All Stars, winners of Mali's National Cricket Championship, pose with their trophy © ACA

The third edition of Mali’s National Cricket Championship was held in Bamako, the capital city, from July 15 to 19 at the National Institute of Youth and Sport.

Four teams competed in the competition’s final stage, with two from Bamako (All Stars and Vampire Cricket Club), Sikasso’s regional team (Tata) and a team from Ségou (Reverend Père Bouvier). After a round-robin stage, Vampire Cricket Club and All Stars met in the final, with All Stars prevailing by 45 runs in a 30-over game to secure the trophy and the equivalent of US$200 in prize money.

As an indicator of the importance of the event to cricket in Mali a number of important officials were present at the closing ceremony, including the British and Burkina Faso Ambassadors, representatives of the Youth and Sport ministry and the general secretary of the Students Association. The event was covered by ORTM (the national television broadcaster), The Africable (a pan-African channel), and several local radio stations and newspapers.

During the ceremony, the speech of the president of FeMaCrik began with a minute of silence for the memory of Vanpee Orgle, the president of the Ghana Cricket Association who died last month. Players and match officials also wore black armbands during the competition to commemorate Orgle.

The Mali Cricket Federation has finally acquired an official cricket ground. The ground is located in Bamako, on the right bank of the Niger a few kilometres from the centre of the capital. The ground is big enough to have two cricket fields, along with the necessary pavilion and player facilities. The president of FeMaCrik, Tidane Fofana, said the next step will be to start building at the ground.

Tony Munro

At least four African countries are set to lose their annual international competition following the apparent demise of the North-West African Championships (NWAC).

Nigerian Cricket Federation President, Kwesi Sagoe, has advised CricInfo the event is "highly unlikely" to be held in 2010 due to issues obtaining sponsorship as a result of the state of his country's economy. It will be the second year in a row it has not been held.

There is a possibility Nigeria and/or Ghana will be included in one of the lower divisions of the global World Cricket League, however that option is not open to Sierra Leone, Gambia, Mali and Morocco.

The latter four can compete in the regional Africa Division Three event bi-annually, and depending on results play in Division Two the following year.

The NWAC was a successor to the old West African Cricket Conference which had been held since 1960.

ICC Africa Development Officer, Cassim Suliman said his office would consider providing financial support if approached.

The Malian Cricket federation recently completed a five-day umpire training course. A total of 38 people attended the theory sessions during the course, covering the principle laws of the game and important variations in the rules e.g. Powerplays. The participants included representatives from the regional leagues in Segou and Sikasso as well as most of the Bamako-based clubs, and included five women. After the theory and practical sessions came the tests; six people succeeded in passing the level 2 test, 12 passed the level I test and eight others were considered to have reached the Assistant Umpire standard.

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.

Tony Munro

One of the oldest running (give or take the odd year) tournament in international cricket starts this weekend when five countries contest the North West African Championships in Lagos, Nigeria.

The traditional entrants, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, all members of the British Commonwealth, have taken part in the old West African Championships since the 1960s.
Last year Mali and Morocco became the first former French territories to compete, (in Banjul, Gambia), and the tournament became the North West African Championships.

Mali is back, Morocco is not, and plans for Cameroon to debut this year have been scuppered.

Also returning this year are 12 of the 14 members of the successful Nigerian team, the only changes forced by work commitments. The five teams will contest a round-robin, with the winner decided on win-loss record.

Ghana and Sierra Leone are regarded as Nigeria's main threats.

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.

Phil Watson

There has been a great deal of activity in the last two months in Mali. As well as the different Muslim and Christian festivals (Tabaski, Christmas, New Year and Muslim New Year) several members of the FeMaCrik Executive Committee have been visiting cricketers in the regions thanks to an ICC-ACA grant. In particular Sikasso, Ségou and Timbuktu.

1. Sikasso. Sikasso is the principal city of Mali’s third region and close to the Ivorian border. FeMaCrik’s Technical Director (Dr Phil Watson) and Deputy Logistics Secretary (Mr Youssouf Coulibaly) made the seven-hour coach trip in December to visit the Sikasso Cricket league. The visit included visits to the regional director of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Art and Culture and some cricket clinics. The exciting news is that Mr Jacques Ouattara, a dynamic cricket coach and PE teacher, has returning to Sikasso after a year in Germany, and is introducing cricket into four high schools.

2 Ségou. Ségou is Mali’s second city and the principal city of Mali’s fourth region. FeMaCrik’s President (Mr Kawory Berthé) and the Malian Senior team’s Vice-Captain (Mr Mahamadou Taïfour Diaby) made the 3-4 hours coach trip in early January 2008. Having begun in 2005-6, the Ségou cricket league has had some administrative difficulties that are now being resolved. We hope there’ll soon be news of cricket being re-launched in the school system by Mr Soumaïla Toloba.

3 The introduction of cricket into Mali’s city of mysteries – Timbuktu. Timbuktu, the city of 333 saints, is the principal city of Mali’s 6th region. At over 900km from Bamako, including nearly 200kms of dirt road, access is challenging and travelling to and from Timbuktu is very tiring. After two young dynamic cricket coaches (Mr Dallamané Diallo and Mr Mamadou Berthé) were initiated at the September 2007 Cricket Coach training course, they returned to Timbuktu to introduce the sport under the auspices of the Regional Direction of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Art and Culture. FeMaCrik’s President (Mr Kawory Berthé) and Technical Director (Dr Phil Watson) visited them recently (17-31 December) and met various local dignitaries as well as running some coaching sessions. With 16 student teachers from the Hégire (Islamic Schools) and some high school pupils getting interested, we feel that a good foundation has been laid for the development of a cricket league at Timbuktu in the near future.

4 Other visits to Koulikoro and Morila are planned in the near future.

Many thanks to Phil Watson and Tony Munro