Members of the Indonesian women’s national squad for South Africa’s 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup pose on the sidelines of their training session in Bali in early November. (Courtesy of /Vishnu Kumar. R)
Question: How much time does it take a national team to reach the World Cup from the time a new game is introduced?
Answer: A long time.
Indonesian Under-19 girls have proved the answer incorrect. That too in a game that does not have deep roots in Indonesia — cricket! The story of the women’s U19 team making it into the International Cricket Council (ICC) U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023 is a flight of fancy.
Eight years back women’s cricket started in Indonesia from modest beginnings. Most girls did not know the basics. Dearth of coaches to impart the fundamental skills was another challenge. Against all odds, in 2014 the first women’s team was established. During the same year, a national championship for women got underway in the archipelago.
The first overseas trip for special training for the Indonesian team ensued. An eighteen-member squad was sent to Jaipur, India during 2015. Their trip to India, where cricket is a conviction, gave the squad a flavor of cricket’s paradigms and popularity. This tour was designed as high-performance training program. The learning curve journeyed northeast.
The Indonesian women’s team got the drift of an international amphitheater soon in the form of Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2017. Indonesia performed exceedingly well to clinch the silver medal. No mean achievement for the rookies. Once success was tasted, Indonesia not only went on to beat neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore, but also beat more-seasoned teams like Hong Kong, Fiji and Bhutan. The Youth and Sports Ministry supported them enormously during the SEA Games in 2017, which solidified the foundation for the women's team.
COVID-19 took its toll in Indonesia too as in any other part of the world from 2020 through 2021. However, the Indonesian girls did not lose their compass. They kept on working consistently with the help of professional coaches, who were recruited through the national cricket body by then.
