Three of Bermuda's squad who should have appeared in their side's Stanford 20/20 campaign are facing lengthy bans after failing a drugs test.

"If any athlete has tested positive with us we then send a portion of the specimen to the government lab for confirmation," Cathy Belvedere, a spokesman for the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sports, told The Royal Gazette newspaper. "And if it is confirmed positive they then get a one year infraction.

"They can apply for the domestic application whereas they won't be able to represent Bermuda during that year but can go back to playing gymnastics, football, cricket or whatever sport they are involved in," Belvedere added. "They would also have to agree to some counselling, but that's only if there's a positive find."

Although the identity of the players is not yet known, it was confirmed that two of the trio represented Somerset - one of Bermuda's domestic teams - while the other is "a prominent member" of St George's, the domestic champions.

"All of the players [in the national team] were tested, but unfortunately not everyone cleared the process which has policies in place that all national bodies must adhere to.," Reggie Pearman, president of the Bermuda Cricket Board, said. "All of the players knew what was required of them and what the consequences were."

Kampala will host a number of "star" Melbourne players when the club tours Uganda next month, New Vision Online reports.

Players from the famous Lords Cricket oval in Australia, are due in Kampala February 13 to play matches against the national cricket team (Feb. 14), U-19 side (Feb. 16-17), select XI (Feb. 18) and also against a Kenyan U-19 side (Feb. 22-23).

“Initially, they were supposed to spend a week in Uganda and two weeks in Kenya but the situation in Kenya forced them to change the programme. They will now spend all the three weeks here,” said local cricket association secretary Ansasira Badu.

McLaren Smith, the Bermuda allrounder, has been drafted in as Lamar Richardson's replacement for next month's Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.

Smith's late call-up means he will represent Bermuda at both the Under-19 World Cup as well as the Stanford 20/20 tournament in Antigua with the senior squad.

"McLaren will be coming from the Twenty20 tournament, where he will be on national team duty, so he won't be going to India with us," Andre Manders, the Bermuda Under-19 coach, said. "He's a tall medium-fast bowler and batsman. He was already in the [Stanford 20/20] squad and we didn't want to take him out. I guess he's quite lucky as he will be going on both trips, but we know he's up to the task."

Richardson was ruled out of the World Cup last week after breaking his wrist in training, joining Stefan Kelly on the sidelines, though Kelly's omission is due to his school commitments.

Netherlands have appointed Peter Drinnen as their coach, replacing Peter Cantrell, who stepped down following last year's World Cup.

Drinnen, the former Scotland coach who resigned in July, has signed a contract until April 2009 subject to meeting the requirements of Dutch immigration law.

"This is an important step towards the professionalisation of the Dutch national side," Marc Asselbergs, the KNCB chairman, told Cricket Europe. "We won't be letting a single day go unused on our way to the qualifying tournament in spring 2009."

Drinnen, whose time at Scotland ended in controversy, is looking forward to the new challenge. "I'm a positive man who is able to motivate himself and who is keen both to set goals and to achieve them," he said. "There is an energy and optimism within the team and board about the future and I am excited to be joining the KNCB at this time.

"As with most smaller nations the remit is broader than just the national team and I am certainly looking forward to working across all ages."

Cuba have been invited to visit St Vincent and the Grenadines for a series of matches in May in what St Vincent's prime minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves described as a historic visit.

Gonsalves made clear his disappointment that the Cuban team, coached b Vincentian Dennis Byum, was unable to take part in the Stanford 20/20 as a result of a block being placed on them by the USA.

"They may not be able to play in the 20/20 competition but no one can stop a sovereign nation from exercising its independence to invite any team from Cuba to come and play cricket," Gonsalves said. "It is profoundly an exercise of our sovereignty and independence."

Byum said that Cuba would be competitive in what is planned to be an eight-match tour involving games against premier division teams, culminating in a match against the national side.

Cricket Kenya is closing in on its hunt to find a replacement for Roger Harper, who stood down as coach after the ICC World Twenty20 in September.

More than 30 applications from around the world were received for the vacancy and Cricinfo understands that a South African-based applicant, believed to be Andy Kirsten, is among the front runners. He was in the frame the last time the position was open in 2005 but was committed to existing work in South Africa and eventually the board chose Harper.

Kirsten worked with the Kenyan side during their successful 2003 World Cup campaign when Sandeep Patil was the national coach. As a result, he is known to many of the senior players and is believed to have a good relationship with them.

NepalCricket.com has an interesting report on women's cricket in the region, complete with photos. Have a look here.

The Associates are up in arms over proposals to reduce their number from six to four at the 2011 World Cup.

The move comes as organisers try to make the tournament less prone to early upsets - the early eliminations of India and Pakistan in 2007 were financially crippling - as well as giving the bigger teams more matches in the early stages.

The favoured format for 2011 is in effect a reversion to the one used in South Africa in 2003 where in the first round there were two groups of seven teams, with the top three in each group progressing to the Super Sixes. It was heavily criticised at the time for being too long, but more matches mean more revenue and that is a priority for both the ICC and the tournament organisers.

The main flaw of the 2003 event was that the Super Sixes was rendered almost pointless because of the way points were carried forward from the first round, and it remains to be seen if that will be addressed. The length of the last two World Cups have also been attacked, but it is hard to see with a reversion to the 2003 format how much time can be trimmed from the eight-week event.

The reduction from 16 to 14 teams means the Associates will lose two of their slots as Full Members, including Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, are guaranteed participation. The move is believed to have come from India and Pakistan, and with guaranteed support from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, it is likely to happen.

Privately, the ICC is believed to be split. Some senior officials are keen to retain as many Associates as possible to keep the World Cup a global event, but its commercial arm is thought to back a reduction in participants.

Last week eight of the leading Associates wrote to Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, registering their deep concern with the proposals. "We would regard such a step as perverse and unwarranted," the letter said. "It would be wholly contrary to the best interests of cricket and to the spirit of the game and [its] globalisation."

Their argument is a reduction in the number of sides goes against the stated aim of expanding the game into new areas. However, Cricinfo has learnt that some leading Full Members question the value of that policy and would prefer an acceptance that cricket will never really expand outside its traditional homelands.

Those advocating the reduction say the Associates rarely shine at World Cups and that there is no strength in depth. While Ireland qualified for the Super Eights in 2007, the performance of other sides such as Bermuda and Canada was poor. And Kenya's progression to the semi-finals in 2003 was as much due to boycotts and a skewed format than anything else. It would be better, so the argument goes, to have the best four Associates playing six games than six playing three, as was the case in 2007.

The majority of the Associates most likely to be affected are meeting in London this week to discuss how they can tackle the proposals. The reality, however, is that they know only too well that if the major countries want to force the changes, there is little they can do about it.

Any lingering hopes that the approval of a new constitution would herald the dawn of a new era for US cricket have been ended by the conduct of the USACA executive over the last three weeks. Rather than a fresh approach, US stakeholders continue to be treated with disdain with elections being conducted once more in the complete secrecy which has been a hallmark of the association of late.

The USACA website carried the brief news that the constitution had been updated but nothing more has materialised since. Under that constitution elections have to be held within 30 days – ie by February 10 – and yet it is unclear what is happening.

Cricinfo has learned that many of the people who have been running the USACA during the last few chaotic years are offering themselves for re-election, including Gladstone Dainty, the reclusive president.

The wall of silence put up by the USACA ensures that however fair the process is, the elections are almost certain to be mired in controversy with various factions claiming to be the real representatives. That is only likely to lead to a return to exact situation which led to the ICC suspending the US in the first place.

Ahead of the Stanford 20/20, which gets underway this weekend, its billionaire benefactor and organise, Allen Stanford, is piling another $3.5m into promoting the tournament...in one town.

Fort Collins is the lucky recipient of "ads, parties, promotions, billboards, giveaways, clinics" in order to promote the game to an "audience more concerned with the Super Bowl and college basketball".

“I wanted to see if we could get a city in the U.S. that knew nothing about the sport to be cricket crazy,” Stanford said in a telephone interview.

“It’s so dadgum entertaining, it will be different from anything you’ve ever seen.”
20/20 Cricket, Stanford points out, is a faster paced version of the sport that can take two to three days to play in its original form.

Colorodaoan.com has more - as does the glitzily named yougottaseethis2020.com

	Ireland hosted England for the first time in 2006 in Stormont © Getty Images

The Irish Cricket Union (ICU) and the ECB have agreed that Ireland will host England for ODIs in 2009, 2011 and 2013, while also confirming that Ireland will continue to participate in the English domestic structure "for the foreseeable future".

The two governing bodies have also agreed to finalise television contracts for the two countries in order to provide income to support the development of the game and to avoid any scheduling clashes.

"We are absolutely delighted that we have reached an agreement with the ECB moving forward . The ECB have been strong supporters of ours for a number of years and it was a logical step to enter into a more formal agreement," Warren Deutrom, the ICU's chief executive, said. "Having England play in Ireland in 2009, 2011 and 2013 will give the game a huge boost and I am sure our cricketing public will be looking forward to welcoming the English team."

England played Ireland for the first time in 2006, a match England won, in front of a sell-out crowd, rather unconvincingly by 38 runs in Stormont.

"We have a strong relationship with the ICU and we are delighted to have reached this agreement," David Collier, the ECB's chief executive, said. "The ODIs with Ireland will create a lot of interest and the participation in our domestic competitions by the Ireland team will help build on the outstanding achievements of the Ireland team in last year's World Cup."

	Arshad Ali, the former UAE captain, struck 185 in UAE's win over Bermuda last year © Eddie Norfolk

UAE might be languishing at second from bottom in the 2007-08 Intercontinental Cup, but they remain confident of reversing their fortunes ahead of their match against Namibia on Wednesday.

In three matches, they have only won one match - an excellent 138-run win over Bermuda last November. And it was this win which inspired UAE, and their captain, Saqib Ali, to believe in themselves. UAE were dismissed for a lowly 143, conceding a first-innings deficit of 168, but fought back brilliantly on days three and four to win by 138 runs.

"It was an unbelievable win for us," Saqib said. "That victory really gave us the belief that we can do well in this competition. I think we have what it takes. We have plenty of experience with people like Khurram Khan and Arshad Ali and there is a good feeling in the squad."

In spite of their bullishness, UAE's preparations for Wednesday's match have been far from ideal, with heavy rains sweeping the region. "Also it is a new pitch at Sharjah Stadium," Saqib said, "so we don't really know how it is going to play."

Saqib took over the reins from Arshadfor the Bermuda match, and the new-found freedom paid immediate dividends for Arshad whose mammoth 185 set-up UAE's matchwinning 449.

"I decided that I wanted to play as just an ordinary player, not captain," Arshad said. "It is easier for me that way and since I gave up the captaincy I have been doing very well, scoring runs and taking wickets."

Namibia, meanwhile, come into the match following an impressive eight-wicket win over Canada in October. Their win was set-up by a fine 163 from Bjorn Kotze, but neither his brother, Deon, or Louis Klazinga, who took 6 for 82 in the match, have made the trip. UAE, though, will not be underestimating Namibia.

"We are wary of Namibia. We know they have a good side with plenty of experience and lots of batting," Saqib said. "It will be very interesting. I am looking forward to it."

Phil Watson

There has been a great deal of activity in the last two months in Mali. As well as the different Muslim and Christian festivals (Tabaski, Christmas, New Year and Muslim New Year) several members of the FeMaCrik Executive Committee have been visiting cricketers in the regions thanks to an ICC-ACA grant. In particular Sikasso, Ségou and Timbuktu.

1. Sikasso. Sikasso is the principal city of Mali’s third region and close to the Ivorian border. FeMaCrik’s Technical Director (Dr Phil Watson) and Deputy Logistics Secretary (Mr Youssouf Coulibaly) made the seven-hour coach trip in December to visit the Sikasso Cricket league. The visit included visits to the regional director of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Art and Culture and some cricket clinics. The exciting news is that Mr Jacques Ouattara, a dynamic cricket coach and PE teacher, has returning to Sikasso after a year in Germany, and is introducing cricket into four high schools.

2 Ségou. Ségou is Mali’s second city and the principal city of Mali’s fourth region. FeMaCrik’s President (Mr Kawory Berthé) and the Malian Senior team’s Vice-Captain (Mr Mahamadou Taïfour Diaby) made the 3-4 hours coach trip in early January 2008. Having begun in 2005-6, the Ségou cricket league has had some administrative difficulties that are now being resolved. We hope there’ll soon be news of cricket being re-launched in the school system by Mr Soumaïla Toloba.

3 The introduction of cricket into Mali’s city of mysteries – Timbuktu. Timbuktu, the city of 333 saints, is the principal city of Mali’s 6th region. At over 900km from Bamako, including nearly 200kms of dirt road, access is challenging and travelling to and from Timbuktu is very tiring. After two young dynamic cricket coaches (Mr Dallamané Diallo and Mr Mamadou Berthé) were initiated at the September 2007 Cricket Coach training course, they returned to Timbuktu to introduce the sport under the auspices of the Regional Direction of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Art and Culture. FeMaCrik’s President (Mr Kawory Berthé) and Technical Director (Dr Phil Watson) visited them recently (17-31 December) and met various local dignitaries as well as running some coaching sessions. With 16 student teachers from the Hégire (Islamic Schools) and some high school pupils getting interested, we feel that a good foundation has been laid for the development of a cricket league at Timbuktu in the near future.

4 Other visits to Koulikoro and Morila are planned in the near future.

Many thanks to Phil Watson and Tony Munro

Saudi Arabia won the ACC Under-19 Challenge Cup, but the tournament was marred by six of the ten participants withdrawing.

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Ireland are about to confirm that they will play three ODIs in Bangladesh in March, according to a report in the Belfast Telegraph.

The games will come on the tail of Ireland’s Intercontinental Cup match against UAE in Abu Dhabi and while in Bangladesh they will play a four-day match followed by a couple of one-day warm-ups and then the three ODIs.

The cricket season’s starting early in Vanuatu because of the national side’s commitments in the World Cricket League in Jersey in May. It’s been brought forward six weeks to give players the chance to impress. Port Vila’s premier cricket competition, the BDO Club Championship, will begin February 8 with eight teams taking part this year.

Defending the BDO title will be the APT Dolphins, who won ten straight games last season to win the 2007 Championship. And a Vanuatu spokesperson has a message that the bigger international sides could learn from: “Rivalry remains intense, but never bitter, while umpiring decisions should always be laughed off at the pub.”

A new chapter for women’s cricket in Qatar beckons. Read the full story in the Gulf Times.

	'Obviously the catch was one of my highlights and the two wickets I took against England' © Getty Images

Dwayne Leverock has won Bermuda's Male Sports Personality of the Year award for the second year running.

The Bermuda Sun has interviewed him, including:

Has 2007 been a particularly memorable year for you?

It has been a memorable year. Obviously there was the World Cup, but also travelling with the national team since then has been an eye opener. A lot of people do recognize me now, which surprised me. I noticed it most coming through Heathrow on our tour of Europe. English people, Indians, Sri Lankans, anyone who knew cricket seemed to recognize me.

Quite a few came up and asked for a picture or an autograph, which is a nice feeling.

What were your personal highlights?

Obviously the catch was one of my highlights and the two wickets I took against England. To be bowling to players of the calibre of Flintoff, Pietersen and Collingwood and to get figures of that nature was eye opening.

Read more at their site.

Whatever people might think of the process, the USA Cricket Association finally has a democratically-approved new constitution. For all the abuse he has had to endure, Chris Dehring has done all that he can to ensure this has been implemented fairly, and for that he should be given tremendous credit. Making sense of such a divided and acrimonious mess probably made his troubles running a World Cup seem tame by comparison.

Now the fun starts. Already there are rumblings of discontent with accusations that many of the clubs who were eligible to vote did not exist in any real form. The easy way round that is for the USACA executive to release a list of which clubs voted - not how they did, but just their names. That will enable people to scrutinise the ones that sent in ballots and establish their credentials, and for club members who did not to ask their committees why they sat by and did nothing.

Fresh elections for the USACA board should now take place within 30 days, and that's where things get interesting. It's too early for any candidates to be named, but for the sake of US cricket from the top down, it has to be hoped that none of the executive who have, through their own dysfunctionality, made US cricket the pariah of the international family and who have caused untold harm within the country, will stand.

In any other walk of life - business, politics, your local sports club - someone who had overseen such a mess as Gladstone Dainty, the current USACA president, would have walked away in shame. But, remarkably, Dainty seems impervious to all that is thrown his way, and the same applies to his utterly discredited executive.

They have operated in a manner which at times has seemed in direct opposition to the game's best interests, and have done so with an arrogant disregard for stakeholders. Almost everything has been done behind closed doors. It's a sign of how bad things had become that the ICC suspended the USA and, after two years of internal squabbling, asked Dehring to bang heads together. Not even Zimbabwe has had that kind of treatment. It's a sign of how desperately the ICC wants a stable and reliable US board.

But there is every indication that Dainty and his associates will offers themselves up again. The low poll on the approval of the constitution - barely 25% of clubs bothered to vote on what was a crucial issue - makes that more likely than ever. Many of those who did vote were probably allied to the current board. If the existing bunch can muster enough support from a core which stands to gain from their continuing incompetence while the rest sit by and watch, it will be easy.

Laks Sampath, a director of the North West region and an influential administrator, has decided not to seek re-election, and he thinks that others should do the same. "At the end of the day the constitution is but a small issue," he told Cricinfo. "It's the governance that needs to change. The level of inactivity within the current administration must be addressed. The organisation lacks people with corporate experience and hence do not have the skill set to administer it.

"It's clear that we need to have a fresh set of people that actually have experience running successful enterprises. There's this complete unfounded thinking that only people with cricket experience can run USACA. That is about the as rubbish an argument I have heard and the proof is in the pudding. Let us bring in people that have some exposure to cricket, but have not been tainted administering USACA. Let us give them a chance."


The real concern comes if Dainty and the others are re-elected on a low turnout. US cricket will, in effect, be back to square one. Officially, the ICC will again recognise the USACA and the national side will be readmitted to international competition. But such is the level of infighting even that simple process is likely to end up in a mess. Factions will continue to snipe and several major investors who have been sitting on the sidelines with grand designs for cricket in the country may well walk away.

What is needed is a fresh start. There is too much baggage and too much bitterness. For the good of the game the next generation of administrators have to step and the old guard move on. The alternative is more of the same. Only this time, the international community will turn away for good. They have enough problems of their own without this one. This really is US cricket's last chance.

To paraphrase a well-worn quote of Benjamin Disraeli. The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone sought re-election, it would be a misfortune. But if he was re-elected, that would be a calamity.

The main event of the Falkland Islands season is the three-match series for the South Atlantic Ashes played between the Governors XI and the Commander British Forces XI. This commences on January 26 and the final match is on February 23. There will also be a new competition – a Twenty20 knockout series which will be held on January 20 and March 8, with a Twenty20 league running throughout March.

Cricinfo has learned that the new USA Cricket Association constitution has been approved by 74% of clubs which voted, although the turnout was disappointingly small.

Only 180 of the 677 clubs who could have voted did so, despite the deadline being extended. Of the votes received, more than a quarter, surprisingly high number, were rejected for a variety of technicalities. Of the ballots accepted, 97 voted yes and 34 no.

This now means that fresh elections have to be held within 30 days, although critics of the board are certain to be unhappy with way that the USACA has handled the process, especially the inordinate delay in announcing the results of a poll of less than 200 votes. Oddly, although Dehring released the results to the USACA, they were not immediately announced, as he requested, because Paul DaSilva, the secretary, wanted approval from his executive before he released them.

The news means that Chris Dehring, appointed by the ICC as an independent third party, has been able to hand over a democratically-approved constitution which will provide the basis of a new platform for the USACA to operate under. No more could have been asked of him.

It is, however, unlikely to be the end of the bitter rows which have blighted US cricket for several years. The low turnout will be used by critics of the current board to show the level of apathy among stakeholders and that, in effect, the approval came from less than 14% of the total clubs.

Following representation from the Falklands Cricket Association, the Education Department agreed to include cricket in the sports curriculum from the beginning of the school year.

One of the major problems that junior cricket faces in the Falklands is that children go to the UK for further education from age 16 so they lose some of their best players. "It is very encouraging to hear that most of the students are continuing to play cricket whilst at college in the UK which promises to strengthen the depth of adult cricket in the future," said a spokesman.

Nepal have been boosted with a $A20,000 grant to promote cricket at the grass-roots level by the Australian government. “We will support school programs, women and disabled, like deaf and blind cricketers,” Binaya Raj Pandey, president of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) told NepalCricket.com. “I hope that the support from the Australia continues.”

The Australian Ambassador to Nepal Graeme Lade said that he hoped that both grants would prove useful in advancing sporting capabilities in Nepal, especially in the areas of cricket and sport for people with disabilities. He also hoped that successful outcomes from these grants might hopefully lead to further grants.

The Australian government has been running the Sports Outreach Program, administered by the Australian Sports Commission, for a number of years, but until last year, it had essentially targeted Commonwealth countries.

Last year, the program was expanded beyond to include other countries, including Nepal.

Read the full story at their site.

Nine days after the deadline for the approval of the USA Cricket Association deadline and the association’s website remains dead. Results, promised shortly after the original deadline of December 27, have not been posted. While a short delay is understandable, it defies logic that counting a relatively few votes can take so long. It makes Kenya’s presidential elections look the model of efficiency.

While the timing of the result is not crucial, what is does do is raise serious concerns that what should be a brave new world is , in fact, a continuation of the old, unaccountable, inefficient and flawed one.

Only by making the results public immediately and scheduling the board elections, which must be within 30 days of that announcement, will the USACA show that it is serious about change.

Singapore won the ACC U-15 Elite Cup 2007 last week, beating Kuwait by four wickets in the final played in Bhaktapur.

Kuwait made 121 for 7 in 40 overs after choosing to bat first. Apporv Sanjay Gaur notched 43 while Sarangdev Krishnan took two wickets. In reply, Singapore were down to 17 for 4 at one stage but patient batting from Mohit Kulkarki (24), Man of the Match Prasheen Param (30*) and Usman Manazir (26*) took them to victory in the 35th over.

Concern is growing that the civil unrest in Kenya might put the Intercontinental Cup tie against Namibia at the end of the month in doubt. It has already delayed Kenya's preparations for the match against UAE in Sharjah.

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Three days have passed since the extended deadline expired on voting to approve the new USA Cricket Association constitution. We were promised a result on December 27 but Chris Dehring, the independent third party overseeing the process, agreed to a four-day extension after claims that some voting forms were sent out late.

The hope was that the dawning of a new era would mean an end to the USACA’s dismissive approach to stakeholders and the media. Sadly, the deadline has come and gone and the USACA remains silent. Let’s hope this is not a sign of things to come, but it’s not a promising start.

Nepal have announced a 15-man squad for next month's Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. Roy Luke Dias, the coach, will be assisted by Jagat Tamata (assistant coach) and Tarakmani Dixit as the team manager.

Squad
Paras Khadka (capt), Gyanendra Malla (vice-captain), Mahesh Kumar Chhetri, Raj Shrestha, Amrit Bhatterai, Avay Rana, Aakash Kumar Gupta, Sagar Khadka, Antim Thapa, Rom Shrestha, Chandra Saud, Rahul Kumar BK, Anil Kumar Mandal, Pushpa Thapa and Subash Pradhan (reserves: Sunam Gautam, Santosh Baral and Nirmal Simangaida)