Think cricket in the former Soviet republic of Belarus and you may be excused for the preconception of a hardy handful of expats battling to get a game.

Well, the expatriate notion is right, with Belarus' half dozen or so teams owing their existence to South Asians attracted chiefly to the capital, Minsk, to further their education.

However, in terms of cricket activity, Belarus outrates quite a few ICC affiliate members in both permanent teams and cricket activity.

Belarussian cricket has a structure similar to that of cricket in the Middle East, the summer consisting of a series of short tournaments, rather than say, a season long league.

Both the nature of the tournaments and the teams vary in terms of permanancy. Some tournaments are held each year, while others are impromptu. Similarly, some clubs have a long history, while others come and go with each season, or indeed, tournament.

During the season just ending, there were six permanent teams, as well as a few 'scratch' teams, competing in four organised tournaments, in addition to other social matches.

Everest Nepal (Nepalese and one Sri Lankan), Cousin XI (Pakistanis), Pakistan XI, Medical XI (comprising foreign students from Minsk Student Medical Institute), Sri Lankan Lions and Vitebsk XI (foreign students from Vitebsk city) are the mainstays of the Belarus season, competing in four main tournaments - Sintez NM Trophy, the Independence Cup, Euro Cup and BSPA Jubilee Cup, held late last month.

The most popular is the Sintez-NM Trophy, contested for the past seven years by 'national' teams reflecting each nationality involved in Belarussian cricket. A tournament has also been held for the past five years in Vitebsk.

The conception of the Sintez-NM Trophy in 1993 is credited with providing the necessary impetus for cricket in Belarus at a time when it was possible it could be snuffed out in infancy.

It's instigator, Dr. Upendra Mahato, a Nepalese national, revived an initial enthusiasm in created by an influx of South Asian students in 1990, at at time when there had been no cricket activity for two summers. It has been held every year since, and has accompanied the birth of other tournaments.

Dr. Mahato had been responsible for tapping into the potential provided by that 1990 South Asian influx, with an inaugural tournament for Minsk's South Asians.

Those involved in Belarussian cricket have proven themselves to be enterprising, at one stage printing their own journal, "Cricket Star", before costs became overwhelming, and attempts to introduce native Belarussians to the game. Additionally, they have records of all games played in Belarus since its commencement.

Belarus cricket enthusiast, Kaushal K. Tiwari, freely admits they have not been successful in seducing Belarussians to the game, although not through lack of effort.

"It is not so easy to explain cricket to the people, who are absolutely not known to cricket," Kaushal said. "We are trying to do everything for the development of cricket here.

"Sometimes, when we organized Sintez-MM Trophy we have made posters, published in local newspapers and announced through local radio. We made a short introduction to cricket, 'What is cricket?' in Russian language. In spite of these we are not very success (sic) to attract Belarussians in cricket."

There are several Belarussians involved occasionally with one of the social teams, but none have become passionate about the game.

Like all enthusiasts keeping the game alive in cricket outposts, Belarus' South Asians face the dual problems of finding a suitable ground and proper equipment.

"We have to play on the concrete ground because firstly, the weather conditions here are not constant and raining (sic) is a usual thing. Second we can't make a pitch on the grass ground as they are in use by football players here, third we don't have a proper finance to hire any good grass ground."

Students returning home from Pakistan and Sri Lanka are able to replenish the supply of bats, but balls wear out quickly and as a result, cricket Belarussian style, is played with taped tennis balls.

"In spite of these we follow all the rules and regulations of cricket properly," Kaushal said.

Kaushal also wanted to acknowledge the support of:
Sintez-MM Group (Finance), Belarussian State Politechnical Academy (Officially), Nepal Student Union (Finance and Manpower), Belarussian State Agriculture University (provides ground), Minsk State Medical Institute (ground).

I hope the European Cricket Council, easily the best organised and most proactive of the world's continental cricket authorities, support Belarus' South Asians in keeping cricket going in Belarus. The enthusiasm and attitude of Kaushal, Dr. Mahato, etc. should be seized upon.

© CricInfo Ltd