Bali Sixes - English win something; national body closer to formation

Indonesian cricket's annual get together, the Bali Sixes, did more than give a rare sight - an English cricket team winning a tournament - it also provided a forum for the next stage of talks in the formation of the Indonesian Cricket Association.

Bali International Cricket Club official, Alan Wilson, describes all the action from the Sixes while Jakarta Cricket Association's Vishnu Samtani updates the Indonesia Cricket Association talks and Jakarta's Synergy League.

"Despite unprecedented torrential rains over the three day period before the Sixes (played April 22-23), the Bali Sixes were held successfully on our second oval at Udayana University on the Bukit (our main oval was flooded and unplayable).

The start was delayed by two hours to allow the pitch to dry and was hastened by using the "Windies" technique of pouring petrol over the wicket and burning it. The black smoke over the wicket surrounded by cheering cricketers was a fitting start to a great weekend's cricket.

Nine teams took part, namely The Top Enders and the Camden Rams from Australia, the London West 3 CC from UK, Elvis CC from Singapore (mainly employees of the ESPN Sports TV network), the Ceylon CC (holders) and Country Woods CC from Jakarta, Sumbawa CC from the island of Sumbawa, and Sidarkarya CC and the BICC from Bali. This unique mix had two players who have played for Canada (in the UK side) and Ross Edwards (ex-Australian Test cricketer) in the Elvis side.

On the first day, due to the late start, the teams were grouped in threes and each team played two games. From the results, four teams (London West 3, Elvis, Ceylon and Sumbawa) who won two games were grouped to play for the Sixes Cup. Sumbawa did very well and are to be congratulated on their achievement. The remaining five played for the Plate. The Plate had an all Australian final (Camden Rams and Top Enders) which won comfortably by the Top Enders. The Cup was won by the London Club against Elvis.

The standard of cricket was high and the games were played in an excellent spirit. Ross Edwards was made an Honorary Member of the BICC. Eight Indonesian players were involved in five of the teams and this gave them maximum exposure."

Vishnu Samtani reports on the ICA talks and the latest from Jakarta's Synergy League:

"Representatives of the Jakarta Cricket Association and the Bali Cricket Foundation met with Andrew Eade of the ICC's East Asia region to discuss the formation of the Indonesia Cricket Association on 20 - 21 April.

A draft constitution was worked through and with minor adjustment remaining, now has to be agreed by the two respective committees before being used as a basis for the formation of a legally representative association in Indonesia.

The meetings were all successful and extremely held in a good and enthusiastic atmosphere.

It is now hoped that assuming there are no problems it will be possible to have the first annual general meeting of the ICA before the JCA annual dinner that is planned for 3rd June. It would be wrong to detail the formation of the Indonesia Cricket Association until the relevant committees have had a full opportunity to review the draft document. However, it is thought that the 3rd June is a reasonable target for completion.

Meanwhile, the Synergy League is in Easter break, with the fixtures resuming first Sunday of May.

League leaders ISCI recently suffered their first loss at the hands of Ceylon CC, after a run of 12 unbeaten matches.

Only ISCI remains the sure semi-finalists to date, with Country Woods CC, Ceylon CC, Texmaco CC and North Jakarta CC having to fight it out for the remaining three spots.

Exciting finishing definitely in store, with Texmaco and North Jakarta scheduled to play each other in the final match of the regular season on May 18th. Semi-finals slated on May 21st and the Grand Final on May 28th."