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While those numbers pale in comparison to China’s population of 1.3 billion, even to aim at the Goliaths of Asian cricket is no ordinary feat, especially since China does not have a large local base that plays the game at a professional level. That is exactly what the state-run China Cricket Association wants to change.
The sport is being promoted in Chinese schools in nine cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Dalian, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Tianjin and Jinan – involving more than 150 schools in a strong bid to raise awareness for the sport as well as scout for talent. The first big task is to build 720 teams across the country by 2009. These teams will participate in a highly organized league tournament designed to groom and train promising youngsters from primary schools, top secondary schools, and elite universities.
The next target is the creation of men’s and women’s teams for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou where China, as the host country, is guaranteed entry.
The biggest obstacle is that most Chinese know little about cricket. Gary Liu, a Beijing businessman in his mid-thirties, is typical in his ignorance of the game. “I have not seen it being played in a formal way here,” he said. Liu had not heard of the Cricket Association of China, nor did he know the game was being introduced in schools.
There is a growing interest in the game in online forums, but even there, the questions people are asking reveal a lack of fundamental knowledge of cricket. Is cricket also called backboard? How does one play it? What are the rules? What is this cricket? Which countries play and does China also play? These are questions that turned up in a search of discussion threads in top portal baidu.com
Lal Jayasinghe, director of coaching at Hong Kong-based Omnicon Events, a sport and events management company that is currently negotiating training and coaching programs in Chinese schools, agrees that ignorance is a big hurdle to the development of the game in China.
Despite former Pakistani cricketer Rashid Khan coaching the Chinese national side as part of the development initiatives outlined by the Asian Cricket Council, efforts have not been enough to raise awareness of the game, says Jayasinghe. “What Rashid is doing at the moment is bringing a lot of cricket videos from overseas and showing them what cricket is all about and how the game is played outside China. However until and unless they see the game live in person outside China, it is difficult for them to catch it.”
Jayasinghe believes that media has a big role to play in raising the profile of the game in China. “While some top elite players do know the game and have heard or seen a few international players perform in regional tournaments, what China needs is a big scale awareness program with the media coming in and that is lacking at the moment. Media is the key.”
Interestingly, China’s untapped cricket “market” is what is driving the development. For the CCA, while sporting glory and national pride may be important, so are the handsome dividends earned through sponsorship deals, broadcasting rights and merchandising contracts, largely triggered by huge audiences. While Animesh Kulkarni, managing director of Omnicon Events, declined to put a figure on China’s booming cricket market, Jayasinghe said, “There is a huge market and there is a huge need of coaches in China.”
CCA estimates the game will be played actively by 150,000 people by 2020, by which time a national league, international club matches, a national school and inter-city competitions as well as a successful national side would have evolved.
If numbers speak the story, then businesses like Omnicon Events have not even touched the tip of the market today. However, by opening a Cricket Center of Excellence in Hong Kong in January 2008 and rolling out training programs in Hong Kong’s local schools, Kulkarni and his team are certainly testing the waters; programs that are successful in Hong Kong will cross over to schools across the border to mainland China.
Cricket has flourished and matured both on a professional and academic level in the Indian subcontinent and China surely sees it as a potential medium for engaging with South Asia, both politically and socially. Although the CCA’s current development programs are at the amateur level, they have the backing of the government. If the government makes cricket a policy, schools and sports institutions will surely implement it. China’s sports authorities have already dubbed cricket “shen shi yun dong,” meaning “the noble game.”
What’s more, China has already begun exporting the sport. On May 2, the first ever formal cricket match was played in North Korea between two teams from Shanghai and the new Pyongyang Cricket club.
One idea to attract locals is to stage exhibition matches played by renowned cricketers or host regional tournaments like the Cricket Sixes played in Hong Kong, which raise the profile of the sport. Beyond that, what China really needs is a superstar in the international arena to inspire the locals to take up the sport.
As Jayasinghe puts it, “they need a Yao Ming playing the game of cricket to sell it to the other kids.”
