The National Under-19 tournament scheduled for Woodley Park in California was called off because teams coming from New York and the South East Region were unable to get flights to California.

A USACA statement said: "Every opportunity is being made to engage those players in California along with the North West and South West Regional teams, in practice matches under the watchful eyes of the national selectors.

Meanwhile in New York, Krish Prasad, USACA’s Cricketing Committee chairman said that a New York indoor camp is tentatively being organized for the weekend of January 8-9, 2011 for the New York, North East and Atlantic Region players. A select group of those players will then be short-listed to join a group from this week’s California scrubby matches in a national camp of 24 players, and including players scouted in the other regions. The camp will be held sometime in mid-January in Florida. The selectors will then pick the final squad to represent the USA at the ICC Americas Under-19 tournament scheduled for February 6-13, 2011 in Florida.

The ICC has announced that umpires Theunis van Schalkwyk (Namibia), Courtney Young (Cayman Islands), Mark Hawthorne (Ireland) and Richard Smith (Cyprus) have been added to the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires panel following the annual review and selection process.

The four new umpires have replaced Subhash Modi of Kenya, who retired earlier this month after umpiring in international cricket for nine years, Paul Baldwin of Germany, who has resigned following his selection in the ECB reserve umpires' panel for the second successive year, and Karran Bayney, who has failed to retain his position. An additional umpire in the Europe Region was also appointed following a request by the region to meet its growing needs and requirements.

The umpires on the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires panel can be assigned to ODIs and T20I matches involving Associates and Affiliates Members as well as officiate in Under-19 and women's cricket.

ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires panel 2011

Africa - Jeff Luck (Namibia), Theunis van Schalkwyk (Namibia)

Americas - Roger Dill (Bermuda), Courtney Young (Cayman Islands)

Asia - Buddhi Pradhan (Nepal), Sarika Prasad (Singapore)

East Asia Pacific - Shahul Hameed (Indonesia)

Europe - Niels Bagh (Denmark), Mark Hawthorne (Ireland), Ian Ramage (Scotland), Richard Smith (Cyprus)

Ugandan cricket enjoyed a mixed year in 2010. Off the pitch, there was significant progress, particularly in the establishment of administrative structures that will improve the running of the game.

The Monitor reviews Ugandan cricket in 2010

USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty has said he wants his organisation to hire staff at the regional level with money generated from the recent multi-million dollar deal that formed Cricket Holdings America.

What do you think ... a sensible idea of more hot air from those running US cricket?

Read the full article here.

Although Gladstone Dainty has announced an ambitious plan for a national Twenty20 tournament in the USA starting in 2012, the USA Cricket Association has been hit with a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by the North American Cricket League (NACL).

NACL, which describes itself as a "sports media and entertainment company dedicated to promoting cricket throughout the world, including so-called Twenty20 format cricket in the United States" claims that it has an existing deal with USACA which is in direct conflict with the board's new initiative.

A statement from NACL said that there were "nine causes of action" including breach of contract, fraud, misappropriation of proprietary business information and theft of trade secrets. It accuses USACA of embarking on a "fraudulent scheme to extract money from NACL and its investors".

NACL's case centres on an agreement it says it entered into with USACA to promote and organise an official Twenty20 league in the United States. "The parties signed an interim agreement that granted NACL an exclusive period of negotiations during which USACA was contractually bound to cease negotiations with any third parties for the same rights.

"While NACL continued to negotiate a master agreement in good faith, USACA had no intention of honouring the terms of the interim agreement and engaged in a fraudulent scheme to extract money from NACL and its investors."

The complaint further alleges that while NACL was negotiating with USACA in good faith, USACA entered into additional agreements with third parties from which USACA also accepted large cash payments for the licensing of the same commercial rights.

Maroochydore Cricket Club on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast will be the next stop on the road to the Under-19 World Cup for Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Japan and Indonesia. From February 6 to 11 the club will host a 50-over round-robin tournament, with the top two teams earning a spot at the World Cup qualifiers to be held in Ireland later in the year.

“This will be a fantastic opportunity for the Australian public to witness some of the amazing International talent that other countries in our region are producing,” said ICC East Asia-Pacific Regional Development Manager Andrew Faichney.

“Preparation of the grounds began during October and the aim is to produce our customary first class pitches for all the ICC Trophy matches,” added Maroochydore club secretary Mike Burke.

Club President Mark Hall and Burke have had meetings with local Council and report that the whole region is honoured to play a part in making the occasion a memorable and enjoyable experience for all. “Make no mistake, ICC international teams & officials will all receive the world-renowned Sunshine Coast welcome,” said Burke.

The cricket club also has the challenge of feeding the teams on match days and Burke says his club has great experience in provided touring teams with quality food. “Maroochydore Cricket Club chef, Donna Boland, has been excitedly experimenting with dishes designed to please the diverse, multi-cultural palates of our upcoming guests,” he said.

The teams will also be playing a series of warm-up Twenty20 matches on February 4 at the Yandina Cricket Club.

The Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) has handed batsman Deunte Darrell a six-month ban from international cricket and placed him on probation until October 2011 for misconduct on a tour of Barbados.

A disciplinary committee punished Darrell for breaching the board's code of conduct while representing Bermuda Under-19s at this summer's Sir Garry Sobers Tournament during which he is said to have broken curfew and the BCB's non-drinking policy.

According to the Bermuda Sun, Darrell's parents intend to appeal against the suspension which has deprived Bermuda's Under-19s, currently preparing for February’s Under-19 World Cup qualifiers in the United States, of one of their leading players.

Bermuda Under-19 coach, Andre Manders, said Darrell's services would be missed but is confident other players can fill the void.

"It's not good to lose a batsman of Deunte's calibre, but we have to just try and move along and hopefully the other guys will step it up in his absence," he said.

Darrell, 17, was voted most valuable player in this year's Cup Match, the island's premier domestic two-day fixture, for his first-innings knock of 72 for Somerset against St. George's.

Florida will host the Under-19 Americas Championships from February 3-8 where
Bermuda face regional rivals US, Canada, Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Argentina, with the top two teams progressing to the global qualifiers in Ireland next July. Six teams then advance to the 2012 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Argentina.

Bermuda made their Under-19 World Cup debut in Malaysia in 2007 and Manders backed his side to qualify again. "I think we have a realistic chance of qualifying. A lot of these boys have lots of experience playing Premier Division cricket, while five of them [Damali Bell, Christian Burgess, Kamau Leverock, Joshua Gilbert and Kevon Fubler] are also training with the senior national team."

The Israel Cricket Association (ICA) plans to conduct a unique cricket clinic with children from the Palestine Authority as part of a peace initiative for the region over this weekend.

ICA president Stanley Perlman’s dream of seeing Palestine kids playing with Israeli counterparts will come true this Sunday. The clinic will take place in Beersheba, which is located south-east of the Israeli capital city of Tel Aviv.

This is the first attempt to bring children from both sides together and it will all happen in conjunction with the Peres Peace Centre, run under the name of Israel president Shimon Peres.
Peres Peace Centre conducts similar clinics with football and basketball. This is a first with cricket.

“The plan is to link the Palestinians and Israelis through cricket. An anonymous donor from London who is a Jewish businessman is putting in a fair sum of money as part of the first year’s activities. The Peres Peace Centre will play a part for this. They can also get the necessary security clearances to get the Palestine kids over," Perlman said.

In all, 15 children from two Palestine towns will come on Sunday to the other side of the border.

"The children will come from two towns, south of Hebron, Samoa and Yaata. Our national cricket development officer Herschell Gutman, who is a Level 4 coach, will impart knowledge on cricket. ICA’s youth development officer George Sheader will also assist in the project," Perlman added.

Two children’s groups from the low income groups from Dmiona and Yerucham in Israel will also be at the clinic.

The two-hour clinic on Sunday will not just be about cricket. "They will be taught about playing cricket together not against each other," Perlman said. "They will take part in other projects like learn to speak the other person’s language, learn about the other person’s food habits. We will have people who will teach the kids to speak Arabic and Hebrew. It will start at 4.30pm and will be telecast live on an Israeli TV station."

The project, once it takes off, is to take place once a month.

"We at ICA will provide all the cricketing raw material," Perlman said. "We will show them cricket videos. It is a dream come true for me. If the kids play together, they will learn about each other’s culture, language, food. We live so close to each other, the sooner we understand the better for us in the long run. ICA could well be a new avenue for peace."

Bermuda have been hit by the shock retirement of batsman Chris Douglas after an apparent falling out with the national coach David Moore according to the Royal Gazette newspaper.

Douglas, a 21-year-old left hander, reportedly told Moore on Friday that he was leaving the international game and the newspaper suggests there had been signs of a clash between him and the coach for some time.

Moore, an Australian who was a former coach of West Indies, had a strong fitness ethic which Douglas doesn't appear to have accepted as part of the game. Douglas's departure is a blow for Bermuda who are set to tour Dubai at the end of the year followed by World Cricket League Division 2 in April. The WCL event has grown in importance because the top two teams will take part in the expanded eight-team ICC Intercontinental Cup next year.

However, it isn't the first time Douglas has struggled to adapt to the demands of professional sport. Earlier this year he was left out of Bermuda's squad to play in the ICC America's tournament only to appear in club cricket three days later.

Douglas showed his potential two years ago when he hit 53 against West Indies in King City during the Scotiabank Series - an attack featuring Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell - having made 69 on his debut against Canada.

Despite unfounded scaremongering among some sections of the media, the ICC has announced details of the sixth staging of the Intercontinental Cup, running from May 2011 through to December 2012.

As expected, Zimbabwe will not field a side – its participation in the just-completed tournament was of mixed benefit, finishing in farce when they forfeited their final match against Scotland.

The promotion from the World Cricket League into the Intercontinental Cup is a welcome move, allowing a chance for any team to rise through the ranks as Afghanistan have done with such great success.

The one casualty is the Intercontinental Shield, but few outside holders Namibia will mourn its demise. Such was the event’s profile, it is unlikely if most people even knew of its existence.

Craig Williams gets his Man-of-the-Match award from Dayle Hadlee © International Cricket Council

Namibia captain Craig Williams hit his second century of the match to claim the Intercontinental Shield with a six-wicket victory against UAE. Williams ended unbeaten on 113 as Namibia knocked off the 187 needed despite a few early alarms and a determined hundred from Saqib Ali who ended undefeated on 160.

Ali began the day on 109 and the last two wicket added a further 24 runs before Louis Klazinga ended the innings to finish with 3 for 98. It left Namibia plenty of time to hunt down the runs, but they didn't make an easy start as Amjad Javed gave them some scares with the new ball.

He bowled both Raymond van Schoor and Sarel Burger to leave Namibia 27 for 2. However, a brisk stand of 52 between Williams and Ewald Steenkamp (35) settled their nerves before Javed struck again to have Steenkamp lbw. That, though, was the last time UAE were in the contest as Williams took charge with a commanding display as he scored at more than a run-a-ball and collected 15 fours alongside two sixes.

It was an easy decision to award him the Man of the Match after Williams struck 116 in the first innings and contributed 2 for 88 in 41 overs. "It has gone off really well. I am a bit emotional; I don't know what to say really," he said. "I am just happy for the team. We have worked really hard it's just a bonus that I happened to pull it off for the side in this game. It feels nice to score for a team like this."

Despite UAE's fightback on the third day, Williams was always confident in securing victory. "I don't think we were worried because we had a game plan," he said. "I thought they needed to get a lot more runs to get ahead of us. The pitch was playing really well.

"If we had to chase 300-350 then it would have been very difficult with their spin attack. But we just backed our game plan. You saw this morning we had ten guys on the boundary because we knew the game was in our hands. They had to come out and score runs. It's nice that it all went our way."

The USA Cricket Association's recently ousted chief executive Don Lockerbie set his sights too high and lost sight of the most important objectives.

If you're going to talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk too, and there was nothing that Lockerbie loved more than talking about bringing big sponsors and big money to US cricket. He would name-drop from his Rolodex of contacts at will, as if all he had to do was snap his fingers to get his choice of sponsors lining up outside his office door. Lockerbie was like Jimmy Stewart from It's A Wonderful Life, gazing into the eyes of USA cricket players, fans and administrators, wooing them by telling them that if they wanted the moon, "just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down".

Lockerbie certainly was reaching for the moon when he declared that a US$10 million annual budget was the minimum amount he needed to make the United States competitive in world cricket. That's a big step up for an organisation whose annual budget has typically ranged from $200,000-$400,000 in ICC grants, not to mention the fact that USACA never demonstrated sound fiscal management with those meagre resources in the past. Imagine Manny Pacquiao trying to go from featherweight to heavyweight in the span of two fights and picture what the result would be.

Instead of trying to build by attracting stepping stone, incremental sponsorships like Japan, Canada, or Ireland had successfully done, it appeared that Lockerbie's strategy was all or nothing. It wasn't worth his time to negotiate a three-year $650,000 deal like Cricket Canada had done with Scotiabank in 2008, or the three-year deal they signed in November with Reebok. RSA Insurance's sponsorship of Ireland, including a €100,000 boost before the World Twenty20 in April, was chump change. Such hubris contributed to Lockerbie's downfall. He didn't just want millions. He wanted tens of millions, and wound up getting nothing.

Click here to read the full story

Afghanistan secured another piece of silverware after defeating Scotland in the ICC Intercontinental Cup final © ICC

Afghanistan's rise through the cricket world continued they secured the Intercontinental Cup in their first year of participation with a commanding seven-wicket victory against Scotland in Dubai. Mohammad Shahzad guided the pursuit of 124 with an unbeaten 56 after Scotland had been skittled for 82.

Scotland were facing an uphill battle at the start of the third day when they resumed on 64 for 6 and the lower order couldn't turn around their fortunes. The innings last just a further eight overs with Mirwais Ashraf claiming three quick wickets and Hamid Hassan completed a match-haul of eight when he removed Richie Berrington.

Karim Sadiq fell early in the chase, but Scotland needed more than one breakthrough to give Afghanistan a scare. Shahzad and Shabir Noori (35) added a brisk 55 to ease any tension in the dressing room. When Noori was caught behind, Narwoz Mangal hit four boundaries to take Afghanistan to the brink of victory.

For the full report click here.

Tickets are now available for Ireland's one-day international against England in Dublin on August 25. Adult prices are 40 Euros and under-16s can watch the action for 14 Euros and can be purchased from December 4.

t will be the first time the sides face each other in Dublin, although the teams have played twice in Belfast, and also in both the 50- and 20-over World Cups in West Indies. They are also due to meet each other in March during the 2011 World Cup In India.

Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland CEO, said: "Following the huge success of the RSA Challenge between Ireland and Australia back in June, we hope that Ireland playing England in Dublin will continue to raise the growing profile of cricket in this country, and that the Irish public will get behind our boys as they challenge one of the world’s great cricket teams, in what is certain to be a fantastic cricketing occasion.”

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.ticketmaster.ie.

Hamid Hassan

What a year it has been for Afghanistan cricket! Winning the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai in February was a moment I will never forget; having the chance to play India and South Africa at the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean was amazing and beating Pakistan at the Asian Games and securing a silver medal was one of the greatest moments of my career.

Obviously it would have been nice to have won gold but the fact that we pushed Bangladesh so close, particularly a strong team led by somebody as accomplished as Mohammad Ashraful, showed that we deserve a chance to play against the big teams on a more regular basis. We need exposure against some of the top ODI nations if we are to improve, and that is my main wish for 2011.

While the excitement of our Asian Games campaign won’t be forgotten in a hurry, we are all looking forward to our latest challenge, which is to win the ICC Intercontinental Cup against Scotland this week in Dubai. We beat Scotland in the group stages and have enjoyed a good record against them, but we know that we have to play well to beat them.

Although not that many cricket fans know too much about the ICC Intercontinental Cup, I think it is a really important tournament. My game has improved a lot as a result of playing in the tournament and that has helped me in the shorter format as well.

You certainly have to be a lot fitter to last a four-day game and I think that has helped us become a better fielding side as well. The fact that Ireland, who have set the standards in Associate cricket in recent times, have won the previous three titles, shows that you need to be an excellent team to win this trophy.

I am excited that the final is being played over five days as it will be like playing Test cricket, so I am keen to perform well. I think a five-day game makes you work harder to take wickets as there is less pressure on the batsmen to score quickly, so they take less risks.

We have been training at the new ICC Global Cricket Academy, which I am told is where the Pakistan and South Africa players prepared for the recent Test Match in Dubai, and it is an amazing facility. I wish we had something similar back home, but at least things are moving in the right direction in that regard and we are all excited about the building of new cricket stadiums in Kabul and Jalalabad. However, we need to have lots of pitches all over Afghanistan to ensure that in the future we can have the best young players in the world.

We have had our final day of training today ahead of the final starting on Thursday and I am hoping that thousands of Afghans living in Dubai will come and support us like they did at the Twenty20 Qualifier.

To lift another trophy this year would be a special moment for the team and I would quite like to add another medal to my collection.