KUALA LUMPUR – There may be light at the end of the tunnel for the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) as they await word from Perumahan Kinrara Bhd (PKB) on the future of the Kinrara Oval.
According to MCA chief operating officer Dinesh Muthuraman, they are expecting a reply from the oval’s landowners soon.
“We are still waiting. We should be getting an answer from them (PKB) by the end of the week or latest by the middle of next week,” he told The Vibes.
Previously, MCA had been ordered to vacate the Kinrara Oval in Puchong, after failing to settle RM1.8 million in assessment fees with PKB.
The arrears from unpaid assessment fees stemmed from a long-standing dispute on tariff rates and has caused the association to be embroiled in a recent court battle with PKB.
This led to the subsequent eviction of the national sporting body from their current home in Kinrara Oval.
Meanwhile, MCA announced an agreement with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) to maintain and upkeep the Sime Darby Foundation (YSD)-UKM oval cricket ground.
It will be used for high-performance trainings and tournaments in addition to organising various programmes with the aim to introduce cricket to the community in the surrounding areas.
MCA will station a designated high-performance coach to oversee the training programmes at UKM.
However, Dinesh said that this does not solve all their problems as the association will still need other cricket grounds if they wish to host international tournaments.
“To organise international tournaments like the world cup, we need at least six international standard fields.
“We currently have the Selangor Turf Club, UKM and a few more venues but we need to have one top class ground,” he added.
With the agreement, UKM intends to strengthen its own cricket team and, together with MCA, hope to lead their team in playing at the national level. – The Vibes, May 14, 2022
