Sports Reporter
JAMMU: They came all the way from district Baramulla of Kashmir to play on the newly established grassy turf wickets on the sprawling cricket ground at the Country Cricket Academy (CCA) at Gharota in the outskirts of the city.
The boys from Baramulla not only admired the improved infrastructure but found in the management of the Academy real promoters of cricket.
“We are here to play our quarterfinal game against one of the top clubs of Jammu, the Jammu Cricket Club (JCC) tomorrow. We are pleased to find the grass on the wicket and a maintained outfield in true sense. We have travelled a lot playing cricket around different states and I’m sure the infrastructure at this ground at Gharota in Jammu is going to be the best in the state,” said the team captain, Zubair.
The Baramulla team, comprising present Ranji Trophy, Under-23 and Under-19 cricketers has come prepared to take on their opponent in JCC in tomorrow’s big game.
“We have already played two games against Jammu teams in the preliminary round but tomorrow’s match is going to be a challenging game,” maintained Jahangir Lone, a senior member of the team.
These boys from Kashmir were witnessed asking the management of the CCA to hold events in the months of November and December where most of the Kashmir based teams want to play cricket away from theie home towns.
“We will try our level best to fulfill the demand of the Kashmiri boys to hold a 50 overs or two-day games in winters, most probably in December,” said Vikrant Sharma of CCA.
The Academy has got a dedicated team of cricketers, including former Ranji Trophy player, Vivek Sharma, who has around 15 first class matches to his credit. “We have established the infrastructure aiming at promoting the most loved game of cricket. And, it will be our endeavour to add more to the facilities so as to make the venue a most desired place in J and K,” informed Vivek Sharma.
