The euphoria and interest in the Jakarta cricket scene created by Sir Richard Hadlee's and Andrew Eade's presence at the June 3rd Jakarta Cricket Association annual dinner, has hardly abated over the summer break. New teams have been knocking the association doors for entrance into the league.

Texmaco CC's new ground in Karawang just outside Jakarta will be introduced into the venue circuit of the JCA Synergy League. Existing League teams are revamping their sides to mount a challenge on the championship that will last from September through April next year.

The season is already off to some exciting cricket. The last weekend of August saw the traditional season opener - the JCA Eights. At this 5-ball over tournament, two extraordinary feats were accomplished.

First, Texmaco CC's S. Manimaran picked up five consecutive wickets against the Jakarta Int'l CC. The 2nd day of the tournament saw Gandhi Int'l School CC's run out 3 Indorama CC batsmen in consecutive balls in one over. What was more fantastic was that all three run outs were created by the combination of Ashish the fielder and Ali the wicketkeeper. We wonder how many other incidents in any part of the world could match these two feats!

About 30 Indonesians are learning cricket skills under floodlights weekly in central Jakarta. Junior cricket amongst the expat schools will also commence in September, and this year, the JCA is looking to work into several Indonesian schools with the help of the expat schools.

The JCA is also combining with the Bali ICF in working out development plans to further increase and maintain cricket interest amongst the indigenous Indonesians. Three delegates from each institute combined to create the Indonesia Cricket Foundation (ICF) with Jakarta old-timer Narayan Menon as its President.

We've also launched a bi-lingual cricket magazine, called GIMANA!? which literally translates into Howzzat!? It is widely read in Indonesia amongst the cricketing community and outside of it, as well.

Jakarta will be seeing a lot of visitors this year, first at its International Invitational Sixes on Sept 30th and October 1st, with teams from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, and Bali joining local teams.

Singapore CC will be visiting us for a weekend in end October, and we shall also be entertaining the Manila Nomads CC in the first week of December. Our representative sides will also be going on tours to neighboring countries sometime next year.

Lots happening here in Indonesia! For a few years due to the crisis, we had to lay low, but once the dust has cleared, we've been at it with full force. For further information, please log on to our website at http://jca.kemana.com Inquiries for touring sides are most welcome.

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