We’ve all watched those feel-good Hollywood movies: a motley crew comes together under a new coach to beat the odds and win the neighbourhood/state/world championship. They are the underdogs, laughed at by their peers, but with enough enthusiasm and energy to put a smile on anyone’s face. Remember Cool Runnings, the Jamaican bob sled team, or The Mighty Ducks, a rag tag neighbourhood hockey team? Well, I believe I have found Cambodia’s very own – and what a happy bunch they are.
The Phnom Penh Cricket Club is made up of a large group of seven- to 16-year-old boys and girls in all shapes and sizes. The team is made up entirely of kids from local schools who come together every weekend to spend two hours training at a local sports ground. Equipment consists of junior cricket bats, some stumps and a tennis ball. What else does one need, really?
To create a sense of belonging, and to deal with the short attention span of Gen-Z (or whatever generation the current juniors are), teams have been formed with cool names like the ‘Warriors’, ‘Ninjas’ and ‘Dragons’. Each team has players with varying skills, and as I have found out over the last few weekends, there are some great personalities on the field.
It’s really heartening to see so many girls participating, often outplaying the boys with ‘classic catches’ and real patience when batting. Last week there was a young girl, no taller than a bicycle, and boy could she bowl. Dead straight and no bend in the elbow – who would have thought?
There are little pocket rockets who play plenty of wild swings, throw their bat in frustration and support their team mates louder than professional cheerleaders could. Perhaps it’s their rayon Angry Birds matching t-shirt and shorts combination that gets them so worked up. Older boys in their low hanging skinny jeans and rapper hats also join in, pulling their pants up as they run between wickets. Technique is secondary to enthusiasm. Baseball swings and sling-shot bowling… who cares? They love it.
Their coach, and the organiser of the team, is a Hong Kong-based cricket fan who spends 20 days a month in Phnom Penh as part of his passion for developing cricket in Cambodia. Cricket Cambodia is now a member of the Asian Cricket Council, which is an achievement in itself. Assisting him are a team of volunteers including one of the dads and a young Cambodian fellow who religiously wears his cricket whites every week.
The inaugural Phnom Penh Cricket Tournament will be held later this month with the final on June 30 held at the old (Army) stadium, the culmination of a two-day round robin event where all six teams will participate. Anyone can watch and cheer the teams on; I’ll certainly be there.
WHO: Anyone with a penchant for sticky wickets
WHAT: Inaugural Phnom Penh Cricket Tournament
WHERE: 3G Sports Centre, National Assembly Street, opp. Australian Embassy (June 29); & RCAF Stadium, north of Chroy Changvar Bridge roundabout, Russei Keo (June 30)
WHEN: 1-4pm June 29 (3G) and 9am-5pm June 30 (RCAF Stadium)
WHY: “I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on Earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either.” – Harold Pinter