In a country famed for its seclusion it is only fitting that cricket in Myanmar should be something of a well kept secret.

Even though it shares borders with India and Bangladesh, few outside the former British colony more widely known as Burma would guess that Myanmar has a healthy seven team league competition.

As you might expect the majority of players in the competition which runs during a season which lasts from December to March are of Indian descent, with a smattering of other Commonwealth expatriates, primarily Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Australians.

The teams - Myanmar Variva Sporting Club, Young Star CC, Shwe Myanmar CC, Taw Win Myanmar CC, Overseas Yangon CC, Indian Embassy CC, and Chinthes CC, contest the league competition which runs the first few months of the season, which is then followed by a knockout competition.

According to Naresh Kumar, one of the competition's main organisers and himself a former Ranji Trophy player for Bengal, Myanmar's cricketers are not naive newcomers to the game.

"There are some former First Class players, most players are very serious and the standard is not bad."

While there might be a fair bit of on-field know-how in Myanman cricket, the game there has suffered from its status as a past-time for expats who squeeze in their cricket between busy careers.

The Myanmar Cricket Federation (indeed cricket in Myanmar died between 1988 and 1995) has not functioned in any meaningful way for some time and Mr. Kumar and others are hoping the Myanman Sports Ministry may take up the slack with development work and general administration.

"We have run coaching camps which have been well attended and the kids are very enthusiastic but most of us are businessmen and don't have time to properly organise things."

The irony here is that a government known for shunning the rest of the world could be the catalyst for Myanman cricket reactivating its national association and reach out to the broader family of cricket playing nations.

They compete with Yangon's soccer players for use of the only ground, playing 30-overs-a-side matches on a matting pitch to conventional cricket rules.

Games are played on both Saturdays and Sundays so the lack of an alternative ground means only two matches are played per weekend, meaning it can take a while to complete a tournament.

By non-Test standards matches are well attended, with crowds of around 250 family members and friends watching on. Mr. Kumar said general awareness of cricket in Myanmar was maintained through television news reports.

© ICC 2002