The ICC European Development Programme has announced its 2010 tournament schedule which will see a number of European countries participate in an exciting and challenging programme of tournaments during July and August next year.

Following the programmes’s bi-annual rotational process, it is the turn of Divisions 1 and 2 to take to the stage at senior level.

Jersey have taken the opportunity to host Division 1 for the first time in early July. The six participating teams will play a round-robin format and participation is based on ICC global rankings.

Division 2 will be hosted by Guernsey in mid July and again participation is based on World Cricket League (WCL) rankings and will also include Israel, who having won 2009’s Division 3 Championship then went on to triumph at the play-off in October with Division 2’s sixth-placed side Croatia and were consequently promoted to Division 2.

Division 2 will be a particularly vital tournament for France, Germany and Israel as these countries are currently not imbedded in the WCL structure and a good performance in this tournament could see them win a place in the WCL Division 8 tournament to take place in late November/December 2010. Progress into the ICC World Cricket League enables countries to vie for qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup so an important event for these three European countries.

The European women’s cricket programme is represented in 2010 by the senior European Women’s CWC Qualifier Championship to be held in mid August and hosted for the first time by Scotland. A four-team round robin fixture list will see the welcome addition of the ECB Women’s Academy side to the event.

A busy youth programme gets underway in July with the 8-team Under 17 Division 2 Championship and followed in late July by the European U19 CWC Qualifier hosted by Ireland and will give the opportunity for the same group of players to prepare for the global qualifier in 2011 and ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2012. In August the Under 15 Division 1 Championship will be held in Netherlands.

A new initiative for 2010 is the Under 17 Challenge Series which replaces the Under 17 Division 1 Championship. This pilot programme will consist of the six Division 1 countries participating in two three-match series of home and away fixtures during the summer season. The opposition for these matches will be the other Division 1 countries and also possibly English county sides and it is hoped these fixtures will have the result of adding value to the countries’ youth development programmes with more consistent and testing opposition.

2010 ICC European Championship Schedule

1-7 July
ICC European WCL Division 1 Championship: Jersey
Participants: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Netherlands, Scotland

13-19 July
ICC European WCL Division 2 Championship: Guernsey
Participants: France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Israel, Norway

18-23 July
ICC European Under 17 Division 2 Championship - venue TBC
Participants: TBC

24-30 July
ICC European Under 19 WCQ Championship: Ireland
Participants: Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Netherlands, Scotland

9-13 August
ICC European Women’s WCQ Championship: Scotland
Participants: Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, ECB Academy

9-14 August
ICC European Under 15 Division 1 Championship: Netherlands
Participants: Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Netherlands, Scotland

Various Dates
ICC European Under 17 Challenge Series: various venues
Participants: Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Netherlands, Scotland

ICC Europe has announced the tournament fixture schedule for the upcoming ICC European Under-19 Division 2 Championship to be held in Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium.

This will be the third time that a Division 2 tournament has been staged at this age group and will see the Under-19 national squads from Belgium, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Israel, Italy and Isle of Man contest the Championship title over a series of 50-over and Twenty20 matches.

“The competition is of particular importance to national development programmes and player pathways as it gives young cricketers a taste of international cricket before they play
for their country's senior side,” said, ICC Europe regional development manager
Richard Holdsworth. "With seven teams participating, this event is one of the larger tournaments in Europe this summer. There is nothing greater than representing your country in any sport and to be able to do so prior to senior level will hopefully inspire continued growth and development of cricketers in our junior age groups."

Hemantha Jayasena, Italy

Four games have now been completed in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and all our hard work now rests on the outcome of our final match.

After beating Tanzania we know that if we win on Friday we will get promoted to Division 3 and we are all desperate to play in Argentina next January – we will do everything that we can to qualify for that tournament.

We played Afghanistan in a warm-up game before this tournament which it won by three runs, but that match was our first in Tanzania and we were still getting used to the conditions, so we are not worried about that. It should be a fantastic game.

The one problem that we have had at this tournament is injuries – it was like sitting in the casualty ward at a hospital in our dressing room against Tanzania.

We managed to lose one of our players for the rest of the tournament when he sprained an ankle in the warm-up and then ten minutes before the start of play another got severe spasms in his neck when pulling on his Italian shirt and ended up having to go to hospital and wear a neck brace for the rest of the day. It was absolutely incredible.

I was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Italy when I was twenty years old. I was asked whether I wanted to come to Italy to play club cricket – I had never even thought about moving to Italy until then – and once I was there I decided that I didn’t want to live anywhere else.

I work in factory for the sponsors of our cricket club and have a wife and two daughters living with me in Italy. My eldest girl is already showing a keen interest in the game as well which is great.

I was lucky enough to play eight first-class matches back in Sri Lanka so it is great to be able to share my experience with players who are coming up in the Italian team.

My favourite cricketer is Sanath Jayasuriya. I actually played against him twenty years ago in a schools game – you could tell even at a young age that he was going to be a star.

I have also played against Muttiah Muralitharan – I only faced him for two balls and I’m pleased to say I didn’t get out against him. Unfortunately the bowler at the other end dismissed me!

Cricket in Italy is getting more popular. Although the majority of people who play the game are expats, there is lots of work being done to get young Italians to play the sport which is important for the growth of the game at home.

I have also noticed a big difference in my time living in Italy. Before people hadn’t even heard of the sport, but now they at least recognize what game we are playing when they see us taking part in a match. I think that shows that cricket is slowly becoming more popular but there is still a lot of work to be done.

In our domestic competition we play once a week, which is 50-over cricket, and there is also an annual Twenty20 competition. It’s been quite tough this week having to play four matches in such a short space of time which I think is why we’ve had some injuries.

The league is very multicultural and just in my club team, which I captain, we have players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Argentina and of course some Italians as well. Playing in the competition is a great way to meet people from all around the world.

It will be really special if we can make it through this tournament and I just can’t wait for Afghanistan game to begin.

Cricket has a rather odd place in Italian sporting history, and that it used to be played widely by British expats indirectly led to football becoming the major sport in the country.

Several of the top football sides owe their existence to cricket, perhaps most famously AC Milan which was formed as a cricket club in 1899 by two British expats from Nottingham. But now Asian expats are reintroducing cricket to the country, and earlier this year the IPL was broadcast on an Italian satellite channel.

"There are loads of people playing cricket in the streets," the Italian board president Simone Gambino told Reuters. His organisation’s challenge is to foster the enthusiasm of the Asian community and spread it among the local population. There is also a problem with finding enough pitches to play on.

Gambino said he was confident that the Italian side was good enough to beat much better opposition. “If Zimbabwe played Italy in a series of five matches, we would certainly win one game yet they are Full Members."

As an Associate member of the ICC, Italy will benefit from increased funding which kicks in next year, However, it also faces problems from on high. Dependent on expats, cricket could well be affected by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s well-publicied clampdown on immigration.

By Tony Munro

Joe Scuderi, the former Lancashire allrounder, will captain Italy in the ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament in Tanzania early next month. Vincenzo Pennazza, who represented South Africa at the 2004 Under-19 World Cup is also in the 14-man squad.

Squad: Joe Scuderi (capt), Din Alaud, Andrea Corbellari, Gayashan Munasinghe, Hemantha Jayasena, Samantha Ketipe, Thushara Kurukulasuriya, Andrew Northcote, Nicholas Northcote, Vincenzo Pennazza, Kelum Pereram Peter Petricola, Luca Poli, Nicola Puccio.

Cricket is gaining popularity in Italy, a football-mad nation, thanks to thousands of subcontinental immigrants flooding into the country.

With a few hundred thousand people from the Indian subcontinent now in Italy, there are real quality players moving up from the parks into the league and national side, said Simone Gambino, an Italian who caught the cricket bug while visiting England in the 1970s and who now heads the Italian Cricket Federation.

Local councils have begun to provide space for games, said Gambino. "There are around 100,000 people from the subcontinent in the province of Brescia, and they want to play cricket, so the council had to provide pitches to stop people being struck by cricket balls."

Tom Kington has the full story in The Guardian.

Ireland made slightly hard work of beating Italy at Malahide, but Paul Stirling's unbeaten 54 off 79 balls ensured a four-wicket victory with more than 13 overs to spare. Ireland's bowlers kept a tight leash on the Italians as they struggled to score at more than three-an-over. Ireland stumbled to 75 for 4 after 15 overs, but Stirling ensured they didn't go the same away as Netherlands, who were beaten by Italy on the opening day of the tournament.

Unlike the opening day of matches, there were no surprises when Scotland beat Italy by six wickets at The Vineyard. Italy, who completed a shock eight-run win over Netherlands yesterday, slumped to 125 all out . They were in danger of being dismissed for under 100 when they were 87 for 9 until a last-wicket stand of 38 (the highest for the innings) between Vince Pennazza and Din Alaud gave them some respectability. Pennazza bagged Ryan Watson early in Scotland's chase but from then on the innings was a formality, with Scotland completing the job in 29 overs.

Italy registered a notable scalp on the opening day of the European Championships Division 1 as they beat Netherlands by eight runs at North County in Dublin. Joe Scuderi, the former Lancashire allrounder, hit an unbeaten 84 to steer Italy to 181, which proved too much for their higher-ranked opponents. Tim de Groot hit 51, but he lacked support and the lower order couldn't quite see the chase home as Netherlands were bowled out with more than six overs remaining.

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.

ICC Europe has announced the schedule and venues for the ICC European Division 1 Championship to be held in Ireland from the July 25 to 31, 2008.

The 50-over round-robin tournament will see Europe's top six Associate and Affiliate countries - Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Scotland - fight it out for Europe's top spot. Six cricket grounds will be used to host a total of 15 matches that will see each country come face to face over five days.

Click here for the full story

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.

Click here for the full story.

The ICC Europe Cricket Committee (ECC) have confirmed Ireland as the host for next year's European Division One Championship.

They lasted hosted the tournament in 2002 when 12 teams participated. In the past five years, however, six more countries have joined including Europe's four High Performance Program countries: Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Norway - who won Division Two in 2006 - also join Italy.

The previous championship, hosted by Scotland in 2006, crowned Ireland as the European Champions and 2008's event will also feature three official one-dayers.

Meanwhile it was also confirmed that Guernsey will host the Division Two Championship in August, a six-team tournament which includes France, Germany, Gibraltar and Jersey. The sixth place will be decided later this year when Croatia meet Israel on November 18.

Supporters of Genoa, Italy's oldest professional football club, have long been proud of their Anglo roots. Founded, like AC Milan, by a group of Brits in 1893 as Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club (Sir James Spensley started the football in 1896), it's still officially known as Genoa Cricket and Football Club.

Things have been going well on the footballing front of late, with i grifoni (the Griffins) finally winning promotion back into Italy's Serie A after a series of false starts. Now, a group of supporters keen to know more about their distant cricketing past approached the club and are giving cricket a new lease of life.

Click here for more.

Argentina and Papua New Guinea (PNG) complete the semi-final line-up of the World Cricket League Division 3 after recording impressive victories on the last day of the group matches in Darwin. Argentina take on Cayman Islands in the semi-finals tomorrow, while PNG meet Uganda.

Group A

Argentina routed Fiji for 44 inside 22 overs before knocking off the target in 30 balls. Esteban Nino, bowling with impressive pace, took 4 for 16 while Gary Savage and Diego Lord shared the remaining six. At one stage, Fiji were 9 for 7; that they reached the lofty heights of 44 owed much to Vuiyasawa Mateiwaqa's 16 and 15 extras. Lucas Paterlini and Grant Dugmore knocked off the required runs in the fifth over.

PNG beat Italy by eight wickets, but it was their superior net run-rate which edged them into the semi-finals, after both teams were tied following two wins each. PNG, who suffered a shock five-wicket defeat against Argentina on Tuesday, had to beat the Italians by a convincing margin to earn a berth in the last four. They did just that, dismissing Italy for 134 before cruising to their target in the 34th over. Arua Uda top-scored with 58 from 92 balls.

Group B

Poor shot selection from the Cayman Islands condemned them to a 26-run defeat to Uganda. Both teams had already qualified for the semis on Tuesday but Uganda put in an excellent allround performance, dismissing Cayman Islands for 127 in the 47th over with Charles Waiswa picking up 2 for 21. Uganda's 153 was led by Arthur Kyobe, the 18-year-old, who struck 37 from 64 balls.

Tanzania tasted its first win of the tournament, overpowering Hong Kong by five wickets. Hong Kong made 161, with Rahul Sharma notching 43 while Bhavesh Govind took 3 for 31. Tanzania cruised home with Abhik Patwa and Rishen Patel putting on 77 for the opening stand, edging over the line in the 47th over.

The European Cricket Council has announced a deal with ICC Europe, ECB and Premium TV to make ECBtv available on subscription throughout Europe.

In many areas of Europe there is no access to TV highlights of matches, and this move looks to make coverage accessible to everyone.

"ECB is pleased and excited to be able to offer Europe’s cricket fans access to ECBtv and it is hoped that it will take the game to previously uncharted areas, inspiring people to get involved in this great sport,” Richard Holdsworth, the ICC’s regional development manager, said. "Delivering live video coverage via broadband to European territories has brought people closer to the game than ever before.”

ECBtv shows Test and one-day international matches live to certain territories, as well as match highlights, exclusive interviews, press conferences, coaching master classes and many other features to a global audience. Live streams start at £2.99. Click here for full details.

Eight of cricket’s emerging nations will be hoping to take one step towards qualification for the 2011 World Cup when the World Cricket League Division 3 gets underway this Sunday (May 27) in Darwin.

The top two teams from this event will join UAE, Namibia, Denmark and Oman
in Windhoek, Namibia at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 November. The top four teams from the event in Namibia will automatically qualify for the ICC World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in 2009, while the two remaining teams will have a second chance to qualify for the UAE tournament at the World Cricket League Division 3 in early 2009.

Click here for the full team-by-team preview.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

With the exception of Bermuda, cricket is not a mainstream sport in any of the participants. And yet it survives, and in some instances thrives, despite the lack of attention and a relatively small number of enthusiasts.

The ICC, who do sterling work in supporting the game's second and third tiers, will rightly use the event to highlight that cricket is not just about the Indians and Australias of the world.

But there remains a nagging worry. The ICC boasts that the game is spreading across the world. But is that right? Is it taking root or is it surviving because more people from its hotbed - south-east Asia - are emigrating and keeping it alive for the duration of their careers?

In last year's Wisden Almanack, Matthew Engel raised this very issue. "Overwhelmingly, the game in non-traditional countries is played by expatriates, mostly South Asian. Journalists were kidded into believing that cricket was about to burst on China, on the basis of some warm comments by civil servants and a couple of coaching courses. I have seen not one shred of evidence to back this up. Are the kids playing with tapeballs on the streets of Shanghai? Are they heck!"

Take Canada. Of the squad in Nairobi at the moment, only three were born in the country, and two of those are over 35. Of the rest, five come from the Caribbean, four from India and each from Pakistan and Uganda. Whereas other Associates have a smattering of expats, Canada are utterly reliant on them.

Engel's comment attracted fierce criticism from those who either argued that England had more than their share of "imports" or that the game only spread in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Caribbean through expats playing it in the first place.

The worry in some countries is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants

With regards to England, yes there have been quite a few non English-born players who have been picked for the side, but the game still has a massive stronghold in the country. The selection has been more about improving a solid side. And as for the ex-pats argument? Well, yes, but that's the crucial point. In the regions flagged the game was brought in but it was then embraced by the indigenous population and taken on as their own. This is exemplified no better than in CLR James's seminal work, Beyond A Boundary.

The worry in some countries - and again I come back to Canada - is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants. Canada's cricket heritage is rich but there is little sign that it has been built on. This is best underlined by the selection of former West Indies international Anderson Cummins. Forty years old and without a major match to his name since 1995-96, he made his debut in Mombasa last week. What message does that send out about the strength in depth of cricket in Canada?

It's not just Canada. Look at the USA, whose 2004 Champions Trophy side was a collection of ageing expats whose performances verged on the disgraceful. And the UAE, which is almost entirely dependant on its ex-pat workforce to keep the game alive.

Cricket's expansion should not be about filling teams with expats and expecting the locals to get excited about it. The only way cricket can gain a foothold in emerging countries is by actually getting the indigenous population to embrace the game, and two excellent examples where this is happening are Nepal and Uganda.

Anderson Cummins of Barbados, West Inbies ... and now Canada © Eddie Norfolk

Does it matter? Yes, because as the ICC looks to develop the game in as many places as possible, that means the financial cake has to be cut in ever thinner slices. The ICC needs to concentrate on a smaller number of countries where the chances of the game taking off. It is invidious that Uganda gets the same basic allowance as Belgium.

Cricket is in trouble in its traditional homes in Africa - Zimbabwe are hell-bent on destruction and South Africa seems to be falling out of love with the game. So efforts should be made in Uganda . And in Asia, which everyone accepts is the game's stronghold, a side like Nepal should really be given the leg up. It's about targeting rather than a scattergun approach.

In fairness to the ICC, they have a tough time and a lot of countries scrambling for a share of the spoils. It's about weeding out the weak and really looking to grow the game in areas where it has the best chance of taking root. It's an almost impossible ask. Look at the repeated failure of American Football to crack Europe ... and if football itself still battles for acceptance outside expats and schools in the USA, then the size of the ICC's task becomes clear.

Of course expats have a key role to play in expansion. But if the game is basically played by them, is it the game spreading or is it more about diehards clinging to the traditions of their homelands? In the UK there are baseball and American football sides, but they are almost all expat Americans and so few would seriously claim the games have taken hold. However, basketball and ice hockey are widely played by locals, boosted by some imported players and expats, and, crucially, the national side can stand on its own two feet. That's the difference.

The Italian Cricket Federation are planning to hold their first cricket academy in April 2007. 16 players from the first division of the Italian Cricket League, aged between 15 and 19, will be selected. The aim of the venture is to bridge the gap between schools cricket and senior club cricket.

As encouraging as this sounds, cricket in Italy is still very much a minority sport. The Academy director, James Cheyne who grew up in Britain, says the lack of tradition and history of the sport in Italy is a major obstacle to it prospering in the future.

“Youngsters do not grow up with cricket and miss out on the opportunity to pick up the tricks of the game and do not encompass its unique spirit.”

“The Italian Cricket federation held a 3 day U13 championship in which around 120 boys and girls participated.

“Five years on, only a few of those boys continued to play the game. This level of dropout is not good and we must do something to sustain the development of cricket amongst the youth”

The ECB have more

Italy isn't yet a hotbed of cricketing talent, but that hasn't stopped the annual Italian Cricket Federation finals taking place, as reported by the ECC:

Pianoro CC set the stage for the annual Italian Cricket Federation (FCrI) age group finals over the weekend of the 7th and 8th October 2006. Five 8-a-side teams from the U13 age group, together with numerous FCrI club officials gathered at the cricket club, situated just outside of Bologna.

The U13 competition was won by Bologna CC who, having established a core of talent from the local Bangladesh community, were the strongest team on show, forcing Capannelle CC into second place on this occasion. The tournament was held in tandem with an FCrI teachers and club players introductory course.

According to CricketEurope, the ICC will expand the World Cricket League to five divisions:

The leading five European nations have already won places in the first three divisions: World Cup qualifiers Ireland, The Netherlands and Scotland in Division 1 (which will take place in Kenya in January-February next year), Denmark in Division 2 (planned for Namibia in November 2007), and Italy in Division 3 (planned to take place in the USA in summer 2007).

But with an eight-team Division 5 tournament now planned for the first half of 2008, five places in which are assigned to the next ranked country in each region, Norway are guaranteed a slot, along with Afghanistan, Argentina, Botswana and the Cook Islands.

The three remaining places will be allocated by the ICC Development Committee when it meets in December, and those allocations will be based on the rankings of the next group of countries. This means that Jersey, runners-up to Norway in this year’s European Second Division tournament, and possibly even Germany, who finished third, will be competing with The Bahamas, Panama, Nepal, Singapore, Mozambique, Zambia and Japan for those last three positions.

Read the full story at cricketeurope.net

The European Cricket Council's European Cricket Championships, which are being held in Scotland, are the first to be organised under the auspices of the International Cricket Council’s World Cricket League.

The tournament will feature 13 countries in two divisions playing 30 matches in seven days at 12 west of Scotland grounds, starting on Thursday (August 3).

The Division 1 sides - Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy - will play a round-robin tournament, from which there is no relegation. The three matches involving the first three named teams are deemed by the International Cricket Council as official One-Day Internationals, and will be played at Ayr Cricket Club, where ground facilities have been upgraded with support from South Ayrshire Council.

Scotland’s other two matches will be played at New Anniesland (against Denmark) and Hamilton Crescent (against Italy).

Division 2 consists of eight teams - France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hellas (Greece), Israel, Jersey and Norway - who will play in two initial pools of four, followed by crossover semi-finals and four ranking finals - and one team will be promoted to the first division in two years’ time. The facilities at all grounds have been equipped with additional weather protection and other enhancements, thanks to a range of local authority grants and commercial support.

A huge bonus is available for the Division 2 teams, with the winners not only promoted to the European Division 1 in 2008, but also a place in the new ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in 2007-08. This team will receive $20,000 towards preparation of that event, the venue of which is still to be decided.