Rameez Raja lauds ‘extremely strong’ Sri Lankan School Cricket system …

Former Sri Lankan batting great Aravinda de Silva has launched a cricket academy in Dubai, which promises to bring a “different flavour” to nurture the talents of youngsters.

The Future Legends Cricket Academy (FLCA) will begin operating across four locations in Dubai from next month with plans of expansion across the UAE.

Dashing Pakistan cricketer turned commentator Rameez Raja is supporting Aravinda’s dream project.

“We both have experienced the thrill of winning a World Cup and the glory, it brings. FLCA is our way of giving back to the game, which has given us so much, and made us who we are today. This academy and its curriculum is a result of extensive research carried out by us during the past year, identifying the gaps in the coaching programmes and the way forward for producing cricketing professionals in UAE,” said former Sri Lanka captain Aravinda de Silva.

“Talent is what the youngsters possess and we hope to build on their natural talent and provide them with the necessary and correct technical skills so that they can achieve greatness in cricket,” said Rameez.

FLCA appears to be an extension of a talent search project Aravinda started in Sri Lanka seven years ago.

“I stepped into this project to create champions and to create champions is not an easy task as it is not the talent or enthusiasm alone that makes champions. A lot of work goes behind the scene in the making of a champion,” said Aravinda at a press conference to launch FLCA in Dubai on Sunday.

Looking back at his career, Aravinda, 50,said,“I started at the age of seven and after schooI I used to stay and watch our seniors practice and every time the ball came beyond the boundary line, I would run, pick the ball and throw it to the field. My dream was to represent my country. I used to listen to 1975 World Cup commentary on a pocket radio as we did not have television at that time.My hero was Viv Richards and every time he played a shot, I would take a golf ball and a ruler and repeat the same stroke.”

Aravinda felt he had an advantage because he came under the wing of former national players from the age of eight.

“As soon as I entered competitive school cricket at under 11, I was only nine years old.Then the advantage I had was the coaches we had at that level were the national coaches who had represented the country. Therefore, at eight years I learnt exactly what it was needed at the highest level,” said Aravinda who emulated his childhood hero Richards by scoring a century in the 1996 World Cup final against Australia.

He believes talent alone is not enough to progress without proper coaching.

“When many said that I was more talented than others, I never believed it and neither will I believe it now. It was the coaching and the hard work, which took me to where I reached in cricket. So I want to give that experience to youngsters,” pledged Aravinda, one of the greatest ever Test batsmen Sri Lanka has produced.

His intention to create something for the younger generation and give something back to the game back in Sri Lanka began seven years ago.

“I started a talent search project called Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation in Sri Lanka.Then we called it Aravinda de SilvaCricket Pathway. When we carried on doing that for about three years,Coca Cola came along and renamed itCoca Cola Pathway,” said Aravinda who was buoyed by its success to go global and chose Dubai for it.

“I realised that Dubai was one place where we could start it fromand it was far more easier to do it in a place like Dubai than any other location though cricket is very popular in Sri Lanka,India or Pakistan,” he said roping in 1992 Pakistan World Cup winner Rameez for his dream project.

“Together we have a vision.We have won two World Cups but we have never consistently won World Cups. The reason being there are so many administrative issues.Also planning and having structured programmeslike in Australia. That is what we want to do. Not to be a run of the mill academy. We want to take it to the GCCwhere we feel there is a huge interest,” said Aravinda.

Rameez was circumspect about coaching but was excited to be part of this project.

“I have always believed that coaching kills the natural instinctivenessin your system. I’m not in favour of creating robots. I’m in favour of creating something like Muttiah Muralitharan or Saeed Ajmal or how some of the batsmen are playing these days in T20,” said the former Pakistan opener.

“We are on firm footing here because Aravinda and I feel that while coaching is extremely important it has to be given a new flavour where the natural instinctiveness doesn’t get killed. Because we are dealing with young cricketers here, it is important that we keep it simple which we intend to do,” said Rameez.

“To get the best out of these youngsters I would want a seven-year-old batting right and left hand or bowling right and left hand. That is where we want the academy to goand also to involve some of the legends of the game so that interaction becomes that much more meaningful,” said Raja who hailed the success of the school cricket system in Sri Lanka as a shining example.

“Sri Lankan school system is extremely strong. Aravindaand Arjuna (Ranatunga), most of these guys would come from a very strong school cricket structure and be so technically good and we got amazed at how good they were at a young age. Later on we found it was because of strong coaching structurewhich was delivered at the school level that made them such good players,” he said.

Former Sri Lanka Under 19 coach Naveed Nawazis the head coach of the academy.

“So we are in safe hands.This will have a different flavour to the coaching system. We will make sure it is not boring. We want to attract locals in the UAE but we want to take this concept back to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India so that all these expat young kids when they go back home they have future in this game. It’s not going to be just a one-off situation. We will maintain continuity.

I’m extremely excited to be part of this unit and I think you’ll see a difference. We are here to make a difference,” he declared.