A captain in any sport is a role that is widely unappreciated by the onlookers. It’s not just about commanding your teammates, being the boss or taking credit in the cricket news. Just like a management position in any corporate role, it involves composure, decision making skills, taking risks and claiming responsibility when things don’t go according to plan. A captain is a leader who is approachable, respectable and has the insatiable desire to win.
For the Malaysian Cricket team, Ahmad Faiz is a captain that has navigated his players through memorable highs and crippling lows. He has won over the fans with his performances and led by example in a sport that is still getting its footing in Malaysia. In an exclusive interview with SPOGO, Ahmad Faiz speaks about being introduced to cricket, pursuing the sport professionally, memorable moments, giving credit to others, future goals and more!
Q 1) When were you first introduced to cricket and how did your interest in the sport grow?
My father Mr. Mohammad Noor Shuib was a Kedah Cricket State Coach, so I used to follow school/state training and tournaments since I was 5 years old. I remember when I was 8 years old, Kedah cricket players Ikhwan Rosli, tied me up with senior pads where the pads covered my whole body to practice together with them. Kedah players always wanted to play with me, even when I was a little boy. From there, I picked up the sport very fast. My first trial was at primary school, Ustaz Rizalman was my first coach at Sekolah Rendah Ibrahim who wanted me to try out my skills. I just bowled one over where all the balls were very good for a 10 years old boy, with no extras and I also hit the stumps twice. From there on, he asked me to join school, district and state training in the same year. My first Malaysia Cricket duty was Under 13 Tuanku Jaafar held in Hong Kong when I was 12 years old and we were crowned as champions in that tournament. It was a big step forward for me to play cricket at that moment.
Q 2) What are the challenges one needs to overcome in order to take up the sport of cricket professionally in a country like Malaysia where it isn't a mainstream sport?
Currently, Cricket in Malaysia is gradually getting more popular as the Ministry of Education (MOE) supports cricket by setting a cricket curriculum syllabus from primary school to secondary school. MOE also supports our new entrance programme, we call it ADIWIRA CRICKET which is also sponsored by Sime Darby Foundation, one of largest Malaysia government linked-company. Cricket is definitely becoming one of the top sports in Malaysia and we are progressing and getting more grassroot participants such as teachers and students at the school level. It will take time to invest in making cricket one of the main sports in Malaysia. We are also targeting parents' involvement as the main stakeholders of our resources for the incoming new players. More awareness surrounding the community will evolve the spirit of the game. Malaysian Cricket already implements a contract base for Malaysian Mens and Womens senior teams, which also help the players to pursue their career as cricketers. Currently, we have improved our ranking status but it's still not enough for us to be top 12 in the world and we are looking to progress it by the year 2025.
Q 3) You were the member of the Malaysian Cricket team which won the gold medal in 50 overs tour at the 2017 South East Asian Games. How special was that win?
It was the most overwhelming moment for me to represent my country and score a century in front of thousands Malaysian supporters. I still remember the roar and the claps from supporters in the stands, they shouted my name so many times. They gave me a standing ovation when I raised my bat after scoring a century against Singapore and once I got out, their faces were full of smiles and showed gratitude for my performance. We played really well as a team on that day. I was supported by Virandeep Singh at a crucial time and we made a big run partnership. We celebrated like true champions after we scored the last run of the game. Every teammate ran towards the batsmen and we also ran towards the spectator pavilion to celebrate with the fans because they all are our 12th men surrounding the field. It was a special day for Malaysian Cricket when we beat the Singapore team who had a better ranking than us at that time.
Q 4) Malaysian Cricket has been enjoying decent success in the T20 format off late. Who would you like to give credit for this?
Overall, I would like to give credit to all the players, coaches, MCA administrative officials and staff for all the sacrifice and hard work that has led to our success. Bilal Asad has proven his ability to lead the Malaysia Men's team, resulting in them being crowned champions again after he took the head coach position again in January 2020. Our performances and results have gotten better since Bilal came into the team. We also got support from many assistants like our trainer Shukri Rahim who looks after our fitness levels, our physio Yuvaraj for taking care of our injury status, coaches such as Aimal and Wahib who look after our overall requirements, psychologist like Madhuli ma’am who helps us maintain our mental health and our manager Mr. Amy Mokhzani who looks after our overall welfare.
Q 5) What are the areas that you think Malaysian Cricket needs to address for it to take it's recent success into ICC tournaments?
We have very good exposure thanks to our friends in Singapore, Nepal and Sri Lanka where we can travel and get the opportunity to play in different conditions. We need more competitive tournaments like the IPL, PSL, BPL, Global T20 to give more exposure to Malaysian cricketers so that we face better opponents as it will benefit the team.
Q 6) You finished as the leading run scorer of the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament. What was that experience like?
Actually, I did not know that I was the leading run scorer at that moment. My major objective is to win any Malaysia match by using my batting ability as my strength. Yes, I am happy that we moved from Division 6 to 4 in only 2 years in the previous years but I don't feel I have enough runs because I can't bring Malaysia to Division 3 due to my lack of runs for the team at 2018 World Cricket League tourney which we finished at number 3, resulting in Malaysia staying in Division 4.
Q 7) As a Cricketer and the captain of the Malaysian team what are you next looking forward to?
For now, we look at the T20 qualifiers and our aim is to reach the top 12 in the world rankings by 2025. We are also looking forward to playing against better opponents in the near future to give us a better pathway to progress. We are also looking forward to exposing our players to play at Global T20 by Canada Cricket. In a very sensitive Covid-19 situation, we remain optimistic and continue to train individuals and conduct team training via online platforms.
