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Brunei have struggled in recent years. The seniors are undoubted seniors, with youngsters playing cricket in such few numbers that the Brunei Cricket Association have been unable to field a team in the most recent ACC U-16 Challenge Cup. And they still have no women’s team. “Brunei realise things have got to change if they have any chance of being better than the lowest team in the ACC rankings at present. They want to change. They are making a change,” says ACC Development Officer for Brunei Aminul Islam.

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The cricket season in Brunei kicked off at the weekend with two exhibition matches. The first was played between Brunei Veterans and Diplomatic Missions and the second between Brunei National Team and Rest of XI. Both matches were played in the Twenty20 format.

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Maldives and Bhutan recorded decisive wins on the third day of the Asian Cricket Council Challenge in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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China will make their debut in international cricket at the adult level at next month's ACC Trophy Challenge in Bangkok, with the spotlight very much on them after an appalling display in the Asian Cricket Council's Under-17 Challenge Cup in Bangkok last month.

Chaina have benefited from considerable funding by both the ACC and ICC, but a woeful display in Thailand raised considerable questions regarding the wisdom of the investments.

China will be in Group B, the weaker of the two which includes Maldives and Thailand. Their first match will be against Iran on January 13

Tournament favourites, Oman, are in Group A with Bhutan, Brunei and Myanmar.

Oman have an interesting playing schedule in the next few months. In January they play the likes of Myanmar and Brunei in the ACC Trophy Challenge and in April will contest the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa against teams such as Ireland and Scotland.

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Although the ICC draws considerable flak on many fronts, it is quietly committed to promoting the game in as many countries as possible, and it does that by means of a myriad of competitions and initiatives. Most do not warrant much media attention, but they are there and they work.

Until now, the gripe of the smaller countries, and especially those bubbling just underneath the top flight, has been about the inequality of the way in which the game is financed. That was never more apparent than when it came to earnings from last year's World Cup.

Ireland got a flat fee of US$125,000 a year for four years for taking part, and on top of that they received another $50,000 for reaching the Super Eights. However, because of the extra costs involved in their progression, not least because their players are not professional cricketers and their absences from their full-time jobs had to be underwritten, Ireland's success actually left the board out of pocket.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, turned up, tied with Ireland and never threatened to progress after being thumped by Pakistan and West Indies. For those three matches, Zimbabwe Cricket received US$11 million, their share of the pot as a Full Member.

The top six Associates receive no more than US$500,000 a year - some substantially less - to fund their entire operations. Out of that they have to pay all their cricketing and administration costs. Only those with a low cost of living, such as Kenya, can hope to maintain a professional squad on that kind of money.

The gulf between the haves and have-nots is further widened by the limited sums Associates can earn from sponsorship and media contracts. Zimbabwe can exploit home series against, say, India to carve out lucrative TV deals worth millions, and on the back of that, attract shirt- and other corporate sponsorship. As highlighted by Scotland's failure to secure any TV deal for their forthcoming ODI against England, the Associates struggle to get such income streams.

The new deals will provide a substantial increase for Associates, especially for the countries who are pressing for space at the top table. Until now the share has been roughly equal, rewarding Netherlands and Kenya on par with Thailand and Fiji. The new system will see more demarcation between the top Associates and the rest.

The leading ten could earn as much as US$1.5 million a year from 2009. There will then be an onus on them to professionalise their administrations, but several of them are already well down that route. They will also be more accountable - the ICC does not want a repeat of the mess that came following a spike in Kenya's funding earlier in the decade.

The second-string Associates will also get more - around US$160,000 as a base figure - but then again the demands on them are less. Even Affiliates will receive US$15,000, with the opportunity for more should they make a good enough case. There will also be more cash in the pot for participating and hosting competitions.

There have never been more opportunities for development outside the Full Member countries, but there remain some nagging worries.

The main one is how to bridge the gap between semi and full-blown professionalism. Almost all the Associates rely on dedicated amateurs, both on and off the field. As the number of ICC competitions has increased - and they have to be welcomed - the pressure has begun to tell. Scotland and Ireland particularly have already found players cannot meet all their commitments, and even the increased income will not allow them to employ a full-time squad.

"So much of putting players on full-time retainers depends on how many fixtures we can command," Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland's chief executive, said. "At the moment, all we can promise the squad in 2009 is a World Cup qualifying campaign, eight FP Trophy matches, an England game, and probably some Intercontinental Cup matches. Of course, we hope to have more, but can't be sure at the moment.

"Our top players are already plying their trade in county cricket, while others have full-time jobs which they may not wish to give up. The actual number of players that the coach will want to put on a full-time contract, or else the number that even want to have one, may not be that many."

The other quandary is how to get them fixtures. Kenya, widely regarded as the leading Associate, have found it almost impossible to get Full Member countries to visit or host them. As a result they invariably play other Associates. Good for the win-loss ratio, not so clever in providing the kind of experience that no amount of money can buy.

These issues will need to be addressed, but for now the future has never looked so promising beyond the Test world.

The Brunei Darussalam Cricket Association (BDCA) held its inaugural training came for their Under-19 women this month.

ACC's Development Officer for Brunei, Aminul Islam, conducted the four-day session and was very impressed with the "enthusiasm and spirit shown by the girls".

"All of them took the game very seriously and also coped fantastically well to their very first cricketing session. They will have to train hard for the ACC U-19 Women's Championship in November but I'm sure they can do well," said Aminul.

Brunei Online has more.

The Asian Cricket Council has confirmed Malaysia as the venue for the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite Division. The 10-team tournament will be held from July 25 to August 3, with all matches likely to be staged in Kuala Lumpur.

It was also confirmed the ACC Trophy will be held as two separate tournaments for the first time.

The ACC Trophy Elite tournament will be contested by the top 10 ranked ACC members: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the holders, the United Arab Emirates.

The ACC Trophy Challenge for the remaining ACC members is likely to be staged in Kuwait from January 11-17, 2009. Among the invitees are Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, China, Iran, the Maldives, Oman and Thailand, although it remains to be seen whether China fields a team.
Tony Munro

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

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Brunei's Under-15 side is heading off to Bangkok to take part in the Asian Cricket Council U-15 Challenge Cup. They are in the same group as Maldives and Qatar. The Borneo Bulletin has the full story.