The Hindu : KCA's ambitious plans

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

KCA's ambitious plans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JULY 13. The Kerala Cricket Association, as part of its ambitious Vision 2005 scheme, has decided to take up the work relating to a full-fledged cricket stadium in Malappuram besides going in for a joint-project with the Kozhikode Medical College.

The decisions to this effect were taken by the AGM of the KCA, which met here on Sunday.

Briefing The Hindu about these decisions and other matters taken up by the meeting, the KCA president, Mr. S. K. Nair and secretary, Mr. S. Haridas said the KCA's commitment for both the projects put together would be Rs.1.24 crores.

The project in Malappuram would be taken up at an eight-acre land, recently purchased by the MDCA for the purpose, while in Kozhikode, the KCA would be laying the turf wicket and building other facilities at Medical college ground, which it has obtained on a long-term lease.

A four-member technical committee headed by the former KCA president, Mr. K. Ramachandran and having Mr. S. Jayan Nair, Mr. Jyothish Kumar and Mr. Reji Thomas Mathew as members will prepare the project reports for Malappuram and Kozhikode and work out the detailed costs involved.

These projects are besides the ones which the KCA has already taken up in Kollam, Thrissur and Palakkad. The work on the Palakkad Fort maidan project was expected to be completed by early August, while work on sprucing up the Kollam Asramam maidan was already over. The Kollam project would be mainly used by the KCA for conducting regular coaching camps and State-level tournaments.

The technical committee would also prepare the feasibility report for the Thrissur indoor coaching academy, which is being set up jointly with the Sree Kerala Varma College. The academy once completed would have three zooming wickets and other facilities.

Mr. Nair said the KCA had given priority for setting up sufficient infrastructure during the first year of its four-year Vision 2005 project and would now be turning its attention to the other schemes envisaged. Once all the ongoing and the new projects were completed, Kerala would have sufficient facilities for training its cricketers and hosting National-level tournaments.

The meeting has accorded its approval to buy a 41-cent plot of land here for setting up the proposed KCA headquarters. Besides the administrative wing, the KCA headquarters will boast of facilities to run a cricket academy and a cricket museum. The other recommended facilities are a cricket library, a modern gym and a dormitory for trainees. The work on this project would also be completed by 2005.

Approving the report of an inquiry commission, which found that the allegations connected with the functioning of Pathanamthitta DCA were correct, the meeting also decided to dissolve the PDCA with immediate effect. The day-to-day functioning of the PDCA would now be overseen by a three-member adhoc committee comprising Mr. Roy Mathew (convenor), Mr. Mamppilly Lakshmanan and Mr. Kurian John.

The meeting also decided to award the 2002 Unni Nair Endowment for the best junior Kerala cricketer to P. Prasanth (Thiruvananthapuram) and appoint the former Kerala Ranji captain, P. Balachandran as Director of coaching (Juniors).

The KCA calendar for 2003-04:

Under-13 inter-zone tournament: November 4 to 9 - Palakkad; Under-15 inter-district tournament - September 9 to 28 - Kozhikode, Thalassery, Ernakulam and Idukki; Under-17 inter-district tournament - September 26 to 19 - Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and at two venues in Thrissur; Under-19 inter-zone tournament - August 23 to 31 - Palakkad; Under-22 inter-zone tournament - August 16 to 24 - Thiruvananthapuram. The Ranji Trophy Elite group matches allotted to Kerala will be conducted at Palakkad. Vinoo Mankad under-19 tournament - January 1 to 14, 2004 - Ernakulam.

The KCA sub-committees for 2003-04:

Selection: Seniors & Under-22: K. Jayaram (chairman), Ranjith Thomas, T.C. Sudheesh and V. Narayanankutty. Under-19: Ramesh Babu (chairman), K. Satheesan, Sunil Kumar and B. Shaji. Under-17: N.P. Subramonia Swamy (chairman), S. Sudheer Kumar, Satish Chandran and M. Rajagopal. Under-15: P. Radhakrishnan (chairman), Vinod Kumar, V. Sreekumar and John Rongklin. Under-13: V.P. Krishnakumar (chairman), A.K. Rasheed, G. Pramod and P.A. Vinod. (The KCA secretary, Mr. S. Haridas will be the convenor for all the selection sub-committees).

Finance: P. Shivakumar (chairman), G. Sajikumar, R. Radhakrishan, T. Illyas, Mathew P. Mani, T.C. Mathew (convenor). Nets & coaching: P. Balachandran (chairman), P.V. Sirajuddin, A.P.M. Gopalakrishnan, A.C.M. Abdulla, Shibu Damodaran, S.B. Baiju and Babu Acharath. Umpires: S. Dandapani (chairman), James Kunnumel, R. Sreekumaran Nair, C. Pradeep Kumar, P. Chandrasekhar and Santosh Kumar.

Cricket Development: A. Salim (chairman), O.T. Jayachandran, M. Philip Varghese, Mohammed Ibrahim, T.K. Madhav, Paul Paliath, D. Chandrasenan Nair, C.M. Ashok Sekhar, O.K. Ramdas, T. Shivadas, P. Balachandran and K. Jayaram. Rules revision: S.K. Nair (chairman), G.K. Shetty, T.R. Balakrishnan, T.C. Mathew, K.K. Rajeev, S. Ramachandran Nair and T.K. Rajachandran.

Marketing: Shreyams Kumar (chairman), Igni Mathew, Nazir Machan, T.N. Ananthanarayanan, R. Krishnan and Sree Muthiah. Programme: S.K. Nair (chairman), K.N. Raghavan, A.V. Suresh, Edwin Joseph, G. Kumar, R. Sanal Kumar, S.K. Unni and K. Surendranath. Curator: C. Sneharaj (chairman), P.V. Ramachandran and R. Anil Kumar.

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