Awang Mahyan (second left) presents the grant to SM Sains Kuching teacher/coach Yusriazmi Yusof while (from left) state coach Chew Pok Cheong, SCA secretary Gordon Chung and Kuching District Education Office sports unit officer Mohd Rashid Ibrahim look on.
Awang Mahyan (seated at third left) posing with SCA secretary Gordon Chung (seated third right), Kuching District Education Office sports unit officer Mohd Rashid Ibrahim (seated second right) and team representatives as well as SCA committee and organising committee members. — Photos by Harry Ilias
KUCHING: The six participating teams in the Kuching City League Chief Minister cricket Trophy received a boost yesterday when the Sarawak Cricket Association (SCA) gave them a grant of RM500 each.
They are SM Sains Kuching (Zealous CC), SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman (Starz CC), SMK Seri Setia, SMK Semerah Padi, SMK Agama SHOAW (SHOAW Criketers) and SMK Sains Kuching Utara (Sakura CC).Handing over the grant at SMK Semerah Padi was SCA president Awang Mahyan Awang Mohamad.
“We are presenting the grant to the participating schools so as to reduce their financial burden,” he said at at press conference.
“This championship was revived after a lapse of 15 years and is part of our cricket development programme. Our objective in organising this league is to have a year-round domestic cricket league to develop cricket in Sarawak. Our senior team have done well in the Malaysia Premier League last season as they finished first runners-up,” said Mahyan.
He took the opportunity to thank the sponsors for their strong support for cricket development in the state.They are the Ministry of Social Development, Mohamad Ali Motor Co Sdn Bhd, Sarawak Energy, YWP Property and Construction Sdn Bhd, I & P Group Sdn Bhd, Get Away Agency and Cahya Mata Sarawak.
Individual sponsors include politicians Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Dato Sri Rohani Abdul Karim and Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.
The Kuching City League, last organised in 2000, kicked off in May this year and is played over weekends and will end at end of October. It involves the participation of 90 students from the six schools.
Each team will play two rounds of five matches each and the top two teams shall fight for the Chief Minister Trophy in the final.
Currently, SMK Tunku Rahman (Starz CC) are leading the league with 10 points, having won all their five matches in Round 1.
Matches are held at two venues SK Gita No.2 and SMK Sains Kuching Utara.
The finalists shall reperesent Sarawak at the Malaysia Cricket Association National Inter Club T20 League next year.
Meanwhile, SCA will be organising the 3rd Tun Ahmad Sarji Cup SCA-DBKU U12 Cricket Carnival with the Kuching City North Commission (DBKU) from Sept 1 to Oct 8.
Matches will be played at SMK Seri Setia and SMK Sains Kuching Utara while the final stages will be held at Padang Merdeka.
One hundred and fifty students from 10 schools will compete in this competition. They are SK Gita No. 2, SK Tabuan Hilir, SK Buyong, SK Wira Jaya and SK Tabuan in Group A while Group B comprises SK Siol Kanan, SK Chung Hua Bau, SK Kampung Senari, SK Bako and SK Semerah Padi.