports center in Sarawak, the state will be able to nurture and produce world class athletes in the near future.
Victor Anak Graman, Vice President of the Sarawak Cricket Association informed the state association intended to make full use of the net to start a weekend junior cricket program. SCA is also working closely with the Malaysia Cricket Association to implement the Cricket Adiwira program to various primary schools in Sarawak with the ministry of education. At the same time, the Sarawak cricket head coach Sri Lankan Pramuka Sidesh is confident that the improved training facilities will enable his athletes to be well prepared when participating in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2022.
Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee, says the HPC center is another step the State Government took in moving forward toward achieving the Sports Powerhouse status in Malaysia. SSC looks to achieve this vision by emphasis on promoting the application of modern sports science and management that will result in having quality coaches, officials, managers, and consultants apart from having the latest quality sports equipment and facilities in the various sports fields and games. He also mentions that the Cricket HPC will also be made available for public use at a reasonable rental rate. He hopes the cricket community in Sarawak will make full use of the facility.