The Costa Rica and El Salvador teams line up © Richard Illingworth

El Salvador have just returned from their first ever foray into international cricket when they took part in the second Central American Championship, hosted by Mexico. Belize, the reigning champions, pulled out at the last minute to hand El Salvador an opportunity.

“We left for this tournament brimming with excitement and determination but a little short of experience in the conditions we would play in,” Andrew Murgatroyd, the founder of El Salvadorian cricket told Cricinfo.

“The end result was a fantastic tournament with great performances and a steep learning curve. We played markedly better in our second game against a team [Mexico] who proved to be the eventual winners. By the second game most of us had doubled our total cricket-playing experience at this level.”

Results
Costa Rica 256 for 6 beat El Salvador 81 by 176 runs

Mexico 252 for 9 beat El Salvador 101 by 152 runs

Mexico 159 beat Costa Rica 95 by 65 runs

Murgatroyd said that although his side had high hopes, they also had “little knowledge of what we were going into”. Consequently they set themselves a number of tournament objectives which included: scoring at least 80 runs against Costa Rica (achieved); taking at least eight wickets against Costa Rica (failed); taking at least five wickets against Mexico (achieved), not to mention wearing the national colours “with price, competitiveness and dignity” (achieved).

“We have enthusiasm and some kind donations with which nets and an artificial pitch can be purchased,” Murgatroyd said. “With better training facilities and more experience we hope to improve and get to the standard where we are in a position to win some games.”

Barry Chambers

The draw has been made for the 2008 Northern Bank Senior Cup, with Bready taking on NW league champions Brigade at Magheramason. The two sides have been frequent opponents in recent years, with Brigade coming out on top in 2006, thanks to a partnership of 312 between Iftikhar Hussain (204) and Wajahtullah Wasti (115). There were happier fortunes for Bready in 2005, when they skittled Brigade for just 66. Trevor Britton, the captain, took 5 for 18.

Brigade will have a new captain at the helm next year, as Charlie Elder takes the reins from Mark Simpson.

Donemana will also have a new face in charge, with Dwayne McGerrigle replacing Jordan McGonigle who is stepping down after 5 years. They have been handed a tricky opening-round fixture against Fox Lodge. The Ballymagorry side have never reached the final, while McGonigle was captain when Donemana last tasted success in 2004.

The other clash sees Killymallaght on their travels to Strabane. The Tyrone outfit last won the cup way back in 1993. The visitors won't be overawed - they chased 274 earlier this year to win by seven wickets. Their hero on that occasion was Danza Hyatt, who scored an unbeaten 131, and with the Jamaican due to return in 2008, another win could well be possible.

Holders Limavady will begin their defence against Senior Two oppostion, with a home tie against either neighbours Drummond, or Creevedonnell.

Newly promoted Ardmore, who won for the only time in 1994, have home advantage over either Bonds Glen, who have knocked them out twice in recent times, or Burndennett.

2005 winners Glendermott face Sion Mills at The Rectory in a repeat of last year, when the home side chased 324 to win by two wickets. Eglinton, the 2006 winners, face a possible giant-killing act when they appear for the first time in their distinguished history at Killyclooney.

The final tie is an all Senior Two affair, with St Johnston or Coleraine playing the winners of the Nedd versus North Fermanagh game.

The preliminary round takes place on May 10 with the first proper round two weeks later on May 24.


The draw in full

Limavady v Drummond/Creevedonnell
Fox Lodge v Donemana
Ardmore v Bonds Glen/Burndennett
St Johnston/Coleraine v The Nedd/N Fermanagh
Strabane v Killymallaght
Bready v Brigade
Killyclooney v Eglinton
Glendermott v Sion Mills

Bermuda are to have an open forum for members of the public to offer their thoughts on the state of cricket in the country. In addition, the board are proposing a domestic Twenty20 league.

The Board's beleaguered Two-Day and 50-over Leagues will also be key topics for discussion as local cricket's governing body continue their efforts to encourage fans to come out in throngs in support of local cricket. BCB technical committee chairman Allen Richardson, national coach Gus Logie, top umpire Roger Dill, national team skipper Irving Romaine and former national team skippers Gladstone (Sad) Brown and Clay Smith will all be present to facilitate the meeting.

Read the full story at The Royal Gazette.

Rwanda's cricket is coming along leaps and bounds, which is unusual for a country which not so long ago was a French colony where no English was spoken. But now, reports Scotland's Sunday Herald, the national championship has five clubs, while women's and junior teams are set to head to Nairobi for the East African championships.

The World Cricket League Division Two has begun in Namibia with the home side laying down an early marker with an eight-wicket win against Denmark. For a full round-up of the opening day click here.

The Qatar Cricket Association is putting together plans to field an Under-19 girls' side for the tournament in Malaysia next year. The board has already met to discuss plans and, according to one newspaper, the response was good.

Aruna de Silva, the QCA's head of women's cricket development, told the Gulf Times: “Everyone at the meeting was positive about the idea of promoting cricket among girls studying in schools in Qatar. The QCA is willing to support girls' cricket in schools with whatever help possible.”

If all goes according to plan, the association hopes that the girls will also be able to take part in
the Under-19 tournament in China in 2010.

It's a year since the Cricket Association of Thailand held its last election. In the intervening period Thai cricket has been blighted by an internal dispute which has done serious harm to the standing of the game both inside and outside the country.

On November 9, 2006 the CAT's AGM took place in Bangkok. When it came to election of officers, there were two candidates for chairman. One was Ravi Seghal, the incumbent, the other was Vaughan McClear, an Australian national and a long standing vice president and adminstrator. A secret ballot of the 13 constituent clubs was held and McClear emerged the winner by eight votes to five. It was not an unexpected result as Sehgal's methods were not universally popular. The rest of the meeting proceeded normally and after less than two hours the AGM concluded.

But Seghal was not prepared to go quietly. On November 14 the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) sent a letter to the Asian Cricket Council in which it advised that it had appointed a brand new committee to run the CAT. It was ostensibly a purge of all foreign nationals, which included McClear. His replacement as chairman was Seghal. It later emerged that this committee had been appointed six weeks earlier but nobody had seen fit to mention it.

Everyone was astounded. At no stage in the past had this been raised as an issue, but within days of Sehgal's ousting the SAT had stepped in. What's more, the ACC seemed eager to accept what they had been told. McClear was sent a remarkable email by the ACC's chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq in which he signed off: "We sincerely hope that you will continue to help and support the development of cricket in Thailand as you have done so admirably and actively in the past."

The issues were twofold. One was that not only had the democratic process been completely ignored - there was not even a question of there being a fresh election with Thai-only candidates - but also that many of those on the SAT list had few or no cricket credentials.

McClear and those who backed him tried to find a compromise solution but the SAT backed Seghal to the hilt, as did Huq. His committee were all from one club - Seghal's - and what angered people more was that letters, which critics insist were back-dated, were produced to back Seghal's position. What those letters stated was that the president of the CAT had to be a Thai national. That was of little consequence as McClear was not standing for that post. But what it did was to allow the president - General Suebsant Trantranont - to appoint his own board.

What was of real concern was why Seghal had not mentioned any of this before the meeting on November 9. It appears that he had hoped to win the election, but when he did not then he resorted to his back-up plan. Quite why the ACC was so eager to support Seghal was equally strange.

One stakeholder told Cricinfo: "No one knows 99% of the people on the new committee, and this committee knows nothing about cricket or cricket in Thailand . They are not even a real committee since they have been shoe-horned into existence."

So what has Sehgal's band of brothers done in the last year. The answer is not much other than to try to eliminate all opposition. His version of the CAT decided that it did not want McClear running the local cricket league, and so it launched with a new league and have took steps to seize control of all the cricket grounds in Bangkok so that McClear could not run the Bangkok Cricket League as there were no available venues.

To do this it entered a contract with Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for control of its ground. The CAT is paying AIT a monthly fee and in return the institute is supposed to provide groundsmen to maintain the facility. But the turf wicket built by the CAT at AIT is completely useless, and has been since last January when all maintenance was stopped. The artificial wicket that was paid for by the local league teams is still in good order and was used extensively last season.

It is estimated the CAT receives around US$130,000 from the ICC and ACC. This money should be spent on the development of cricket for the benefit of all, but how it is actually spent is unclear, and with the committee now an effective closed shop, it is less certain if anyone will be able to find out.

Sehgal counters that he has been running cricket in Thailand for over 20 years now, and he has done a fantastic job, so he should keep going. The reality is that there are now fewer people playing, fewer grounds, no sponsors, and the national team goes from bad to worse. There is also the fact that he appears to have taken charge in what amounts to a coup and to be running a completely undemocratic body. The website has been taken down and emails go unanswered.

The ACC is unlikely to do anything as it has a friendly, some might say too cosy, relationship with Seghal. The only hope the stakeholders have is that the ICC might sit up and take notice, as it has done in the USA where another dysfunctional board is in place. Until then, Seghal appears set to carry on regardless.

	© The Daily Telegraph

Cricket has seized the popular imagination in Afghanistan since 2001, a country where the game was unknown until waves of refugees fleeing 30 years of fighting picked it up in camps along the Pakistan border. Earlier this month Afghanistan's fledgling national side came from nowhere to win the Asia Cricket Council's Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait.

Bolstered by that success, the Afghan Cricket Federation is moving to gain entry to the next ICC World Twenty20.

Subtleties of guile and tactic have yet to take hold in the Afghan game, which seems to appeal more to the famously warlike Afghan temperament. Defensive shots are regarded with disdain.

"This is like being in Helmand," muttered an onlooker at the training session, ducking for cover as a ball winged overhead with the trajectory of a tracer bullet, the first in a sustained bombardment.

Teams and supporters from all around the world will descend on Po Kong Village Road, Kowloon for the final time from 30 November at the annual Hong Kong invitational festival.

The lease will shortly expire on the picturesque grounds, turned into one of the largest sports fields in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Cricket Association in 2001, and the government will take back the land for redevelopment on December 13.

"It's a last hurrah for Po Kong Village Road," said the festival's tournament director Brad Tarr. "PKVR has been the home of the festival since 2004 so unfortunately we'll have to find a new venue for the tournament next year."

The festival is one of the largest club cricket sixes events in the world. Past Festivals have featured star cricketers such as Heath Streak, Doug Walters, Jack Richards and Terry Alderman. Cricket teams fly in from Australia, UK, USA, Japan and all around the Asia region to compete.

The festival features up to 34 men's and women's cricket teams competing in five divisions.

Cricket Kenya is coming closer to stepping in to address the shambles inside the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA).

However, reports in the local media that Samir Inamdar, the CK chairman, had delivered an ultimatum to the NPCA are not true. Inamdar has asked the NPCA to provide a copy of the new constitution which should have been ready in September and to address its lack of accountability to stakeholders in the province.

The NPCA has not held an AGM for more than three years and it is not thought to have even held council meetings, which involve every constituent club and are supposed to take place twice a year, for almost as long. The chairman left for Australia almost a year ago, and the secretary resigned last month. Several dates have been set for an AGM but these have repeatedly been cancelled by the NPCA executive.

John Moyi, the acting secretary, replied in a typically abrasive manner by telling Inamdar that he had no business in interfering in NPCA affairs "because he does not represent any club". Inamdar's local board is the Coast Cricket Association, although as chairman of the national body he has every right to become involved in a dysfunctional local association.

"I'm unhappy with the way the NPCA is operating," Inamdar said. "They have left clubs in the dark about their constitution and operations and they keep on postponing elections."

Moyi countered that the NPCA was on course to hold elections before the end of the year.

The main Cricket Kenya elections have been repeatedly delayed by the failure of the NPCA to review its constitution, and the ICC is monitoring the situation closely.

Jonathan Clayton provides a fascinating piece in today’s Times on cricket in Rwanda and how important the sport has been in their joining the Commonwealth. Despite Rwanda’s French connection, they applied to join in December 2006 and Britain has donated £46m a year. Clayton tells us that Tony Blair, on hearing of Rwanda’s proposed membership, said: “Well, they do play cricket don’t they?”

“I think you can say we have batted our way into the Commonwealth,” said Charles Haba, president of the Rwanda Cricket Association, who has persuaded six schools to start playing and has gained affiliate status with the International Cricket Board.

The new-found enthusiasm for cricket chimes with Mr Kagame’s desire that Rwanda, a former Belgian colony that became a close ally of France at independence, should adopt English as the language of choice. Language is an emotive issue because of its association with the genocide. Those responsible for the killings of some one million moderate Hutus and Tutsis were largely French speakers.

Mr Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel movement, which ended the genocide and now forms the bulk of the Government, was primarily English-speaking. It largely consisted of Tutsi refugees, whose parents had fled previous Hutu-led pogroms in the 1950s and 60s and settled in neighbouring English-speaking countries, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Many of the Tutsi “boys” who grew up in exile learnt to play cricket. When they finally returned home, they brought the game – and the English language – with them.The game is now helping to overcome some of the divisions left by the genocide. The country’s five teams contain Hutus, Tutsis and several Rwandan Asians.

“Good batting, good batting,” comes the cry from the corrugated-iron roof pavilion at Kicukiro. “Tank you bowler, tank you bowler,” yells Bob Bashir, 15, enthusiastically clapping gloved hands as a lanky bowler races in and pitches the next ball wide.

by Deb K Das

With less than the expected flourish of trumpets, a new constitution for the USA Cricket Association (USACA) was released by the board executive.

The first reactions to the document were lukewarm. At best, it was seen as an earnest effort to paper over some of the most obvious flaws in the old constitution, but in the process it inadvertently exposed some new problems. At worst, it failed to address some fundamental issues facing US cricket, and in so doing, it represented something of an anti-climax.

There are some issues thrown up by the new document, not the least being how US cricket should be governed so as to maintain its essentially democratic structure, which has been at the heart of the rows over the last decade. In this regard both the old and the new USACA constitutions totally fail to address the issue.

The lurch towards a furtive and centralized modus operandi, which has developed in USACA over the past three years, is not significantly addressed by the new constitution. Beyond steps to curb the most flagrant abuses of power, the new constitution offers little safeguards against usurpation of authority and the maintenance of conspiratorial secrecy.

Again by way of contrast, the CLP re-draft submitted to ICC in December 2006 included a series of 10 procedures to incorporate needed checks and balances into the re-draft. Steps were spelled out to maintain accountability at all levels of governance, and penalties were included to ensure that USACA executives and board fully complied with their stated responsibilities - an unheard-of thing in the present USACA.

The second concern is over finances and how US cricket will pay for itself in the short, medium and long run? Neither the old nor the new USACA constitution offer any new ideas on this point. Revenues from that bring in about $18,000pa and there will also be the additional income from the ICC once USACA is readmitted to the fold.

There is the rather shadowy deal entered into with Consensus, a marketing company, which could, if their promises come to fruition, earn USACA millions of dollars in fees for sanctioning ODIs involving overseas teams, mainly from Asia . But the deal is very much up in the air and the promises are no more than that. But the prospect of such riches does help explain why Dainty and his associates seem so keen to cling to office.

Thirdly is the question of how will USACA be made to operate at the levels of efficiency required by ICC to meet its responsibilities as an Associate Member, when it has failed to meet a single one of them in the last ten years?

This is the issue that has been most remarked upon by USACA's critics, from Ehsan Mani and Malcolm Speed to just about every stakeholder in US cricket outside the USACA inner circle. But the ICC requirements for Associate Membership are not even mentioned in the new USACA constitution, nor are any provisions made for meeting any of them.

Where things go from here is the big question. Most US cricket leagues whose clubs are members of USACA have their presidents as members of CLP. Any constitution, which fails to address the fundamental issues facing cricket, may well be rejected by them.

There are, however, differences of opinion within CLP. Some want to get any kind of constitution adopted, and vote in a new USACA leadership as soon as possible, leaving fundamental changes for later. Others argue that only in a brand-new constitution can a slew of fundamental changes be instituted from the start, and they want a draft constitution to contain most of the items that were proposed on their behalf to the ICC. They are unwilling to settle for less.

Only time will tell, of course, which of these viewpoints will be likely to prevail. But that time is not far off.

Croatia defeated Israel by five runs in a play-off in Tel Aviv on Sunday to secure promotion to European Division Two.

In the first cricket international to be held in Israel, Croatia batted first and made 152 for 7, the innings underpinned by 51 from their captain, John Vujnovich.

In reply, Israel slumped to 7 for 3 before Isaac Massil and Herschel Gutman added 62 for the fourth wicket, but as they pushed for quick runs wickets fell. They were still up with an asking rate that kept below six an over, and with two overs remaining they needed 12 - and six off one - with their final pair at the wicket. But Croatia took that wicket to secure promotion.

“The significance for Israeli cricket is amazing,” said Stanley Perlman, President of the Israel Cricket Association and captain for the historic match. “It was the first time that any country has come to play an international game of cricket in Israel and it was a great occasion. Our visitors from Croatia followed in the footsteps of their football and basketball teams who are regular visitors.

“The event was a huge success and we hope it is the start of more teams coming to play here in Israel."

Richard Holdsworth, the ICC regional development manager, who was also match referee, said: "The following and publicity this match has received is great news for the promotion of the game in Israel. Several hundred boys and girls watched the match live at the stadium, and many participated in a lunchtime cricket demonstration match.

"The future of the game is about these young people, and they were thrilled with their experience of being part of the first ever international match played in Israel".

Croatia now head to Guernsey in July 2008 for the Division Two event while Israel head back to Division Three.

Shahzada Masood, Afgahnistan’s cricket chief, has told Reuters that if his country had half the facilities available to other teams then nobody would be able to beat them.

Click here for the full story

Cricket teams and supporters from all parts of the world as well as Hong Kong will descend on the cricket grounds at Po Kong Village Road, Kowloon for the final time for the annual Ichor International Hong Kong Invitational Cricket Festival 2007. The three-day event starts on November 30.

The lease will shortly expire on the picturesque cricket grounds, turned into one of the largest sports fields in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Cricket Association in 2001, and the government will take back the land for redevelopment on December 13.

"It's a 'last hurrah' for Po Kong Village Road," said festival director Brad Tarr, "PKVR has been the home of the festival since 2004 so unfortunately we'll have to find a new venue for the tournament next year."

The festival features up to 34 men's and women's cricket teams competing in five divisions using the popular cricket sixes format.

For further information see the tournament website www.hkcricketfestival.com or contact Brad Tarr on mobile 9422 5907 or brad@cricketsixes.com

A Kenyan XI beat Uganda in two warm-up matches at Kampala's Lugogo Oval. The games were arranged to give the Ugandans practice before next week's World Cricket League Division Two competition in Namibia.

Click here for the full story

Rwanda will take part in the East Africa regional Under-15 Championship which will be held in Nairobi from December 8.

Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya's CEO who is also the Africa Cricket Association tournament director, said Rwanda will join Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in a competition that will be used to pick two teams - women’s and Under-15 boys’ - to represent the region in South Africa next year.

Tikolo, however, said Rwanda will not have a women’s squad like the other three countries.

Israel have announced their squad for the World Cricket League match against Croatia. As the Haaretz website reports:

Israel will be captained by Stanley Perlman. The side also includes plenty of other experienced players. All rounders Isaac Massil and Sanjay Gupta will both be key players in the middle order, and there will be big expectations from Herschel Gutman to perform with bat and ball.

The French speakers of Vanuatu schools could be in for a surprise when cricket coaches come calling, reports Nick Cassidy

At the beginning of this week, cricket was as foreign as a cobra snake to the first and second year student teachers from the Vanuatu Institute of Teachers Education (VITE). But now they can count themselves amongst the millions of fans the sport has worldwide.

Fifty student teachers from VITE have spent the past week learning the intricacies of cricket, including the basic rules of the game and the skills needed to play, at an education course hosted by the Vanuatu Cricket Association.

When they graduate, the teachers will move into schools throughout the islands of Vanuatu armed with the skills to teach children about the game. And given all 50 of them will be moving into French speaking schools, the course has been an excellent opportunity for the VCA to establish connections with dozens of new schools around the entire country.

As well as learning the basic rules and how to umpire and score, the student teachers were taken through batting, bowling, fielding and wicket keeping drills, as well as warm up activities and plenty of games. The VCA’s development program concentrates on participation, and an education course such as this one is no different.

Teachers can encourage children to become involved in cricket if they are involved in the game themselves. So rather than concentrate on the theory of the game, the VCA staff spent most of the week involving all the young teachers in games and practical activities.

The student teachers took to the game with remarkable ease: all games were played in the right spirit and everyone participated in all the drills and games.

Even the rules of the game and the methods of scoring junior cricket were picked up surprising easily. The VCA is hopeful its relationship with VITE can continue long into the future, as education courses like this are exactly how the game will spread effectively through Vanuatu

The inaugural International Defence Cricket Challenge tournament takes place next week and will feature teams from the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force, along with four teams from the New Zealand and United Kingdom Defence Forces. The Scoop website reports:

The tournament will run from 19-23 November 2007, with the grand final to be played at Manuka Oval. The grand final will also be the scene for the inaugural reunion of past Combined Services cricketers, including the Commanding Officer of the 1945 Australian Services side.

Cricket Europe have reported that there are growing problems inside Dutch cricket with the mass resignation of the youth committee a sign that the Dutch board (KNCB) could face major opposition oat next month’s AGM.

The Umpires’ Committee has been dissolved and re-formed after splits within the existing group made its functioning problematic, and there have been further difficulties between the Board and its Accommodation Committee.

With continuing financial problems, little sign so far of increased sponsorship income, and a very restricted international programme which sees the national side idle between August 2007 and the next Intercontinental Cup matches in April 2008, the voices of criticism are mounting into a chorus.

Click here for the full story

Tony Cozier is, rightly, one of the most respected journalists in the game. His work to cover and promote cricket in the Caribbean has been unstinting for almost four decades. And yet even the best writers have off days, and his attack on the way that the ICC funds the Intercontinental Cup, the first-class competition for the Associates, is one of those.

Cozier's outburst in his Caribbean-syndicated column at the weekend in effect concluded that rather than waste money on Associate tournaments it would be better spent on aiding West Indies, a “well-established member with a great tradition presently fallen on hard times”.

Cozier attacked the ICC for doling out "heaven knows how much cash every year" to run the Intercontinental Cup. The overall annual cost of the tournament is actually around $400,000 on top of which the participants contribute another $120,000 between them. For that, the leading eight Associate countries get to play in a prestigious (for them) competition, to meet a variety of opponents across the world and to improve.

Yes, it has its faults and there are mismatches, but the same could be said for any competition or series involving the Full Members. When was the last time Bangladesh or Zimbabwe or, dare it be said, West Indies played in a gripping contest as opposed to occasional one-off successes. As seen at the World Cup, the gulf between the have and have-nots on the field may be large but it is nothing like as vast as the chasm between their respective funding.

The leading Associates survive on grants of under half a million dollars a year; some, such as Kenya and Scotland, earn more through winning tournaments such as the World Cricket League which entitles them to ICC World Twenty20 participation money. The Full Members receive twenty times more. Zimbabwe, for example, coined in almost $11 million from the World Cup, and yet they struggle to hold their own with several Associates. What is more, the Full Members almost all have bloated payrolls; the Associates rely almost entirely on goodwill of hard-working administrators who often end up digging deep into their own pockets to keep things ticking over.

What Cozier seems to overlook is that the ICC should not be about looking after the big boys and forget the rest, although as the major boards become more money-obsessed by the month it may go that way. It has a responsibility to nurture and support the game in areas away from the traditional bedrocks. That is done through a myriad of tournaments, coaching clinics and advice. The total sum spent on Associates is under 25% of the ICC's overall budget. To scrap that would be akin to pulling up the drawbridge, hoping that the game survives among the existing ten Full Members, and hang the rest. No other sport would consider such a short-sighted policy, and neither should cricket.

Then there is the additional income that Full Members can earn through the very fact they play each other so often. Sponsorship and TV deals bring in tens of millions on top of the ICC funding. Although the WICB has never revealed the value of the original deal with Digicel, it is believed to be worth more than $20 million for five years. The England board's four-year TV deal with BSkyB was worth in excess of $400 million, the Indian board's own deals even more. They should be awash with cash.

Associates cannot attract funding worth even 5% of that as they play precious few big matches, a fact not helped by the continuing reluctance of most Full Members to play them. The big boys prefer to pack their schedules with ever longer one-day series against the same old - more lucrative - opposition. Television and sponsorship deals for Associates, if they ever get them, are for peanuts.

Cozier also argues that the Intercontinental Cup is not worthwhile as sides cannot always field their full sides as players cannot get time off work. It is a problem, and one everyone is aware of. But that ignores the fact that the bulk of players are prepared to make remarkable sacrifices to represent their countries. With more funding, and not with less, those players can be rewarded for their cricket skills and so availability will improve. As an aside, it is worth remembering West Indies couldn't find 15 players to represent their A team in Zimbabwe last July.

To argue that the woes of the West Indies could be cured by diverting cash from Associates to the Caribbean simply doesn't add up. Those who have witnessed the antics of a succession of West Indies boards might counter that to pour money into the region would be akin to chucking it onto a bonfire. In the last decade the WICB has run up debts running into tens of millions of dollars. It has failed to handle sponsors or players remotely adequately and needed the income from a (poorly run) World Cup to bail it out. That the game in the Caribbean is in need of help is beyond question. But it is in even more need of some broad-minded and competent leadership. Julian Hunte, the new WICB chairman, might be such a man but he has a daunting job ahead of him.

This is not a call for more money to be poured into Associate cricket, but there has to be some kind of reality check before those looking to establish and build the game are asked to tighten their belts even more because a Full Member is down to its last few dozen administrators.

Tony Cozier, the veteran Caribbean journalist and broadcaster, has launched a scathing attack on the way the ICC funds global cricket outside the Test-playing countries.

Writing in his column which is syndicated throughout the Caribbean, Cozier was angry at the way that established regions, such as West Indies, were not allocated more money instead of so much being spent by the ICC on Associate competitions.

“Certainly there is no ICC venture more illogical or costly than the one dubbed the Inter-Continental Cup,” he wrote. “It is an annual tournament, described by the ICC as its ‘flagship first-class competition’, comprising round-robin, four-day matches between its second tier members, those one below Test status. These are countries where the game has always been based on amateur, weekend, one-day club cricket. They play no four-day domestic matches and almost certainly never will.

“Yet the ICC doles out heaven knows how much cash every year to fly them, and their own entourage of officials, across the world and to house and feed them at venues as scattered as Aberdeen, Dublin, Namibia, Toronto, Sharjah and Windhoek.

“Canada were unable to raise their strongest team for the African tour because many of their best players simply could not get time off from their jobs. The same problem affects others, rendering the tournament even less relevant.”

The ICC maintains that the competition enables players from Associate countries to gain more experience in the longer form of the game.

Michael Meade reports on a busy start to the season in Chile

The Homework Club School Cricket League
The first game of The Homework Club School Cricket League took place toward the end of October, with Lincoln International Academy and The International Country School playing at the Craighouse School ground. In total, 18 games will be played until November, with nine schools competing.

It is the first time that schools have competed in a formal hardball league, but all the signs point towards this being a successful initiative and providing an enviable base of junior cricketers, several of whom will go on to represent their country against Brazil and Argentina in 2008.

U-19 National Team
Following some excellent performances by Chilean junior players in this season’s opening fixtures, NDO David Mauro has decided to formalize a Chilean U19 national team. The squad of 20 players are currently training once a week, though this is expected to increase to three times a week as Chile look to take on neighbours Argentina in early 2008. It is hoped that this will be the first step towards Chile being included in future Americas U-19 tournaments.

Senior National Team
The Chilean senior national team are training twice a week in preparation for the Division Three Americas tournament to be held in February 2008. National Coach David Mauro has been putting the squad through their paces with fitness and fielding practice on Saturday mornings, whilst small groups of three to four players have been formed to concentrate on batting and bowling skills during the week.

Metropolitan Cup
The Metropolitan Cup, Chile’s premier domestic cricket competition, got underway this month and featured six teams for the first time. New sides Vina del Mar and Estacion Central played off against each other and ended up tying on 133 runs each – a great start to what promises to be the most exciting edition of the Metro Cup to date.

Coaching Seminar
Chile’s participant on the 2007 Americas Coaching Seminar, held in Lima, Peru, was Miguel Angel Hernandez, Coach of the Echaurren school team. He is expected to run courses for local PE teachers and schools over the next few months and is sure to be a great addition to the Chilean coaching staff.

Second Division Competition
Chile’s second division competition has been revamped for the 2007-08 season, with each of the four original Metropolitan Cup sides (Las Condes, La Dehese, La Reina and Santiago) fielding a 2nd XI. The four teams are made up mostly of Chilean born players, juniors and women cricketers and will be competing against one another over the next three months.

It is another huge step for the Chilean Cricket Association and provides a link between school and club cricket, with each club ‘adopting’ two to three schools from which to source players. Competition for places is strong, with the most talented juniors looking to impress their club captains and progress into the Metropolitan Cup sides.

Cricket Strong in the Regions
Cricket continues to thrive in the fifth and eighth regions of Chile, thanks to RDO Patricio Caamano’s tireless efforts. Three senior clubs will be participating in the inaugural Fifth Region Cup, with fixtures being played from now until December. The winners of this competition will play off against the winners of Santiago’s Second Division Competition. Three schools are also in training in the fifth Region, with a few young players involved in Vina del Mar’s senior teams. In the eighth Region, the rain has finally ceased and play can resume, with Escuela Los Heroes and Clegio San Vicente both hoping to make an appearance at The Grange Cricket Festival in November.

Courtesy ICC Americas

The Cayman Islands Cricket Association’s drive to raise the standard of cricket got to another level when cricket equipment was distributed to eight high schools. CICA President Courtney Myles was pleased with the association’s initiative. He said “Our association is doing its part in providing a proper learning atmosphere for our youngsters.”.

Cricket uniforms will be handed out at a later date to all schools ensuring that the students are properly attired and with the equipment, protected during cricket practice and matches. Representing the CICA in the distribution were National Youth Coach Andy Myles and Technical Director Theo Cuffy.

Courtesy ICC Americas

Samir Inamdar, the Cricket Kenya chairman, has told Cricinfo that the national elite league will proceed despite the ongoing problems affecting the Nairobi province.

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Matthew Fleming: heading an MCC task-force © Getty Images

Matthew Fleming, the former Kent and England allrounder, will travel to Afghanistan this week to try to identify ways in which Marylebone Cricket Club can help to further develop the sport in the region.

Fleming, who sits on the main MCC Committee, is being sent by the club to investigate how MCC can strengthen its links with cricket in Afghanistan in accordance with its worldwide remit to help promote the game.

The MCC-Afghanistan relationship began with an historic fixture between the two sides in Mumbai in March 2006, where an MCC team led by former England captain, Mike Gatting, were thrashed by 179 runs. Two members of that successful Afghan team - Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi - subsequently spent time at Lord's as MCC Young Cricketers. In 2007, Hassan - a fast bowler - made history when he became the first Afghan cricketer to play at Lord's, for MCC against Europe.

Speaking ahead of his trip, Fleming said: "Having enjoyed playing cricket for England in Pakistan and Bangladesh, I know the passion that exists for cricket in the region. I'm looking forward to seeing for myself how cricket in Afghanistan is developing, and how MCC can help with this process.

"With my experience in the Armed Forces [he served as an officer in the Royal Green Jackets], I am all too aware of the effects a conflict has on a country's people. If the sport can help to become a positive, motivating factor for the increasingly cricket-loving population of Afghanistan, that can only be a good thing."


MCC's secretary & chief executive, Keith Bradshaw, said: "Developing cricket worldwide is a core remit of MCC, and it's one we take very seriously. Matthew is the perfect ambassador for us to send out to Afghanistan. With his knowledge of the region, and of course his cricketing experience, he'll be able to investigate the ways in which the club can demonstrably help to develop cricket in the country."

Fleming's visit to Afghanistan has been co-ordinated by Nick Lockwood, Counter Narcotics and Rule of Law, at the British Embassy in Kabul. The four-day trip will culminate on Sunday, November 18, with a visit to the National Training Camp at the Afghanistan National Cricket Academy.

The sport's popularity in Afghanistan has surged since many of the refugees who fled from the country in the early 1980s, after the Soviet invasion, started to return from Pakistan - where they saw the game and started to play and follow it.

An ICC Level 1 Coaching Course was held in Lima from October 22 to 27 and was followed by a Level 1 Umpiring Course from November 3 to 11. The charms of Lima, including a wonderful and historic club for such events in Lima Cricket & Football Club, good hotels at low prices, rain free weather and a central position in South America, make this city an ideal venue for such events. The second Cricket Veloz, a Twenty20 competition fought out by four clubs, LCFC, the Kiteflyers, the Eidgenossen and the Indians, will take place on November 18 at Markham College, Miraflores.

The AGM of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was postponed for the fourth time last week after it emerged some clubs were yet again not served with the correct documentation in time.

The meeting had been called for November 7 but Cricinfo has learned that clubs were not given adequate notice of the meeting nor were given enough time to lodge items for inclusion on the agenda. The original AGM in July ended in controversy after clubs, angry with the way the executive had become almost unaccountable, rejected the accounts and refused to allow the meeting to progress. Several subsequent dates have been announced for the AGM but none have materialised.

The increasingly shambolic NPCA has been further rocked by the resignation of David Waters as its secretary. Waters, a leading force in Kenyan cricket for many years and still a the head of the national selectors, is believed to have grown tired of the way that the NPCA executive has been operating and also that his name has been used to give authority to actions of which he has not been aware.

This latest failure to hold a meeting - the last valid AGM was in 2004 - is likely to be the last straw as far as Cricket Kenya is concerned. It seems increasingly likely that it will consider stepping in and suspending the existing executive and forcing through fresh elections, as it is entitled to do. Such an action would almost certainly be looked on favourably by the ICC which has been monitoring events in Nairobi closely.

One high-profile casualty of such a move would be Sukhbans Singh, the acting chairman of the NPCA, who has been increasing at odds with both Nairobi clubs and senior Kenyan administrators. He has also been linked with a possible attempted comeback by former KCA chairman Sharad Ghai.

Bermuda have lost again, this time by 138 runs at the hands of UAE. Read the bulletin and, in the same piece, offer your thoughts on what went wrong.

A squad of 14 Kenya players are lending their support to Uganda to play two friendlies at the Lugogo Oval this weekend, to help them prepare for the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia later this month.

Steve Tikolo, the Kenya captain, along with Thomas Odoyo and other senior players are all participating, but Kenya have given Maurice Ouma the captaincy. They also called up a couple of younger faces, Ken Migai and Moses Otieno to gain experience.

Uganda will fight it out with United Arab Emirates - who today beat Bermuda in the Intercontinental Cup - Argentina, Denmark, Oman and Namibia for the four slots reserved for the group in the 2009 World Cup qualifier.

Click here for the fixture list

The 2007-08 Argentine cricket season kicked off in the last weekend of October with the Saturday Championships (Second Division tournament). This year’s Saturday Championship league includes nine teams.

The month of November will see the continuation of the Saturday Championships along with the First division Twenty20 League (six teams). It is also an action packed month for the juniors with the School U-15 and open leagues and the first ever ADE Trios Festival. There will also be a number of Kanga festivals held.

Argentina will also host a combined South American team (consisting of four players from Chile and Brazil respectively). The South American team will play a four match series (including two Twenty20 games) against the Argentina national team in preparation for the forthcoming ICC WCL Division 2 tournament, due to be held in Windhoek, Namibia from November 24 to December 2.

The Argentina National team are finalising their preparation for the ICC WCL Division 2 tournament. The team will depart Buenos Aires on November 17 and will spend five days based in Potchefstroom (South Africa) where they will play two warm up matches kindly hosted by North West cricket. The schedule for the ICC WCL Division 2 tournament is as follows:

Nov.24 – Argentina vs Oman

Nov. 25 – Argentina vs Namibia

Nov.27 – Argentina vs UAE

Nov.28 – Argentina vs Uganda

Nov.30 – Argentina vs Denmark

Courtesy ICC Americas

October 21 saw the first Brazilian league game between Curitiba’s two new teams – Swadisht and Gralha Azul – with Swadisht coming away with a four-run victory. Curitiba have benefited from the recent arrival of a number of new players from around the cricketing world, as well as several home-grown players who have taken up the sport. The HSBC groundskeepers did a great job to prepare the field, despite plenty of rain earlier in the week. If the weather cooperates the teams hope to sneak in one more match before the national Twenty20 tourney in Sao Paulo in mid-November, which will feature teams from Curitiba, Sao Paulo and Brasilia.

Brazil captain Matt Featherstone and three other Brazil players will be heading to Buenos Aires in November as part of a South America X1 to play some warm up games against Argentina, ahead of the ICC World Cricket League in Namibia.

Courtesy ICC Americas

A $70m park has opened in southern Florida – the most expensive new park in the state – including a 5,000 seater cricket ground, the first of its kind in the United States.

"It was just a vacant lot, nothing here," Bill Kristen, the county parks and recreation project manager, told sun-sentinel.com. "I think everybody realized the area had to be revitalised."

The Central Broward Regional Park opens officially tomorrow, where local residents will watch exhibition matches for football, cricket and American football

Cost overruns almost killed the project in 2006. The contractor sought as much as $15.3 million more than the $35.5 million the county originally agreed to pay for construction. But cost-saving alterations, such as building a vehicle storage garage underneath the bleachers, helped lower the cost overruns. The county in December agreed to pay the remaining $7.5 million, and work resumed. In total, the county paid about $70 million for land and construction, the most it has paid to open a park, said Bob Harbin, Broward park director.

Some black Americans opposed the park, saying it was too Caribbean-focused. And one housing development planned for north of the park, St. James Luxury Town Homes, was canceled because of the soft real estate market. Construction of Georgetown Homes has slowed for the same reason.

Read the full story (and watch a video of the park) at their website.

Two of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) most promising young players have been awarded a six-month scholarship with the Wanderers club in Townsville, Queensland. 

Assad Vala, a 20-year-old batsman, and 19-year-old pace bowler Loa Nou have been rewarded for their outstanding recent performances at both domestic and international level, and will spend the Australian summer testing their skills against the best players in Townsville.

The initiative, a partnership between the Wanderer’s CC, PNG Cricket and the ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) Development Program, will also see both players learn about club administration, turf wicket preparation and the coordination of junior development programs.

“This is a great opportunity for two of our young players to experience Australian culture and quality club cricket,” said PNG Cricket's chairman Mick Nades. “We thank the Wanderers for their support of PNG Cricket and hope that this is the beginning of a long relationship.”

The Wanderers CC has produced current Australian players Andrew Symonds and Mitchell Johnson. The club's president Peter Wiltshire said: “Having hosted the PNG National Team during their Townsville tour in May we saw the potential and thought we had something to offer their young players.”

The UAE team will tour South Africa as part of their preparation for the ICC World Cricket League which takes place in Namibia.

"The ICC World Cricket League is the qualifier for the 2011 World Cup. We will be playing against Uganda, Denmark, Argentina, Namibia and Oman. Prior to the series, UAE will tour South Africa to play a few warm-up matches," Mazhar Khan, administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, told Gulf News.

A group of 18 professional and amateur British cricketers are trying to set a world record for holding the world's highest match at the foot of Mount Everest.

"Three teams are planning to play six aside on the mountain, playing five overs each on the Gorak Shap glacier," Andrew Baud, a spokesman for the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA), told AFP.

The glacier-turned-cricket ground is at an altitude of 5,184 metres (17,000 feet), and just below base camp on the southern approach to Everest, the world's highest peak.

"They are taking 40 spare balls up there I can imagine they will need them," Baud said. "At normal altitude it would take about an hour, but it can get as low as minus 13 degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) so it may take around two.

Nick Compton, Graham Napier, Mark Wagh, Ryan Cummins and Steven Patterson are the five professionals to join the party.

"It will be an amazing feat to just reach Everest base camp, let alone to play a cricket match there," Richard Bevan, the PCA's chief executive, said. "Of course, we will have to overcome some practical problems such as losing lots of balls. For their own safety, we'll also have to ensure that the bowlers don't take too long a run up.

"The trek and match will raise much needed money for the PCA Benevolent Fund through which we support current and former players in times of hardship or illness."

Thanh Nien News, a Vietnamese newspaper, has an interesting piece on the English Cricket Club of Saigon (ECCS) which "connects members of the British community in Ho Chi Minh City with one another, preserves culture and does charity work".

The club chairman, Mr. Alan Mossman, said, “We want cricket to be a means of linking our fellow-countrymen and encouraging English expatriates to play our traditional sport. We also want to popularize it to other communities, including Ho Chi Minh City dwellers.”

“At the same time, we call for contributions from the club members, so that we can do some charity work in HCMC, as a way to express our honor and gratitude to the country we are living in.”

All the members strongly support the club's community policies.

The ECCS has grown quite big since it started in 2006.

It celebrated its first anniversary last month with a ceremony and officially made itself known to the public.

On the occasion, the club donated VND10 million to the Wildlife At Risk (WAR) in HCMC.

Kenya inflicted yet another thumping defeat on Bermuda, this time by eight wickets. Bermuda have won just a single match - against Uganda at the start of their tour of Kenya - and now travel to Sharjah to face UAE in another Intercontinental Cup match.

Where has their tour gone wrong? Leave your comments on their performance below.

An argument between several Indian men during a match in Orlando, Florida, led to a shooting yesterday when one of the players, Francis Singh, was shot in the abdomen.

"The shooter was defending himself from an attack with a cricket bat which is similar to a baseball bat but it's flat," Orange County sheriff's Sgt. Spike Hopkins said. "For this man to bring a firearm to a sporting event is odd but then again, he has the right to do so. He has a concealed weapons permit and if, in fact, he was protecting himself, he was authorized by law to do so."

Uganda are increasing their preparations for Division Two of the World Cricket League with daily training sessions at the Lugogo Oval.

According to the Monitor, they have acquired the services of Franco Otieno - the former Kenya Under-19 captain - who is assisted by Charles Lwanga and Sam Walusimbi.

Thailand may be a cricketing backwater, but the game these has a decent foothold and it also attracts touring sides to the prestigious Chaing Mai Sixes.

However, the national board continues to attract much criticism and that is now spilling over into the country’s main competition, the Bangkok Cricket League, which is due to start its new season this month.

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Afghanistan and Oman tied the final of the ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait.

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Should Odumbe return? Leave your comments below

Odumbe could make his comeback before his five-year suspension has been served © AFP

Maurice Odumbe, the former Kenya captain who was banned from cricket for five year for his involvement with bookmakers, could return to the game before his five-year suspension has been served.

A report in The Standard said that Cassim Sulliman, the ICC Regional development manager and CEO of the Africa Cricket Association, had indicated that Odumbe could be allowed to resume his career if Cricket Kenya (CK) appeals to the ICC.

"I have watched Odumbe play and I think he would be an asset to Kenya cricket when he returns to action," Sulliman told the newspaper. "The best way Cricket Kenya could handle this issue is by compiling all details of the ban and writing a letter to ICC asking for leniency on the player who has already served two thirds of his ban. ICC may decide to reduce the sentence if the local body needs the player."

Tom Tikolo, CK's chief executive, said they were willing to help but they needed an approach from the player. "We cannot just write to ICC asking them for leniency over Odumbe's ban when we don't know the details of the issue," he said. "Let Odumbe meet [the] CK board and present us with the details."

Odumbe, 38, told the newspaper that while he was willing to do what the board suggested, but he was critical that it had not acted before now. "I think they should have at least taken some action earlier since the information of my ban is available with ICC and in the internet."

Odumbe was banned in 2004 after a hearing in Nairobi and an appeal by him in 2006 was unsuccessful.

What is not so clear is under what authority Sulliman made his comments. Last month he told officials in Uganda that he was working on getting three more countries ODI status within 180 days. The ICC subsequently denied any such plans existed.

AllAfrica.com has a revealing article on Rwandan cricket and the problems they are facing. They may not have sufficient equipment, butt their ambitions remain undimmed:

Under the school program, the Association wants to introduce cricket in at least one new school every year; make available some sets of equipment to every school in the program every year; encourage schools to provide playing fields for cricket; conduct coaching clinics in all schools involved every year by using both local and foreign coaches; to provide overseas training in coaching for a school master or senior player every year so that local expertise to help develop the game; and encourage inter-school visits.

Bermuda batsman Lionel Cann has been sent home from the tour of Africa and the Middle East after the Bermuda Cricket Board chose to increase his suspension for showing dissent when he was given out lbw against Kenya on Saturday.

Cann took his time leaving the crease after being given out for a golden duck then hit a trash can with his bat as he left the field. The ICC has already dealt with the offence - handing him a two-match suspension from one-day-internationals after finding him guilty of showing "serious dissent at an umpire's decision". That ruling had meant Cann would have been eligible for the two four-day Intercontinental Cup games against Kenya and the UAE.

But the BCB announced that they had upped his suspension. In a short statement the executive voard announced its decision that Cann should play no further part in the tour and revealed it was making arrangements for him to fly home as soon as possible.

Click here for the full story.

The talk of Sharad Ghai’s comeback continues even though publicly he continues to deny such reports. But, as Cricinfo’s Beyond The Test World has reported in the past, he has friends in the media who continue to snipe at the current regime.

Sports Monthly has been a regular critic of the Cricket Kenya board and it has had another go with some thinly-veilled attacks on Samir Inamdar, the CK chairman. What’s more it has quotes from Ghai who denies he has any ambitions to return to the national scene.

“It’s not true,” he said on allegations he wanted to take over the CK. “as of now there is absolutely no truth in those claims, but in case of anything I will call you.”

What is clear is that Ghai and Sukhbans Singh have been canvassing opinion among the Nairobi clubs with, Cricinfo learns, lukewarm results. Singh, a former schoolmate of Ghai, was for a time his sworn enemy and even went as far as being a witness in Ghai’s trial in 2005, although he was unfortunately out of the country when the time came to appear in court.

Those who have had dealings with Ghai are of the opinion that he is unlikely to look to serve as a club representative – he is one of the Nairobi Gymkhana delegates appointed to the NPCA – without loftier ambitions.

Whether that is true or not, some in the media seem to paving the way for his return.