Garlands of locally grown flowers and young coconut drinks welcomed the Cricket Board of Maldives executive members and club representatives as they touched down in Fuvahmulah on Thursday afternoon.
The fourteen member team which included a representative from the Sports Ministry was welcomed by island council members, Fuvahmulah cricket coordinator, coaches and junior and young participants of the YDP programme in the island. Fuvahmuah is a unique island in the vast archipelago of Maldives. The only island which is also an atoll all of its own, is a rich lush tropical paradise with some of the most fertile soil in the country which helped the 2011 effort to build a cricket ground in just under 6 months.
The tour members headed straight to the Ahmed Ali Didi cricket ground. The ground was built in 2011 to host the SAARC T20 tournament. The first regional cricket tournament held in the country. An under 25 team from each SAARC nation took part in this exciting tournament which opened up Fuvahmulah hearts to the great game of cricket. A YDP programme was launched by CBM to coincide with the tournament and ground development in a bid to implant passion for the game in the island and create cricket stars of tomorrow.
One of the key aims of the CBM tour was to discuss cricket development in the island with local stakeholders. This was achieved at the Fuvahmulah Cricket Development Forum held in the Atoll Education Centre seminar room. The meeting was attended by all the stakeholders of cricket on the island. The meeting began with a presentation of the CBM strategic plan, highlighting its focus of junior/youth development and atoll cricket. Afterwards, members discussed various aspects of cricket on the island and put forward many recommendations to make it more popular and attractive to the children and youth of the island. A wide ranging discussion was also held on developing cricket infrastructure on the island.
On Friday, right after the Friday prayers and a hearty Maldivian lunch the tour members headed back to the cricket ground for some good spirited competitive cricket. A CBM President’s team comprising of visitors and Fuvahmulah cricketers proved to be the perfect opportunity to assess the growth in players in the YDP programme. Although the match was won by the President’s team – with no less than 6 national team veterans – a number of Fuvahmulah players some as young as 14 performed exceptionally well with the bat and ball. It was hard to believe that they first held the cricket bats in their hands only 3 years ago.
On Friday night, the tour members reconvened for the business end of the tour – the 2014 CBM AGM. The members approved the 2013 Annual Report, the 2013 Audit Report and the 2014 Budget at the meeting. The AGM also decided to grant CBM membership for New Star Club and approved to hold a special AGM in May to revise some clauses of the Constitution of the Board.
The tour members dedicated the morning of the last day of the visit to hold a coaching camp for YDP participants. Twenty-five girls and 30 boys took part in the session which was led by former national team captain and veteran cricketer Ahmed Kaleem. Despite the early morning heat, the participants were eager to learn and to demonstrate their newly acquired cricketing skills. The coaching team were highly impressed with the skills shown by the girl cricketers. A sign that the Board’s plans for a girls cricket team from the island was not a too distant dream.
On Saturday afternoon, FlyMe flight 660 took the team back to Male’, and as the plane glided through the clear blue sky, and over Fuvahmulah, the ground that holds so much promise for cricket’s growth in the country lay inviting below beckoning players and lovers of the game.
