Tony Munro

Afghanistan's players have kicked off a hectic couple of months with the 25-over Inter-Provincial Tournament, which started in Jalalabad last Saturday. The participation of 22 provinces in the tournament is also expected to generate interest among those following Afghan cricket. There had been a perception that the game was played almost exclusively by members of the Pashto tribe in the east of the country.

Two teams will emerge from the 12-team first round of the tournament, for the next round. The top six will contest Afghanistan's main domestic event - a 50-over tournament in Kabul in May.

The team then travels to Sri Lanka, this coming Saturday (January 2), where it will take part in a 20-man training camp till January 20. The camp is in preparation for one of the busiest periods the team has ever faced.

From that camp, the squad for the Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland starting January 23 will be chosen. The fixture will be followed by a match against Sri Lanka A on January 28, the Sri Lanka Twenty20 Quadrangular tournament against Ireland, Canada and Sri Lanka A from January 31 to February 3 and the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in the UAE from February 9-13. One-dayers and an Intercontinental Cup match against Canada are up next.

Joining the training camp will be two young players, allrounder Pameer Hussani, and left-handed batsman Najeeb Zadran, who captained the national Under-15 and Under-17 teams with success and gained experience from being part of the national team setup.

Costa Rica, boasting a cricket heritage dating back to the 1800s, were too good for El Salvador in two Twenty20 matches in San Salvador recently.

Taking advantage of the absence of ICC eligibility rules, a full strength Costa Rica used their edge in experience over a mainly indigenous El Salvador, winning the first match on December 19 by five wickets. The next day, a late home team collapse gave Costa Rica the win by 15 runs.

In the first match, El Salvador batted first. When several early wickets fell, panic set in until Alexander and Davis steadied the ship to post a semi-respectable score of 130. Costa Rica, in reply, seemed to be in control, hardly flying along but rather a nice steady pace with plenty of batters in the pavilion. A flurry of late wickets made it look as if their leisurely scoring rate might backfire until the captain Prasad came in and struck some boundaries to take them home safely enough.

In Sunday's match, the Costa Rican batsman took advantage of an opening attack where both bowlers were making their El Salvadorean debut and scored quickly. Once Mickey Peart retired on reaching 50 the Costa Rican scoring rate slowed down. The final total of 128 looked decent but not insurmountable. El Salvador seemed in control at the halfway stage of their reply with the top order batting well, especially Villalta. However a team including five debutants always suggested a collapse was possible and it eventuated. A couple of late boundaries made it look as if there might be a sting in the tail, but it wasn’t to be. Costa Rica maintained their 100% record against El Salvador to win the Volcano Cup.

The Volcano Cup is set to be, where possible, a permanent feature of the El Salvador cricket season. "It is to be always hosted by El Salvador and we are free to invite whoever we choose, and use whatever format as agreed between participants," explained El Salvador cricket official, Andrew Murgatroyd. So why the Volcano Cup? "It is an attempt at making a reference to local features of El Salvador - almost 50 volcanoes exist in our country. We have also have the image of a cricket ball exploding out of a volcano in our national logo."

Game1: (30 overs per side)

Costa Rica 131 for 5 (T Baker 40, C Prasad 31, S Cullen 3-19, S Karunarathe 2-32) beat El Salvador 130 (R Davis 39, P Alexander 25, P Pradeep 4-23, C Prasad 2 for 18) by five wickets

Man of the Match: T Baker (Costa Rica)

Game 2: (Twenty20)

Costa Rica 128 for 8 (M.Peart 51 ret., C Prasad 13, S Cullen 2-15, F Rivera 1-21) beat El Salvador 113 (M Villalta 33, P Alexander 21, S Arthur 5-14) by 15 runs

Man of the Match: M Villalta (El Salvador) and S Arthur (Costa Rica)

Cricket Kenya's chief executive Tom Tikolo has resigned after it was discovered US$10,000 he claimed while in the West Indies for a tournament last year was unaccounted for. The news comes after a week-long investigation by CK officials.

Rumours that Tikolo was being questioned started circulating last week and he quit after a meeting with the board on Sunday. It is thought he has offered to pay the money back to CK.

In a rather vague statement, Tikolo said he had stepped down for the good of the game adding, "I want to deny any wrong doing in all the dealings mentioned in those allegations".

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Suva Capitals have clinched Fiji's Elite Player League (EPL) title, thanks to Jikoi Kida’s star turn in the deciding match against Sigatoka Dunes in Nadi on Saturday. The title was on the line with all three league sides in with a chance depending on the result of the game. The Capitals emerged winners after sneaking home in the low-scoring game that put them ahead of Western Bulldogs on run-rate.

The Dunes got off to a good start and, at 49 for 1 after ten overs, looked good to post a formidable score. Kida, however, changed the complexion of proceedings when he removed Sekove Ravoka for a patient 27, in the process triggering a collapse. He proceeded to wreck the Dunes’ innings, claiming 7 for 26 in his ten overs. Joe Rika, looking for much-important match practice prior to his stint with the East Asia Pacific representative team in Australia, gave the innings stability with a number of impressive drives on his way to 44. When Kida found his way through Rika’s defences, the innings folded up for 132.

The Capitals’ response looked set to follow the same pattern with Omid Saberi and Sekove Vouvou putting on a 38-run opening stand before Saberi followed up a couple of slashed drives with an ambitious loft to be caught off the bowling of Viliame Yabaki. The Dunes stayed in the hunt thanks to a spell of tight spin from Yabaki and Malcolm Bossley where five wickets fell at regular intervals. The game was in the balance when Bossley sent back Kida at 79 for 5. The Dunes had to restrict the Capitals to less than 105 to win the tournament on run-rate. However, their hopes were shattered by the lower-order efforts of Greg Browne, Tanveer Shah and Peni Rika who ensured that their side sealed a three-wicket victory in 40 overs.

Cricket Fiji will shortly announce a National Training Squad for the World Cricket League Division 5 tournament to be hosted in Nepal, with players selected based on their EPL performances.

The ICC has announced the schedule for the eight-team ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2010, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates between February 9 and 13.

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Kenya's miserable 2009 continued with humiliating defeats in both Twenty20 internationals against Uganda in Nairobi. The matches, which were intended to help prepare the Kenyans for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers early next year, have instead raised even more questions about the quality of the national side.

Even though Uganda are widely touted as one of the up-and-coming Associates, they should not have troubled their better equipped and professional neighbours. But in both games Kenya, who batted first, failed to score nearly enough runs. In the first match they were bowled out for 88 and were beaten by four wickets; in the second, they did little better, making 104 for 7 before going down by two wickets with two balls in hand.

The top-order batting looked weak and folded under the first sign of pressure. That gave their bowlers almost nothing to play with and, in the circumstances, they did well to keep their side in the contest for as long as they did.

The beleagured Kenyan selectors will point to missing names, but that will cut little ice with an increasingly frustrated cricket fraternity. However, Uganda will be rightly buoyed by the results.

A one-day series follows. Anything other than a comprehensive success for the Kenyans could lead to quiet mutterings becoming altogether more hostile criticism.

While Kenya’s preparations for a busy 2010 wobble along, UAE return from Namibia with three wins in tour matches under their belt, following victory in the ICC Intercontinental Cup with back-to-back one-day successes.

Both games were close. In the first, a 125-run stand between Nicolaas Scholtz (58) and Raymond van Schoor (90) helped Namibia reach 269, but a good all-round batting performance enabled UAE to chase down the target with two wickets and 27 balls in hand.

In the second match, UAE posted an almost identical total, making 271 thanks largely to a fourth-wicket stand of 122 between Arshad Ali (75) and Abdul Rehman (71). The score should have been higher but UAE lost their way, losing their last seven wickets for 55. Namibia started confidently, van Schoor again top-scoring with 65, but in the end they lacked the depth and fell 20 runs short.

The ICC has confirmed the remaining fixtures in the 2009-10 Intercontinental Cup, with everything leading towards next November's final, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates.

The next match will start on January 23 and sees defending champions Ireland facing improving newcomers Afghanistan in Sri Lanka. Two days later, second-placed Kenya will take on 2004 champions and current leaders Scotland in a top-of-the-table clash.

There is a total of US$250,000 in prize money for the Associate and Affiliate teams taking part in the ICC Intercontinental Cup with US$100,000 for the winners and US$40,000 for the runners-up.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event then evolved in 2006 to an eight-team round-robin and truly global tournament of four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the invaluable experience of the longer form of the game.

This year's format includes seven teams (Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe XI), while the new competition, the ICC Intercontinental Shield, involves the four teams below that, namely Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in all three events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider, Canada in the 2006-07 event and Namibia in 2007-08.

The remaining fixtures for the second-tier ICC Intercontinental Shield have also been announced.

ICC INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

23-26 Jan - Afghanistan v Ireland, Sri Lanka
25-28 Jan - Kenya v Scotland, Kenya
17-20 Feb - Afghanistan v Canada, UAE
10-13 Jun - Netherlands v Scotland, Netherlands
11-14 Aug - Scotland v Afghanistan, Scotland
11-14 Aug - Ireland v Netherlands, Ireland
21-24 Aug - Canada v Zimbabwe XI, Canada
1-4 Sep - Canada v Ireland, Canada
1-4 Sep - Netherlands v Zimbabwe XI, Netherlands
2-5 Oct - Kenya v Afghanistan, Kenya
6-9 Oct - Zimbabwe XI v Ireland, Africa
13-16 Oct - Zimbabwe XI v Scotland, Africa
25-29 Nov - FINAL (five days), UAE

ICC INTERCONTINENTAL SHIELD

20-23 Jan - UAE v Uganda, UAE
2-5 Apr - Namibia v Bermuda, Namibia
5-8 Jul - Bermuda v UAE, Bermuda
18-21 Sep - Uganda v Namibia, Uganda
25-28 Nov - FINAL, UAE

An interview with Wang Lei, China’s captain, in the National newspaper highlights how far the game has to go to get a foothold in the country, despite the gushing enthusiasm of the ICC and ACC.

Speaking at the recent ACC Twenty20 tournament, where China were thrashed by all comers, Lei said he had been playing the game for two years.

When I was asked if I was interested in playing cricket, I had no clue of the sport. I had never seen or even heard of cricket, so I was curious at first to know more about what this game was all about. Nothing seemed to sink in when they tried to explain how cricket was played, even after watching some video footage and demonstrations.

The introduction to the game was from the very basic, using soft balls. The first few months were all about fielding and then I was taught how to bowl. I never got anything straight but a few days later I did pretty well to hit the stump a few times. I know how to bowl a leg break and an off break, but I decided to take the easier option to bowl medium fast.

When I got to bat for the first time, after a few lessons and seeing how the drive-shot was played, I hammered the first ball like a baseball hit. I was later told that was the pull shot. I have learned to play all the strokes in the book yet the pull shot is my favourite.

The catching and throwing wasn’t difficult to learn, but batting and bowling need skills.
And two years on, I feel I have done reasonably well for a first timer.

Initially, cricket sounded similar to baseball. In teaching the children, it became more interesting for me, and not only was I passing on the knowledge but I was learning more by doing the basics over and over again.

Whereas those running the game see China as a great untapped (commercial) market, Lei was more sensible in his expectations.

Ours is an experimental side but wait and see when the children start to come out from the production lines. We have some as young as nine and they hold a better future for China. I am one of the older players at 23 and the rest are very young … six of them are 16. So this team are going to be around for some time.

Scotland are planning a 'first-class structure' to their domestic competitions in a bid to improve their cricketing infrastructure and boost their chances of gaining Test status. Last week, Cricket Scotland officials announced their plans to organize a new regional tournament, featuring the country's elite players, with three teams from the three main geographical centres playing regular three-day matches.

"In effect what we are planning is a first class tier of competition although it would not have that status," Andy Tennant, Cricket Scotland's head of performance, was quoted as saying in the Herald Scotland. "The ICC are keen to ensure that their associate members have a solid infrastructure in place on and off the park and we are always trying to improve."

Tennant admitted Scotland were competing with Ireland, regarded as the leading associate nation at this point. Ireland have already voiced their interest in gaining Test status amid calls to incorporate more teams into the circuit, or reform the format by creating a tier system. "We are constantly jockeying for position with the other associate countries and Ireland probably are in pole position having been successful for the last year or two," Tennant said. "However, there are other ways you can set yourself up for sustained success and we believe a three-day competition will greatly enhance our infrastructure."

Scotland failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, though they still retain their ODI status. Tennant also believed the establishment of an equivalent for first-class cricket at the associate level could help secure the futures of many of the country's cricketers by filling a "black hole" at the senior level.

"This competition will provide a necessary stepping-stone from club cricket to senior representative level. It will also provide a safety net for players who previously might have slipped off our radar," he said. "There has always been a bit of a black hole where players who played for our U19s have disappeared from the scene because they weren't ready to step up to senior level. Now they will be kept involved and given the necessary back-up to ensure they reach their full potential."

The Western Bulldogs have placed themselves in the box seat to claim the Elite Player League (EPL) title after a thrilling two-wicket win over Sigatoka Dunes at the Namaka Public School ground on Saturday.

Three players made their debut in what was the best game of the EPL so far. Joe Rika came in after returning from club cricket in Australia, while two members of Nadi’s Under-19 team, Anare Tuidraki and Vakaru Tauyesa, were drafted in after impressive performances during the Under-19 tournament.

Sigatoka batted first and posted a good score of 218 for 8 from their fifty overs.

Sekove Ravoka was the Dunes’ leading light with the bat as he scored a composed 72. Heeding the words of Steve Jenkin, the National Coach who told the players that he wanted more application and fight with the bat, Ravoka played the sort of innings that the pundits had been tipping him to produce at some stage of the EPL.

David Kachor (38) and Sevunivola Baba (21) formed solid partnerships with Ravoka to build a solid total for the Dunes.

Experienced spinner Iniasi Cakacaka was the best of the Bulldogs bowlers claiming 3 for 35, including the prized wicket of Ravoka with a well-flighted delivery that drew Ravoka from the crease only to have the bails whipped off by Tavo Sorovakatini.

Paceman Sakaraia Lomani also claimed 3 for 45 from his ten overs.
Set a challenging task the Bulldogs were always going to have to bat well to chase down the target.

Cakacaka and Tavo Sorovakatini opened the batting for the Bulldogs and put on a 61-run partnership in the first twelve overs to get their team off to good start.

Sorovakatini, who had been brutal on anything loose, was eventually dismissed by Lee Waqa for 44. Cakacaka continued the run chase taking the team’s total beyond the 100 mark before he was trapped in front by debutant Anare Tuidraki.

After a few mid-innings stutters, Joe Rika took charge, with 75 still required. Despite injuring a groin muscle during his innings Rika (34 not out) batted on with a runner to get the Bulldogs to their total. Along the way he was helped by Tauyesa, who made 20, and an unbeaten 12 from Lomani, as the Bulldogs reached the target with five overs and two wickets to spare.

The win puts the Bulldogs two points in front the Dunes and Suva Capitals on the league table. Victory next week against the Capitals will clinch the EPL title, while a Capitals win will leave the title open going into the last match on December 19th.

Tony Munro

Namibia will be without opener, Gerhard Randolph and middle-order batsman, Norbert Manyande, for its ICC Intercontinental Shield match against United Arab Emirates starting in Windhoek on Saturday.

Randolph, who has three scores in the 90s in the CSA Provincial 3-day Challenge, and Manyande (two half-centuries) are not residentially qualified to play in the ICC-run tournament and have been replaced by Willem Groenewald and Wian van Vuuren respectively for this match.

The match is the first for both teams in the tournament which is a de facto second division equivalent of the ICC Intercontinental Trophy, from which Namibia were controversially dumped by the ICC.

The teams have had contrasting preparations - Namibia have played five games in the South African amateur three-day provincial competition, where they drew three and lost one while UAE were runners-up in the ACC Twenty20 tournament that they hosted, losing to Afghanistan in the final.

Namibia coach, Johan Randolph, told Cricinfo he was "reasonably happy" with the team's performance in the three-day competition. "We need to establish a culture in Namibia for batsman to occupy the crease and to score hundreds plus, which I believe we have achieved. We had five hundreds and if Gerhard Rudolph converted his three 90s together with Norbert Manyande's 90 we would have had nine hundreds in five matches. Not to bad at all. Already had five hundreds in club cricket so something is working."

The Shield game will be played from December 5 to 8, followed by a 50-over match on December 10 and a Twenty20 game on December 11.

Namibia: - Raymond van Schoor (wk), Willem Groenewald, Sarel Burger, Wian van Vuuren, Craig Williams (capt), Nicholaas Scholtz, LP van der Westhuizen, Wessel Myburgh, Tobie Verwey, Louis Klazinga, Elton Ambambi

UAE: Khuram Khan (capt) Saqib Ali Ahmad Raza, Amjad Javed,Amjad Ali ,Fahad Al Hashimi,Fayaz Ahamed,Arfan Hyder,Mohamed Tauqir ,Mohammed Iqbal,Abdul Rehman (wk), Arshad Ali Qasim Zubair ,Shoaib Sarwar and Mois Shahid

The rumbling debate over the number of expats included in several leading Associate sides has resurfaced after comments from Syed Ashraful Haq, the chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council, that some of them should not enter next year’s Asian Games.

Haq’s remarks came because of a change of rules regarding eligibility for the Games which state only passport holders of the participating countries can take part. For some that would leave them fielding second or third XI teams. UAE, for example, only had two eligible players in their side at the recently-completed ACC Twenty20 tournament.

Asked if UAE should send a side to the Games, Haq said: “My conviction is that they should not … they should not undermine the tournament.

“They cannot send a team who cannot play the game. They cannot bowl out a team like India or Pakistan and then get bowled out for 10. It will undermine the whole game and also jeopardise our chances of taking the game forward. It takes out all the countries from the Middle East.”

Haq’s comments brought a predictably stinging response from the man managing the all-Emirati side. “I have worked with Ashraful Haq for many years and have never heard him give a good piece of advice,” Abdulrazzaq Kazim told the local National newspaper. “Why should we listen to him now? We will go. Of course, if we play against India or Sri Lanka or Pakistan, we will lose. But if we don’t go, from where will get the experience? It is of benefit for us to go and play there.”

Dilawar Mani, chief executive of the Emirates Cricket Board, endorsed that view. “Of course we are not in the same level of the elite teams but if China can field a team as the host, why not the others,” he told the newspaper.

It seems unlikely the UAE will not send a team, but Haq’s comments have raised a genuine question being asked by many. If a team consists almost entirely of expats, can it be considered truly representative?

Asim Butt, the Scotland left-arm seamer, has died in his sleep aged 42 in Lahore.

He played five ODIs for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup, performing strongly against Australia, the eventual winners, taking 1 for 21 from 10 overs.

Butt was born in Pakistan in 1967 and played first-class cricket for Lahore before settling in Scotland in the 1990s. He soon won his first Scottish cap, against Yorkshire at Boghall in May 1998, taking 3 for 42 in the Benson & Hedges Cup, on his way to 106 wickets for Scotland at an average of 24.86.

He played in all of Scotland's World Cup games and remained a consistent performer, taking 6 for 42 in the first innings against MCC at Lord's in August 2000 and 5 for 47 in the second innings against Ireland four years later.

He won the last of his 71 caps in the Totesport League game against Somerset in May 2005.

Afghanistan have won the ACC Twenty20 Cup in emphatic style, beating the United Arab Emirates by 84 runs in the final in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Urged on by a 1000-strong throng of supporters, the Afghans were led out of early trouble when 63 for 4 by allrounder Mohammad Nabi, whose 73 from 38 balls propelled the score to 196 for 8. A fifth-wicket partnership of 61 with Raees Ahmadzai steadied things to provide Nabi with a launching pad for his Man-of-the-Match innings which included nine sixes and four fours. A cameo from Samiullah Shenwari (29 from 14 balls) further boosted the visitors to their final. The veteran UAE offspinner Mohamed Tauqir nabbed 3 for 29 for the locals.

Sometime Afghanistan opening bowler Shahpoor Zadran perhaps consolidated his place in the team to wreck the UAE reply with three early wickets as the home side stuttered to 23 for 3. The opener Muhammad Iqbal lasted one over in which he hit 10 runs, including a six. There was just one partnership (43) of any substance in the UAE innings, between the captain Khurram Khan (34 off 18 balls) and Naeemuddin Aslam (37 from 30). Nabi took the last four wickets in nine balls to add another trophy to Afghanistan's mantlepiece.

Both sides had marched into the final with easy semi-final wins on Saturday, Afghanistan sweeping aside Kuwait by eight wickets, while the UAE routed Oman for 50 to cruise home by six wickets with almost 13 overs to spare.

Oman rebounded in the early game on Sunday to win the third place play-off against Kuwait by 23 runs.

ACC Twenty20 Cup Final:
Afghanistan beat United Arab Emirates by 84 runs

Afghanistan 196 for 8 (Mohammad Nabi 73, Moiz Shahid 2 for 36, Mohamed Tauqir 3-29)

UAE 112 (14.3 overs) (Kamran Khan 34, Naeemuddin Aslam 37; Shahpoor Zadran 3-28, Mohammad Nabi 4-7)