Save the oval, don’t kill the game – cricket fraternity

KUALA LUMPUR: Cricket may be the second most popular sport in the world, but its growth in Malaysia is in peril after the only One-day International (ODI) ranked ground in the country, considered the best in South East Asia, is to be taken over for redevelopment.

The iconic Kinrara Oval in Puchong, which once saw the actions of current and former Indian captains Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, both regarded as the best batsmen in the world, had been asked to close down.

The Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) were given a notice to vacate the ground, ‘the home of Malaysian cricket’ by the end of this month by the developer of the land.

Despite more than 400 matches hosting thousands of cricketers from schools to international level held at the ground, the continuous development in Klang Valley, which had already sacrificed many football fields, looked set to continue at the one of the fastest drying cricket ground in the world.

To show disagreement on the matter, more than 50 people from the cricket fraternity turned up at the ground bringing placards written “Don’t kill the game, save Kinrara Oval,” while many others took to social media platforms to show support for the ground using #SaveTheOval hashtags.

MCA President Mahinda Vallipuram said losing Kinrara Oval, where MCA’s headquarters was located, would kill the development of the sport, which was growing rapidly in the country.

“This is not just losing one ground, this is about the development of the sport in the country. Now we have more than 35,000 active cricketers at various levels playing the game, while our initiative with the Ministry of Education (MOE) for the past several years saw an increase in the number of cricket-playing schools in Malaysia to more than 800 from 250 four years ago.

“Today we have about 800 school teachers with Level 0 and 1 coaching certificates. We are also saving at least half a million ringgit a year by having our players’ hostel here…All these work are been done and administered from our office and facilities located here.

“Development of a sport does not happen in a short period of time, it needs 10 to 15 years to yield results. So what we are doing now is for the continuous development of the sport. So, we hope to solve this problem amicably,” he told Bernama when met at the ground.

Mahinda said he had discussed the matter with the Youth and Sports Ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali and a meeting between MCA and the ministry would be held to find a solution.

Meanwhile, one of the protesters, Mohamed Yusri Rauf, who was playing in the T20 Corporate League said the Kinrara Oval was more than a cricket playing ground for the cricketers.

“It is like a home to us… We need to save this ground which is the national ground for Malaysian cricket since the past two decades.