Last August Malaysian cricket officials couldn't wait to see the back of Kenneth Kamyucha and his Ugandan team-mates as they made their spectacular ICC Trophy debut - the loss to the East Africans a serious dent in their chances of World Cup qualification.

Several months later and Malaysian officials are planning to host the Ugandan national team on home soil in May as part of a four team meeting of national teams it is calling the 'Malaysia Challenge'.

The tournament, which will also feature the United States, and potentially World Cup qualifiers, Namibia, is slated to be held in Kuala Lumpur from May 22-26.

It will be the second such tournament held by the Malaysian Cricket Association, which sees the concept as a beneficial way of giving its national team experience against national teams from outside South East Asia. A rain-marred triangular involving Nambia and Bangladesh 'A' was conducted in 2000.

The 'Malaysia Challenge' is just a small part of a busy year for Malaysia's national team commencing with the annual one-day series against Singapore in early March, a visit by the Marylebone Cricket Club in June before the Asian Cricket Council Trophy which is tentatively scheduled to be held in Singapore later that month, finishing with the Tuanku Ja'afar Trophy in Hong Kong in December.

Meanwhile the first ever Malaysian Sixes were held in late December. The following is a report provided by the Malaysian Cricket Association:

"Day One - 29/12/01

The gods shone upon the Malaysian Sixes literally and helped complete the ambitious schedule of first round matches. Completing three matches per team a total of eighteen matches was no mean feat and small wonder that the Chairman Karu Selvaratnam was beaming at 6.00pm when all matches were completed without a hitch. What an exciting day it was too when the Sixes lived up to its billing of 'Fast, Fun, and Furious'. It rained sixes at the two venues in Selangor Turf Club and Kelab Aman.

At Kelab Aman, Royal Selangor Club reigned Supreme to top Group B by winning all their matches with ease. RSC were powered by the twin talents of Arul Suppiah and Vickneswaran Singam and with the form they are showing look set to win the title. This is not to discount top seeds Kajang Indo-Ceylonese who have in their ranks national players Suresh Navaratnam, Yazid Imran, Rakesh Madhavan, and Venu Ramadass so whoever wins an exciting day is in store.

The only foreign team Ceylon Sports Club of Singapore have showed good form and lost narrowly to KIC in their encounter. Other teams to qualify for the Cup are Men-in-White for whom Umpire Anandaraman stroked a few sixes, Penang Sports Club, whose canny skipper Murali knows a thing or two about Sixes Cricket and can be expected to cause upsets (he has the top scorer on Day One). Then there is newcomer MISA ( Malaysian Indoor Sports Arena) who upset the form book by beating more highly rated teams - no doubt the presence of former national skipper Ramesh Menon in their team is inspiring.

Malaysian Armed Forces failed narrowly to qualify for the Cup with Nor Ikhwan hammering three sixes in one match. Also staking a claim on Day Two will be Royal Ipoh Club with national players Shankar Retnam and M. Muniandy as well as Silver State and SSR. The total number of Sixes today was 36.

Day Two - 30/12/01

On another hot and sunny day, the Malaysian Sixes ended with all ten matches being completed successfully.

The winners of the Bowl were Malaysian Armed Forces who beat Kelawar in the finals by the convincing margin of 20 runs. In the semi-finals Malaysian Armed forces upset favoured Royal Ipoh Club hitting the winning runs of the last ball. Star performer for MAF was Nor Ikhwan all the way to the finals. He ended winning the best batsman award hitting 11 sixes in his total total score of 138 runs.

The Cup matches were all exciting affairs with CSC reaching the finals by upsetting tournament favourites RSC in the Semis. RSC could only manage 49 runs in their 5 overs - only Shamilar making a telling contribution of 23 runs. CSC in turn paced their innings superbly to pass the score with one ball to spare.

The other semi-final saw the highest score of the tournament being posted by Kajang Indo Ceylonese thanks to some massive sixes by Yazid Imran. Their score of 94 was never going to be easy and despite some big hitting by Khalid who made 29, Penang Sports Club fell short by 32 runs.

With the two best sides contesting the finals it was going to be an exciting affair and so it proved. CSC won the toss and elected to field. KIC started of well but were pegged down by some good bowling but once again were helped by Yazid's 36 not out to post a competitive total of 60 runs. CSC seemed to be cruising with Ravichandran playing a masterful innings of 38 until he was forced to retire as required by the rules of the sixes.

The others could not sustain the pace and CSC eventually fell short by five runs, handing the trophy to KIC who thus became the winners of the first Malaysian Sixes.

YAM Tunku Tan Sri Imran thanked the sponsors Milo, Bata, HSSI, Sports Tec and all other well wishers without whose support this tournament could not have been such a resounding success. Special mention was made to the owners of the magnificent cricket grounds at Selangor Turf Club and Kelab Aman for allowing their use.

The following players were given cash awards for their performances:-

Best Bowler           -            S. Sritheran  (CSC)
Best Batsman          -            Nor Ikhwan Roslee (MAF)
Best Fielder          -            Kapt. Arif Rashid  (MAF)
Best Wicket Keeper    -            John Day (RSC)
Best All Rounder      -            T. Ravichandran (CSC)
Player of the Series  -            Mohd Yazid Imran (KIC)

© ICC 2002