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)

Andrew Murgatroyd

Season five in El Salvador is expected to be the best yet with the trend of growth in the sport continuing. The country’s cricket board is conducting negotiations in the hope of realising two very interesting possibilities; a second field with a local Polo Club and a residential village only a few miles from the sea.

International competition is slated for December and March and, most importantly, the intake of local players has more than doubled since this time last year.

To meet this demand, a fourth club 1821 Jaguars now joins the Cuscatlan Chiefs, Atalcatl Knights and Ceiba (formerly known as Team Dell) in the El Salvador Cricket League. It is good also to see the clubs being run along the franchise model rather than centrally for the first time.

Club uniforms have been created, including logos, the club kit is being purchased, our website is being updated, and for marketing, recruitment & communication purposes we have created a Facebook site which has over 900 local members. It may not be ´sweeping the nation´, but there is a definite buzz around El Salvadorean cricket at the moment.

The formation of 1821 Jaguars is a result of interest generated through Facebook and our bi-annual magazine which is distributed to cafes around the city. Based in San Salvador, it takes its players from what we refer to as the ´outside world´. The three older clubs that have participated in the league for the last four seasons have been drawn from two principal sources, those being the British School and Dell. 1821 Jaguars are not from just one fixed source and include those who responded to our off-season promotion and wanted to give cricket a go. We did induct a couple of players from Chiefs' squad from the fourth season to add a few experienced heads, but it is at heart a new and cosmopolitan team. 1821 is the year of El Salvador's independence.

Each squad has about 14 players, with the percentage in each about 50% locals and foreigners, numbering to around 28 local players so far. Cricketing terminology hasn’t really been translated into the local tongue, so we tend to speak in Spanglish. Spanish sentences interrupted with English cricketing terms like ´run´, ´boundary´ etc.

We're hoping to host a tri-nations series in December, with two countries in mind. Should they be unable to accept, we've received an offer from the Los Angeles Cricket League, which gives us an option. In March, there's a possibility of a Central American tournament being held in either Panama or Mexico. We really want to take part in two international tournaments a year, ideally hosting one.

So now we enter the fifth El Salvador Cricket Season with our expectations greater than ever.

Andrew Murgatroyd

Last weekend four Central American nations met on the fields of Academia Britannica Cuscatleca (aka British School ) in El Salvador to compete for the second Easter Cup.

Named after the time of year when the first edition was played, it involved hosts El Salvador, defending champions Costa Rica, Easter Cup newcomers Mexico and favourites Belize, the Twenty20 event was a first time the small Central American nation had hosted an international.

The sun shone brightly, and with a wind keeping the fielders cool and the bails wobbling, the tournament was set.

The British School field had been cleared of its football goals and gym bars, a pitch-sized trench had been cut out of the centre field, a wooden underlay put down and an artificial mat laid on top. With a sound system playing, and a bouncy castle, food court and drinks available the players waited for the clock to tick down.

If rankings and experience were true measures Belize and Mexico would fight it out for top spot, with Costa Rica and El Salvador competing for third place

The tournament started with the biggest clash of the four games : Belize v Mexico . Once the anthems had faded and the umpires in place, some fireworks batting from the Belize opening pair in the very first over indicated, as good a spirit as the tournament was played in, teams were in it to win it.

The Mexican reply started equally impressively but couldn’t maintain the momentum and Belize in the end finished comfortable winners. Costa Rica look to Mexico as their target for improvement while El Salvador look to Costa Rica.

Some tight bowling and careless batting had Costa Rica posting a modest total as they opened with the bat. El Salvador recovered from a first-over loss to get their noses in front and seemed to be cruising, then a combination of nerves and improved bowling turned the tables and Costa Rica won to preserve their 100% record against El Salvador.

Day two began with Belize making another aggressive start, and despite a Costa Rica fightback in the second half, they posted a total that looked daunting.

And so it proved to be. With wickets falling early the Costa Rica middle order saw their challenge as surviving the 20 overs. This, to their credit, they managed however Belize had won easily again.

Up until now the pitch – with a few notable exceptions - had been true and predictable, the umpires consistent and calm and the scoreboard busy.

The wind had died down, drink were flowing and the shady tents were beginning to fill up with a pleasingly large amount of Sunday afternoon spectators, at least half of which were curious Salvadoreans.

The final game saw El Salvador risk batting first and it seemed to pay off with another strong batting start. The tail starts too early for this new cricketing nation however and although a decent total had been posted it didn´t look like it was going to be enough.

Blistering aggressive attacking by the Mexican opening pair had El Salvador flummoxed as they struggled to stem the flow of runs. Mexico won easily.

A closing ceremony followed with the appropriate thanks given to the school, the principal sponsors (Wegerich Natural Medicines & El Salvador/Canada Chamber of Commerce), some generous private donors, the many helpers, and the traveling teams. Last off the trophy table came the bottles of champagne.

A fine tournament had worthy winners and a group of exhausted but satisfied cricketers watched Belize pop the corks while a few thoughts drifted to the next regional tournament - the Central American Tournament, Costa Rica, April 2009.

The ESC League finished their first round in mid-October and round two began in November.

Round 1 summary

Cuscatlan Chiefs 115 for 4 beat Atlacatl Knights 40 by 75 runs

Some sharp early bowling by Cullen and Carpio saw Chiefs in trouble. They quickly recovered though with useful innings by Reyes, McHugh and Murgatroyd to reach a healthy total of 115. The Knights never looked like they would seriously challenge as A. Portillo claimed two victims in the first over.

Tony Munro

The amount of 'international' cricket played in Central America is set to increase with a tentative agreement between El Salvador, Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica to compete for the Easter Cup annually. El Salvador will be the hosts for the tournament's second edition, in December.

The Easter Cup was originally intended to be a one-off tournament, prompted by the success of the second Central American Championships in November, 2007. Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua played for the Easter Cup in March, 2008, with Costa Rica emerging as the winners.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica will be the venue for the third Central American Championships in March, with Panama being the other country to receive an invitation. 

Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama are Affiliate Members of the ICC, while in El Salvador and Nicaragua is still in the embryonic stage. El Salvador though, has a four-team league.

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 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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	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.”