The Razdan Report: ACC Women's Tournament tour diary part 5

Like many sports, the game of cricket seems to get inside people. Once you have been bitten by the bug, it's not something you an shake off easily, even once your playing days are over. For millions of passionate cricketers they find it impossible to walk away from the game completely even after they have been forced to stop running around after the ball.

One of those characters is Goh Swee Heng, coach of the Singapore team. He had a long career playing for Singapore, turning out for the country from 1973 until his retirement in 1998. He is a Chinese by birth but he studied in a school in a leading cricket school in Singapore and ended up representing his adopted country at various events, including the ICC Trophy in 1979, 1982, 1994 and 1997.

"When I gave up playing active cricket, I was keen to give back something to the game," he told me.

"In Singapore, every coach is paid fees for each session. I coach quite a few schools. I am also in charge of national fitness and medical training. I was a medic in the army and also for the national soccer team. Sports medicine always interested me," he said.

"Cricket in Singapore is developing quite well. During the last ACC Trophy (men's) we stood fifth. There is great potential for cricket and lot of Chinese and Singaporeans are playing the game. Our school cricket development programme is going along nicely as well so I am quite optimistic for the future.

As far as women's cricket is concerned, we sent out an open invitation for players to try-out for the national side," he said.

"Like the United Arab Emirates, we wanted to make a beginning. We began the women's training in February and today we are quite happy that the girls are learning from this experience.

"This event is a great way for the members of the team to gain experience and to learn what is required to do well at this level. It is a great moment for all the new entrants to women's cricket and this tournament is indeed a platform to greater things.

"For me, the focus will now be to get more girls playing the game, especially the local Singaporeans and Chinese so that the game develops and progresses with local talent and support," he said.