Singapore Cricket Association
Singapore Cricket Association (SCA) is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Singapore with its current headquarters in Stadium Crescent. SCA is Singapore’s representative as an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1974. SCA is also a member of Asian Cricket Council and the Singapore National Olympic Committee.
The stadium, constructed on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land, was officially inaugurated on 7 December 1937 and named Brabourne Stadium, after the then Governor of Bombay, Lord Brabourne.
Lord Tennyson described the clubhouse and pavilion as “most magnificent, there is nothing else like it anywhere.” Keith Miller described this ground as a “cricket paradise.”
Premier domestic tournament known as Ranji Trophy was first played in the year 1938 and in 1948, it became a venue for international game by hosting the first Test match between India and West Indies. Test cricket continued to be held on these grounds till the year 1973, when international cricket moved to the newly constructed Wankhede Stadium.
Other sports such as tennis, badminton, squash, billiards and snooker and swimming are also played as well as prestigious international events, including ATP Tournaments. Apart from sports, Brabourne Stadium hosted grand cultural events and musical concerts, including performances by John McLaughlin, Placido Domingo and the Rolling Stones.
Brabourne Stadium hosted five matches of ICC Champions’ Trophy and became the host venue for the first T20 International on Indian soil when India beat Australia in a one-off game in October 2007, while Test Cricket made a welcome return to its original home in December 2009.
SSC has a cricket school with a professional coaching staff which trains boys from ages 9 years to 18 years during the weekends and two days of the week. It has side turf practice wickets with lights, indoor nets. In IPL 3 Mumbai Indians decided to make CCI as their home ground and all seven home games played at this ground to packed houses.
oday, CCI continues to be the leader of sports in India and is recognised as one of the most prestigious club in the country with reciprocal arrangement with many leading sports clubs all over the world.
SCA was constituted as a society on 4 November 1965. SCA’s vision is to develop the game by making cricket a recognised and enjoyable sport for all levels and ages of players in Singapore by embedding cricket into the cultures and passion of the people of Singapore. SCA’s Key values are embedded within its mission statement: “Singapore Cricket Association is the guardian of a contemporary game in Singapore. SCA is an accessible, financially viable, vibrant, performance driven organisation. Self sufficiency is valued within SCA, member associations, clubs, players and other stakeholders of cricket. We aim to be the top echelon of cricket associations in this region in all aspects of our organisation.”
Singapore is currently ranked 19th in the ICC global ranking outside of the test playing countries. Singapore Cricket Association has also won the “Pepsi ICC Best Overall Development Programme” award for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007.
On the international scene, Singapore earned promotion to Division 4 of the World Cricket League after being crowned champions of the Division 5 tournament which was held in February 2012. In the process, Singapore also improved its world ranking by three places to the 29th spot in the International Cricket Council’s Global Rankings and 19th spot outside of the test playing countries. Currently Singapore is preparing for the World Cricket League Division 4 to be played in September 2012.
On the domestic scene, with 100 plus teams in the domestic league spread over six divisions and an institutions and corporate league, 19 cricket grounds, an average of 35 fixtures a week, 80-100 registered umpires and scorers, and a corps of emerging male and female cricketers, Singapore Cricket is riding an upswing of interest in the game. Domestic cricket has never been busier with many new teams joining the Association in the past three years. Singapore holds the highest number of officially-sanctioned cricket matches of any non-Test playing country in the world. To put this growth into perspective, there were just 14 teams in the Singapore league in 2003.
To find out more about the Singapore Cricket Association, log into www.singaporecricket.org
