Australia Under-19s walloped Malaysia by 183 runs in the first of two one-day friendlies at Kelab Aman in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The New Straits Times has a full report:

Four Australians posted half centuries as they compiled 306 runs in 50 overs before dismissing Malaysia for 123 runs in 43 overs.

Isaiah Borgas, batting at No 4 for Australia, knocked an elegant 81 runs off 72 balls which included seven boundaries and three sixes, Anthony Murphy chipped in with 60 off 84 balls, Tim Buzzard scored 54 and James Faulkner was unbeaten on 50.

In reply, Malaysia lost the wicket of opener Faris Almas Lee (2) in the fourth over before Shafiq Sharif (16) and Faizal Abu Hassan (8) exited cheaply as Malaysia struggled against the Australian seamers and spinners.

Nigeria's season begins on October 7 this year, a couple of weeks earlier than usual due to a packed schedule.

Nigeria's Cricket new season will kick off on Oct. 7, according to the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF).

Kwesi Sagoe said the federation has decided to begin the 2007/2008 season earlier than previous years because of a very tight schedule in the coming months which will see several local competitions that include the Iris Smart Technologies (CCC) League and the Super Four.

Sagoe said apart from the tight domestic schedule, Nigeria will be hosting the Second North/West African Cricket Tournament sometime in April or May next year, Lagos-based the Guardian reported Wednesday.

The caribbeancricket.com website has reported that Phil Simmons, the current Ireland coach, is among those who have applied for the vacant West Indies coaching post.

Simmons coached Zimbabwe before taking charge of Ireland five months ago.

The Nigerian Cricket Association has applied for a special grant from the African Cricket Association to help expand the game.

"We intend to develop at least two turf wickets in the country," NCA president Kwesi Sagoe said. "The absence of the facility has held down our game for too long.

"There are a number of other countries also queuing for grants from ACA for different purposes. Ours is to develop grass wickets.”

The number of participants in Botswana's youth development programme has swelled dramatically from 300 children to almost 1300 in under six months, and shows no signs of abating.

Seven more schools have joined the initiative which has been sponsored by the ICC and the African Cricket Council (ACC) to promote the game to a wider, younger audience. Such is the enthusiasm that a league has been set-up for government primary schools.

Click here to read the full story.

Hammy Reid, one of the few internationally qualified umpires in the USA, has been inducted into the United States Cricket Association’s (USACA) Hall of Fame. Dreamcricket.com have more:

Reid was made an honorary member of Unity Sports and Cultural Association of Boston, Massachusetts in 1994. In 1997, he sat and passed the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association Certifying Final Written, Oral and Practical examinations. In that same year he was selected as a USA representative umpire to officiate at an ICC Trophy Tournament in Malaysia. He was selected again in 2001 as a USA umpire at the ICC trophy tournament in Toronto, Canada. In 2002, Hammy officiated at the Second Americas Cricket Championships held in Argentina, and also at the ICC Americas Under-15 championships held at Disney World of Sports in Florida. In 2003 and 2004, Hammy officiated at the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) Regional Finals held in Houston and Dallas, Texas, respectfully. Currently, he is the longest serving USACUA cricket umpire at the ICC level in USA and has held the position of ICC match umpire for seven years. He continues to diligently serve cricket in the USA, and on July 9, 2006 he officiated in the West Indies XI vs. USA Select XI match at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NY.

Will Luke

Is Twenty20 the catalyst to popularise cricket in the USA? Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, is excited at what the shortened format could do to cricket in the States.

Baseballs reigns supreme, of course, but cricket enjoys a thriving community in America. And the USA were once an Associate member of the ICC, before they were suspended in March (again) for failing to adopt a new constitution. But the current administration has done little to inspire confidence and the incumbent president, Gladstone Dainty, is blamed (not entirely fairly) for many of the problems.

Nevertheless, Twenty20 could provide a much-needed injection of enthusiasm to USA’s cricket community.

"I heard today about an article in one of the Washington papers that was talking about the phenomenon of Twenty20 cricket,” Speed said. "It has been televised in the USA and it's been televised in China, so it's the perfect vehicle for cricket to develop in new countries.

"We've said many times that we don't expect cricket to be a major sport in the USA, but it's already a niche sport in the USA in that there are already lots of Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and West Indians who are there and they play cricket - we can build on that and Twenty20 is a great opportunity."

What are your thoughts? Is Twenty20 an adequate vehicle to promote the sport to borderline fans? Leave your comments below

By Eddie Norfolk

Adastrians retained the Quebec Cricket Federation Championship on Saturday by beating Pak-Can by 98 runs at Raymond Park, La Salle, Montreal.

Adastrians batted first but lost early wickets, struggling to 44 for 4. But they recovered to make a potentially assailable 227, but Pak-Can came up way short, dismissed for 129.

Canadian international Qaiser Ali starred with a century, mostly made during a pivotal fifth-wicket partnership of 136 runs with Ahmer Sultan. Sultan was bowled one short of a half-century. Vinod Takar pitched in with a useful unbeaten 34.

Pak-Can's innings began brightly with attacking shots from both openers but their 35-run stand eventually proved to be the pinnacle of the team's batting fortunes. The side at least showed promise against an experienced side that had been in devastating form with the bat as the Quebec season concluded.

The foothills of Mount Kenya © Ol Pejeta Conservancy

The second Cricket in the Wild event takes place on Friday at the foothills of Mount Kenya. The three-day event, designed to raise funds to support the Ol Pejeta Conservancy - a 90,000 acre wildlife park - which, it is hoped, will aid the development of schools and other local facilities.

Each of the eight teams, split into two leagues, is required to raise a minimum of KS200,000 (USD2,900) - usually by sponsorship - to secure their place in the tournament. The cricket itself will be 10 overs per side with eight-ball overs.

Cricket in the Wild last year raised KS6m, thanks to extra fund raising efforts by all teams that participated but especially Hugh Crossley's Team from the UK who won the highest fundraising prize. These funds have been allocated to the building, rehabilitation and development of several secondary schools and medical dispensaries surrounding the conservancy.

"We were very proud that last year's tournament was won by a Kenyan team. Chris Outram's team will be back again this year to defend their title," Richard Vigne, Ol Pejeta Conservancy's director, said. "To keep the event light hearted, we will also be awarding a crate of Tusker to the most humorous sledger."

Entry will be free of charge.

Cricket continues to develop in Botswana, particularly among students, according to the Republic's government website.

The third phase of cricket development kicked off this week with 500 students from seven government primary schools joining the programme. Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) Development Officer Girish Ramakrishna said the total number of students now stands at 1300, with more bound to join as the programme expands. The first and second phase of development covered nine (9) schools with over 800 students.

The cricket grassroots development programme, almost similar to the Botswana Football Associations Re Ba Bona Ha programme, has been able to spread to more schools. The seven primary schools that have just joined the initiative are the Batlokwa, Mophane, Lesedi, Botsalano, and Ben Thema, Galaletsang, and Ramogotsi. International Cricket Council (ICC) in collaboration with the African Cricket Council has sponsored the programme, with equipment donated to various primary schools.

Ramakrishna said they would launch the cricket league for government primary schools this year in October, to take the cricket game forward. The young cricketers gather at the BCA cricket oval every Saturday morning where they are drilled. The programme also runs during school holidays. Ramakrishna said BCA is happy about the enthusiastic response and they are happy to see that more schools are coming under the programme.

He said there are 729 government primary schools around the country and BCAs main objective is to introduce this development to all schools all of them.

Howard Petrook has resigned as the vice-president of the Canadian cricket Association and the high performance manager with effect from the end of September for personal reasons.

Cricket’s popularity in the USA continues to rise, no more so than in New Jersey according to the Daily Record.

And cricket is fast emerging in this country, after lying dormant for some two centuries under the wraps of old Philadelphia money, snoozing behind the walls of the Merion Cricket Club, or across the tracks at Quaker-strong Haverford College, where young scholars have been "cricketing" since 1833. Cities have always seen their immigrant newcomers bring pastimes to U.S. playing fields. The first recognized, modern baseball game, descended from cricket and a game called "rounders," was played in 1846 at Hoboken's Elysian Fields. […]

"The unique thing about cricket is you bring so many different peoples from so many walks of life, so many nationalities, ethnicities, religions," said Rouse, whose novel "Sticky Wicket, Volume I -- Watkins at Bat" is a cricketing story set in the imaginary Fernwood, N.J., which Rouse modeled after a Cherry Hill or an Edison.
"These are people who ordinarily would not have much in common. But you mention cricket and they all can identify with it," said Rouse, a college educator.
Cricket's rise is not without conflict. There are more teams vying with one another for playing space, and thereafter vying for the same space -- called "the pitch" in cricket parlance -- with other more-common sports, such as soccer or softball.

The ongoing problems inside the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association - Kenya's largest and most influential province - continue to rumble on and are now having a detrimental effect on local cricket.

Click here to read the full story.

As if to underline the shambles, it has emerged that one Super League club has been docked 80 points for not fulfilling its fixtures even though seven players were on international duty. The NPCA maintains a typical shroud of secrecy about the matter.

By Eddie Norfolk

Brampton Masters captured the Toronto and District Cricket Association Premier Championship with a powerful 164-run win over Toronto CC.  Opening batsman Albert Gopie (5), Brent Lezama (53) and their Canadian international Henry Osinde (5 wickets for 21 runs) spearheaded this success. 
 

Cowichan strode to the Victoria and District Cricket Association (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) title with a seven-wicket win over Albion. Daniel Vann hit an undefeated 127 in the play-off final, after making 79 not out in the semi-final against Colts. Vann’s innings included 17 fours and eight sixes.

Millwoods took the Edmonton and District Cricket League (Alberta) Premier Play-off final with a 108-run win against regular-season leaders Victoria Park.

All three finals took place on Sunday September 16, after semi-finals the previous day. Cricket action continues in several leagues and associations across the country this coming weekend.

The Cowichan-Meraloma Tomlin Cup match to decide the British Columbia provincial cricket champions, originally due for this Saturday, September 22 has been postponed to May 2008.

The Standard’s overtly pro-KCA rhetoric continues unabated in a report on the farewell party thrown for outgoing coach Roger Harper.

Earlier this week we reported how a disturbingly one-sided column praising the old Kenyan Cricket Association came out just when the former KCA chairman Sharad Ghai appears to be on the comeback trail in Nairobi.

But the latest Standard take on history will raise wry smiles and/or anger among those connected to Kenyan cricket in recent years. Referring to the 2005 board elections, Mutwiri Mutuota says:

Former officials of Kenya Cricket Association were forced out office and replaced by CK in an acrimonious change of guard. Many top players either relocated to other countries or retired, leaving a very young team that needed direction. Still, players were not afforded as many top games as they would have wished. Indeed, this has been a sore point in the playing unit to-date.

A few home truths. The old KCA was booted out after intervention by the African Cricket Association which followed several years of bitter infighting. The board was at war with its own players and stakeholders and handed over debts of close to US$500,000. The national side had played two matches in as many years and, at the time of the elections, had been on strike for more than six months. What’s more, the government had intervened a few months earlier in an attempt to oust the old KCA board.

At the time of the change of board no major players “relocated and retired” even though the article tries to suggest they rebelled against the new regime. And as for players, they have had more matches in the last two years than they have ever had, and what’s more they are now on central contracts and being paid what they are worth.

A charitable explanation would be that Mutuota is ignorant of the facts, in which case he should not be writing about them. A more cynical view is that he knows exactly what he is doing.

Cricinfo makes no apology for repeating what happened to Kenyan cricket in recent years. The major national papers, who were so toothless and silent during the worst days of the old KCA, seem determined to rewrite history; when they do, we will keep reminding them of what really took place.

The Nigerian Cricket Association has brought forward the start of the new season because of the hectic schedule facing it.

NCA president Kwesi Sagoe said the season would start on October 7 and flagged the Club Cricket Committee League, the Super Four and the proposed Twenty20 tournament among competitions which will be run.

He said in addition to the tight domestic schedule, Nigeria will be hosting the Second North/West African Cricket Tournament in April or May 2008, and will participate in an Under-15 tournament in Gambia and another Under-13 tournament in Ghana.

Cricket Kenya is set to announce the launch of a national elite league with matches starting this November.

In the aftermath of Kenya's performances at the ICC World Twenty20 there was widespread media criticism of the fact that there was no such competition, but it emerges that the board's plans were already at an advanced stage.

Click here for the full story

overseas tour by a US junior side to a major Test-playing nation.

The US team was selected strictly on the basis of player performances in the 2007 US National Junior Championships. Three top players from the Under-13 national championship squads were selected to give them exposure for future leadership at the Under-15 level in 2008 and beyond. The rest were drawn from the top performers in the U-15 Nationals, and include players from all across the USA.

Click here for the full story.

It is almost three months since the various factions fighting for control of cricket in the USA met in Washington and, with Ken Gordon, at the time the chairman of the West Indies Cricket Association, mediating, thrashed out a deal to broker a solution.

The main agreement was that an independent panel would review the much-criticised new constitution and once that had been agreed on, fresh elections would follow by the end of the year. A natural follow-on from that would be the ICC readmitting the US to the international fold.

But, as with anything involving the USA Cricket Association, there has been silence ever since. In fairness, one of the conditions of the agreement was that things would not be chewed over in public, but nevertheless, it has been impossible to find out anything that has been happening.

It was expected that the constitution review would be completed by now and that the fresh document would be circulated to stakeholders for their perusal. However, after three months of an uneasy peace, reports are starting to circulate that all is not well.

One regional director flagged his concerns last week, complaining that he had not seen the new draft constitution nor heard any plans when they would be able to vote on it. "It starts to raise suspicions that again the USACA is looking to fudge the issue," he told Cricinfo.

Late last week rumours started to circulate that Gladstone Dainty, the embattled USACA president, was stalling. Dainty is blamed for most things, and while he is to blame for much of the current mess, there are many other culprits.

What will worry the Reconciliation Committee is that there are signs that people are again considering breaking away from the USACA, and this unrest will grow unless there is seen to be progress soon.

While there may well be behind-the-scenes progress, what is abundantly clear is that the USACA cannot continue to operate under a shroud of complete secrecy and expect people to trust it. And whatever the agreement was last June, all parties to it have an obligation to keep the long-suffering stakeholders inside the country in the loop.

If people's worst suspicions are realised and the USACA executive are stalling, then nobody will be left in any doubt that their motives are entirely selfish. It has to be hoped that this judgment proves unfounded, but history is not on their side.

The deadline for national elections is the end of November. In June that was six months away and there was no immediate rush. Half that period has elapsed and, as far as the stakeholders are concerned, there has been no progress. Time is running out.

USA lost their opening match in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup in Hyderabad. In a match affected by rain, USA made 122 in 44.1 overs and Karnataka eased to a seven-wicket win with 20 overs to spare.

The US side have been given a warm welcome in the city and when rain prevented training they invited one of their opponents to a game of football which the USA won 8-1.

A stinging attack on Cricket Kenya appears in today’s Standard which is completely understandable given the dismal performance of the national team in the ICC World Twenty20. However, the rhetoric of piece is depressingly reminiscent of that trotted out by supporters of the old KCA who attempt to rewrite history to show how much better things were in the old days.

Kenya have apparently failed to turn the gains of a sensational performance in the 2003 World Cup when they became the first non-test side to reach a World Cup semi-finals. Officials adopted a business-as-usual attitude when they were supposed to turn around the sport from the crutches of a supposed one-man dictatorship as they used to pontificate during their years in the ‘opposition’.

All cricket fans have been hearing are whining and procrastination. Where is the much-touted youth programme? Even the Central Province branch, which was apparently used to propel the incumbents to high office, is becoming moribund.

Sure, there are some serious issues that have to be addressed. The editorial seems to blame the current leadership for failing to build on the success in 2003 and also for the failures of the team in the latest tournament. How quickly people forget that two years ago the players were on indefinite strike, sponsors had deserted the team in droves and nobody wanted anything to do with Kenyan cricket.

Yes, the CK board has some difficult questions to answer, and they are aware of that. So do the players, but nowhere is their role in this mentioned. They are now on central contracts and are relatively well paid - unlike pre 2005 when they often weren't paid at all.

But given that appalling mess that was handed over by the old KCA and massive debts and complete lack of public and commercial goodwill, things cannot turn round overnight. In February the side won the ICC World Cricket League. The real question is why have they gone backwards in the last six months?

Perhaps the motive behind the Standrad's editorial is partially explained by the last paragraph.

If Cricket Kenya is unable to raise the profile of the game, by arranging high-profile matches and initiating development programmes, they should let other people take charge.

Other people? Like who?

Sharad Ghai, the former chairman of the KCA, is on the comeback trail in Nairobi. Pure coincidence, obviously.

Toronto CC and Brampton Masters will contest the Premier Championship of the Toronto and District Cricket Association on Sunday (September 16) at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. In Saturday's semi-final matches, played on a cold and blustery day in King City, Toronto beat Yorkshire CC by 35 runs and Masters beat Vikings by six wickets.

Patrick Ochan and Jimmy Okello have been banned for life by the Ugandan Cricket Association (UCA), after the duo went missing at the end of the ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Darwin.

The bans are unlikely to have a significant impact on the duo - it has been reported that they have now taken up residence in Adelaide after applying for, and successfully obtaining, working visas.

"By the rules of the association, we dissociated ourselves from the act [their disappearance] and banned them from playing cricket for Uganda ever again. They would have no cause to come back to us at all," William Kibukamusoke, the chairman of UCA, told Cricinfo on telephone from Kampala.

Ochan and Okello, who are multi-talented sportsmen, have also been barred from representing Uganda in any other sport. The duo have played in the International Tennis Federation's (ITF's) circuit. Ochan was the more successful of the two since he had a career-best ranking of 428 in the ITF's junior segment, and represented Uganda in the Davis Cup.

"They will never [represent Uganda in any international sport]. We passed this information around all our sister associations. Their talent is now wasted," Kibukamusoke said. "That [their banning] was the statement we made to the police in Darwin. We had to leave the case clear, and there was no use moving out without making a police case."

Interestingly, Ronnie Kintu, a sports journalist with the New Vision, a Ugandan newspaper, also went missing with the two after Uganda defeated Argentina in the final of the tournament on June 2. "He [Kintu] wasn't grabbed but the other two were grabbed - wherever they were staying in the neighbourhood, they were uprooted and apprehended," Kibukamusoke said.

Though Ochan and Okello were found by in Sydney by Australia's Immigration Department on June 12 - no action was taken as their visas were valid till July 28. The Age had reported that Ochan and Okello were staying with Ken Skewes, a South Australia player who they befriended at an Under-19 tournament. Skewes had contacted the authorities when he realised that the two were being sought.

Meanwhile, Ochan and Okello are enjoying life in their adopted country. "We got the visas last week and I'm even going for official cricket practice with my new club tomorrow," Ochan told Daily Monitor on August 1. Jimmy [Okello] is currently playing soccer with the Africa Stars Club and scoring goals for fun. Our ability to play most of the games here has made us very popular."

The ICC East Asia–Pacific (EAP) Development Program has announced its squads for the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane in November.

Twelve young players have been selected for the EAP Emerging Players Program, and 16 for the squad camp which will bring together the region’s best players ahead of the Australian country cricket championship in Mackay, Queensland this January. This means players from Cook Islands, Fiji, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Both squads will experience a week of intensive coaching, training and skill development under the tutelage of Australia’s leading coaches. Each squad will play Twenty20 and 50-over one-day matches against local opposition in Brisbane.

Emerging players squad

Colin Amini (PNG), Arua Dikana (PNG), Willie Gavera (PNG), Masaomi Kobayashi (Japan), Trevor Langa (Vanuatu), Jacob Mado (PNG), Simpson Obed (Vanuatu), Pritchard Pritchard (Samoa), Sekove Ravoka (Fiji), Salesi Tu’Akoi (Tonga), Tony Ura (PNG), Vani Vagi Morea (PNG)

Squad camp

Chris Amini (PNG), Hitolo Areni (PNG), Kapena Arua (PNG), Inoa Baeau (PNG), Jamie Brazier (PNG), Tatsuro Chino (Japan), Mahuru Dai (PNG), Rarua Dikana (PNG), Dunu Eliaba (Cook Islands), Mahuta Kivung (PNG), Andrew Mansale (Vanuatu), Ipi Morea (PNG), Loa Nou (PNG), John Ovia (PNG), Josefa Rika (Fiji), Assad Vala (PNG)

With an outstanding century by coach Ryan Maron – his third of the season – and a totally committed effort in the field, VRA Amsterdam took their third successive Hoofdklasse title on Saturday, beating Voorburg by 20 runs in the final.

Click here for a full report from Cricket Europe.

A strong Dutch squad will fly to India next weekend to play four Twenty20 matches and three fifty-over games.

The side will be led by Peter Borren, and is largely made up of players who have represented their country over the summer. Only four of them, however – Borren, Ryan ten Doeschate, Adeel Raja, and Darron Reekers – were in the World Cup squad.

Click here for the full report from Cricket Europe.

Squad Peter Borren (capt, VRA), Atse Buurman (Voorburg), Jeroen Brand (Quick Haag), Mudassar Bukhari (VVV), Ryan ten Doeschate (Essex), Tom de Grooth (HCC), Maurits Jonkman (HCC), Somesh Kohli (Quick Haag), Geert Maarten Mol (Quick Haag), Adeel Raja (VRA), Pieter Seelaar (Hermes-DVS), Darron Reekers (Quick Haag), Maurits van Nierop (VRA), and Jelte Schoonheim (VOC).

The Chinese Cricket Association (CCA) has received cricket equipment worth US$20,000 from the Pakistan Cricket Board as a goodwill gesture to promote cricket in China.

"We badly needed this equipment because the CCA wanted to fulfill the needs of different teams for holding tournaments," Jiang Zhenyuan, a director of cricket with the CCA, told the Asian Cricket Council website.

The equipment - bats, balls, pads, stumps and gloves - will be first distributed to schools across the country and then what is left will be used in national tournaments, the website reported.

The PCB had pitched in last year by appointing Rashid Khan, a former fast bowler, as China's coach. Khan managed the women's side in the recent Asian Cricket Council's women's tournament.

Kenya have two players in the running for the ICC Associate ODI Player of the Year award. Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo have been shortlisted for the new category. Canada's Ashish Bagai and Ryan ten Doeschate, of Netherlands, are the other players vying for the prize.

The talented Tikolo was in consistent form – his highlight a fifty against England in the World Cup - while Odoyo delivered with both bat and ball.
 
Ten Doeschate hit an unbeaten century in the World Cricket League, and added a hatful of wickets. At the World Cup which followed he struck two fifties in three matches including one against South Africa.

Bagai was a member of Canada's World Cup teams in 2003 and 2007. He came to prominence this winter with two centuries at the World Cricket League, where he was named Player of the Tournament, ahead of the World Cup.

The first ICC Awards were held four years ago, but this is the first time there will be an Associate Player of the Year. The winner will be named in Johannesburg, South Africa, on September 10 as teams gather for the initial ICC World Twenty20 championship.

Click here for the shortlists for all of the awards.

It might be one of the hottest, driest countries in the world but the mantra that "nothing is impossible" couldn't be more appropriate for Dubai, whose preparations to build a world class cricket centre continue at apace.

Trade Arabia, a business website, reports that "Dubai Sports City’s strategy is to provide the finest ever sports facilities and cricket is to be a cornerstone sport, guaranteed to appeal to a worldwide audience happy to take advantage of the prime location of the UAE," while adding that they will build a special laboratory to produce different types of turf.

“The operation includes developing a specialist laboratory capable of supporting this activity, to the point where we can use climate control to make the turf an exact match for the practice needs of bowlers and batsmen,” he added.

In order to create the 28 specialist turf wickets, three different national soil types were imported to Dubai. An impressive 380 tons of Australian clay, 380 tons of clay from Pakistan and 180 tons of clay from England are en route to Dubai.

Under the strict control of the UAE government laboratory, the clay types will be screened for harmful nematodes, soil-based diseases and fungi such as fusarium. Once declared free of these threats, the soil will travel through the UAE in conditions designed to keep it entirely free of contamination by sand particles.

	Cricketers play in front of a crashed aeroplane © BBC

The BBC have an in-depth report on cricket in Afghanistan where the sport's popularity continues to thrive, in spite of the lack of money available for pitches, grounds and so forth.

No wonder many boys begin playing only to discover that it is difficult to make a living from the game.

"We have lost a lot of boys because of lack of money. Still there is no let-up in enthusiasm," says Taj Malik, the coach of the national team.

Cricket is now being played in 28 of the country's 34 provinces, up from four provinces during Taleban rule. There are some 12,000 registered cricketers playing at various levels.

At this rate, cricket, say experts, is on its way to overtaking football and buzkashi - a sport in which competitors on horseback drag a dead calf over a scoreline - as the most popular sport in the country.

Read the full article.

The Nepal Under-19s have returned home to a heroes welcome after winning the Asian Cricket Council U-19 tournament and earning their place in the U-19 World Cup next February.

Guernsey secured their first ever title when they beat Jersey in the final of the European Under-15 Division 2 Championship in La Manga, Spain on Saturday. Click here to read the full story.

James Fitzgerald, ICC

The ICC today confirmed that it had approved a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament being played in Kenya and afforded Twenty20 International status to all the games involving teams that currently enjoy One-Day International status.

The tournament runs from September 1-4 in Nairobi and includes the national teams from Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Under current ICC regulations, all ten Full Members plus the top six Associate Members are entitled to play ODIs and, by extension, Twenty20 internationals.

As such, all matches between Kenya, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been classed as official Twenty20s while the matches involving Uganda, which is not currently one of the top six Associates, are not.

In the six-match tournament each team plays three matches with Kenya, Pakistan and Bangladesh using it as preparation for the Twenty20 Championship which runs in South Africa from September 11-24.

Papua New Guinea beat Fiji by 30 runs in the final of the South Pacific Games tournament.

PNG fought their way to 164 after electing to bat, but couldn't use up their overs as they were dismissed for 164.

However, it proved more than enough as Fiji folded for 135.

Tariq Butt is almost single handedly keeping cricket in Dubai alive, according to an interesting report in Gulfnews.

Tariq Butt, one of the UAE's leading umpires, is a passionate organiser of tournaments. Since 1989 Butt has staged tournaments in different parts of Dubai and is keen to see that cricket continues to thrive in Dubai.

"For the last 18 years I have organised cricket festivals to mark the Indian and Pakistan Independence Day. I made sure that absence of grounds does not put to an end to this tradition," said Butt, who hails from Pakistan.

The Chinese People’s Daily - admittedly an unlikely source of cricket news – reports that Papua New Guinea scored 572 for 6 in a South Pacific Games match against New Caledonia.

It broke the previous Games record of 502 for 9, also by PNG against New Caledonia four years ago.

PNG won the toss and started (relatively) sedately, reaching 121 for 0 in thr 14th over before losing two quick wickets, including Kepena for a duck. Opening batsman Uda was the third man out for 123 (299 for 3). Mahuru Dai, who scored a 16-ball fifty in the 1999 Under-19 World Cup, weighed in with 105 and Pala made 142.