The Brazilian team celebrate winning the WCL Americas Division 3 tournament © Cricinfo Ltd

Tony Munro

Brazil and Belize won their matches on the final day of the World Cricket League Americas Division 3 tournament in Santiago on Monday, to seal the first and second places respectively. Brazil beat Peru by 18 runs in what was possibly the latter's best performance of the tournament, while the Belize beat hosts Chile by two wickets.

Captain Matthew Featherstone led the charge for Brazil, top scoring with 77 in his team's total of 251 for 6 in 50 overs, while Greigor Caisley (48) and Rubabul Islam (39) provided good back-up. Tony Sanford was the main wicket-taker for Peru, taking 2 for 51 from his 10 overs.

Peru ended the tournament in spirited fashion, managing 233 for 9 in reply. Michael Soulsby was their main contributor with 57, while Ahmed Ansari Nadeem chipped in with 29. Vince Bastick took 4 for 59 from 8.4 overs for Brazil.

Chile captain Simon Shalders won the toss and elected to bat in their battle for second place against Belize. Shalders led the way, top scoring with 59, as Tristan Bradbrook (48) and Guy Hooper (40) lent good support. Belize captain Dirk Sutherland bowled well to take 5 for 32 from nine overs, to keep Chile to 223 for 9 from its 50 overs.

Sutherland performed with the bat as well, staying undefeated on 39, while Robert Casasola (60) provided the backbone to the reply and saw them through with 21 balls to spare. Pablo Meijas was the pick of the Chilean bowlers with 2 for 37.

Scores:

Belize 224 for 8 (Casasola 60, Sutherlund 39*, Mejias 2-37) beat Chile 223 for 9 (Shalders 59, Bradbrook 48, Hooper 40, Sutherland 5-32) by two wickets

Brazil 251 for 6 (Featherstone 77, Caisley 48, Islam 39, Sanford 2-51) beat Peru 233 for 9 (Michael Soulsby 57, Ahmed Ansari Nadeem 29, Bastick 4-59) by 18 runs

	Simon Shalders after making 195 not out against Peru © ICC

Matches on day two of the ICC Americas Division 3 tournament in Santiago were abandoned around 3.00 pm due to persistent showers. Both games started as scheduled but there were insufficient breaks in the rain for them to be completed.

The match between first-round winners, Chile, and Brazil had enough play for Chile to make 31 for 0 from 9.2 overs. The other game involving Peru and Belize had only five overs and Belize made 13 for 1. Both matches will now start afresh on Monday, previously the scheduled reserve day.

Meanwhile, Chile captain Simon Shalders' unbeaten 195 on Saturday against Peru is now (unofficially at least) third on the list of highest individual scores in official ICC cricket at the Associate and Affiliate level. Arshad Ali (United Arab Emirates) made 213 against Brunei in the 2006 ACC Trophy, while Gerrie Snyman (Namibia) hit 196 against the UAE in the 2007 World Cricket League Division 2 tournament. Thanks - Grant Dugmore and Andrew Nixon.

Tony Munro

An unbeaten 195 from captain Simon Shalders launched Chile to a 163-run win over Peru in Santiago in their first game of the World Cricket League Americas Division Three campaign on Friday.

Shalders smashed seven sixes and 24 fours to boost Chile to 323-5 from their 50 overs; Peru only managed 160 in reply. Such was Shalders' dominance that the next best scorer for Chile was Guy Hooper (32), while Tristan Bradbrook (21) also chipped in. Nadeem Ahmed Ansad was the only Peru bowler to hold out against the rampage, taking 1 for 29 from his ten overs.

Peru captain Miles Buesst (32) and Chris Abbott (20) were the main contributors against the Chilean attack led by Kamran Zeb (4-24) and John Fecci (3-23).

Meanwhile, Brazil caused something of an upset when they sneaked home by one wicket with three balls to spare against Belize. Belize batted first to reach 182 from their 50 overs; they recovered from a precarious position at 102 for 8 in 27 overs. Jermaine Pook stayed with the tail score an unbeaten 34 from 80 balls. Deodat Randolph (3-34) was the pick of the Brazil bowlers.

In reply, Brazil slipped to 59 for 4, before a pivotal fifth-wicket partnership of 90 between Randolph (48) and Rubabul Islam (76) lifted them to 149 for 5. Belize counter-attacked to take four wickets, and left Brazil nine wickets down with two runs still needed for victory.

For Belize, Mykelt Anthony (3-31) and Howell Gillett (3-26) were the main wicket-takers.

The winners of Saturday's matches, Chile and Brazil meet on Sunday, as will the losers, Belize and Peru.

Scores:

Chile 323-5 (50 overs) (Simon Shalders 195n.o., Guy Hooper 32, Tristan Bradbrook 21; Nadeem Ahmed Ansad 1-29)

Peru 160 (38.2 overs) (Miles Buesst 32, Chris Abbott 20; Kamran Zeb 3-32, John Fecci 4-24)

Belize 183 (42.5 overs) (Jermaine Pook 34n.o.; Deodat Randolph 3-43)

Brazil 187-9 (49.3 overs) (Rubabul Islam 76, Deodat Randolph 48; Howell Gillett 3-26, Mykelt Anthony 3-31)

Tony Munro

The latest regional qualifying tournament for the World Cricket League kicks off on Friday when Americas Division Three involving hosts, Chile, Belize, Brazil and Peru commences in Santiago.

There'll be a touch of deja vu for three of the four teams - Chile, Brazil and Peru. This will be the third tournament where they have met in 12 months. Last October, all four teams met when Americas Division Three was staged, while the South American Championships brought three of the teams together earlier this year.

Chile go into the tournament arguably as favourites due to a combination of home advantage and recent results against the same opposition - they finished above these three teams in the corresponding tournament last year, and ahead of Brazil and Peru at the South American Championships.

Three of the four teams have locally born players in their squad - Belize, adjacent to the Caribbean, is totally home grown; Brazil has five and Chile four.

Chile are led by last year’s Player-of-the-Tournament, Simon Chalders, in a squad which contains five all-rounders - Ian Walker, Jim Scarbrough and Michael Meade, Thomas Dawes and Christian Eyzaguirre. Spinner Pablo Mejias and opening bowler Tristan Bradbrook are the other two locally born players in the squad.

Peru are hopeful of at least equalling their one win in last year's Americas Division Three tournament, thanks to a training schedule which is aimed at increasing their players’ agility in areas such as running between wickets.

There is further information about the Belize and Brazil squads here.

Draw:

Friday, October 9 - Chile v Peru, Belize v Brazil

Saturday, October 10 - Chile v Brazil, Belize v Peru

Monday, October 12 - Chile v Belize, Peru v Brazil


Chile: Simon Chalders (Capt.), Guy Hooper, Michael Meade, Ian Walker, James Scarborough, Stephen Foot, Kamran Zeb, Joseph Williams, Tristan Bradbrook, John Fecci, Pablo Meijias, Christian Hesketh, Christian Eyzaguirre, Thomas Dawes

Peru: Miles Buesst (Capt.), Harry Hildebrand, Chris Abbott, Julian Walter, Anthony Sanford, Simon Walter, John Bell, Manoj Rana, Nadeem Ansari, Dinesh Ekanayake, Hans de Wit, Chris Hodgson, Michael Soulsby.

From ICC Americas' June 2008 newsletter

The Peru Cricket Federation (PCF) held its AGM on June 6 at Lima Cricket & Football Club and we were delighted to have the region’s ICC Development Officer, Grant Dugmore, in attendance.

After the usual administrative items, he presented Peru Captain Harry Hildebrand with his Volunteer of the Year award. During the AGM, we were able to reflect on an eventful and productive first year as an ICC affiliated cricketing nation, with particular highlights being the ICC Americas Division 3 Championship in Buenos Aires, featuring Peru’s first international victory and the highly successful inaugural Twenty20 Championship played between four local teams.

There was of course lots of talk of continuing development, to build on these foundations. Grant held a seminar for the new PCF Committee on the morning of June 7th to outline ICC fund allocation, use and accounting. With this in mind, we are putting together a proposal for ICC assistance in the construction of cricket nets at Biram Bingham School, Lima, with the goal of providing much needed extra practice facilities and kickstarting schools cricket. Cricket has been reintroduced to two English language schools in Lima, Markham and Cambridge colleges, and a competitive match between them is in the pipeline.

In the realm of adult cricket, the PCF is hopeful of sending a team to play in Curitiba, Brazil in October 2008. They are also looking forward to hosting the Hollywood Golden Oldies team in March 2009.

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.

They say every good book or movie should have a dynamic beginning, a solid middle to keep your interest and a surprise and thrilling ending. If the 2008 Americas Division 3 was a movie or book it had the perfect script.

The beginning, days 1 & 2, saw Chile upsetting the two co-favourites on consecutive days beating Belize and Turks & Caicos. The Chile captain, Simon Shalders, with a brilliant century (104) was the hero on the first day. He was back again on day two but this time in a supporting role (69) as he watched countryman Paul Wollocombe take the spotlight with another century (104). Chiles’s third match was against newcomer Peru and it was no surprise going into the rest day. Their perfect record of 3-0 had them comfortably in front, with only struggling Brazil in the path to Division 2. Meanwhile Belize and Turks & Caicos could only try to keep pace and hope for a miracle.

That miracle happened on day 4 when Brazil, led by the skipper Matt Featherstone (152 from 109 balls) posted a massive score of 359 for 6 in their 50 overs.

Chile knew all was at stake and gave it a valiant try again. Led by Shalders (80) the Chileans fell short of capturing the crown by 37 runs. This surprising loss opened up the gates for Belize and Turks & Caicos and set up the most exciting finish ever at an Americas Region tournament.

Day five, the final chapter, and it was all about run rate with Belize playing TCI. In an extraordinary turn of events, three teams – TCI, Belize and Chile - all stood a chance of winning the championship off the final ball of the match. TCI batted first and made 196, Belize were 192 for 9 with one ball to go. Chile had completed the tournament with 12 points, Belize and TCI had 8 and there was 4 on the line for a victory. The latter two had better run rates than Chile.

A six (or 5 runs) on the final delivery would have given Belize the Championship. A four would have given Chile the championship - anything less and TCI would be crowned. Howell Gillett (no rabbit) was on 62 facing the final delivery from TCI skipper Ralph Doughty. (Who wrote this script?). On the final delivery, Gillett’s desperate swing did not make proper contact and resulted in one run being scored and a Turks & Caicos Championship.

Final Table
1st Turks & Caicos Islands
2nd Chile
3rd Belize
4th Peru
5th Brazil

Simon Shalders (Chile) took both Best Batsman and Player-of-the-Tournament awards.

Taken from the ICC Americas regional newsletter for February 2008

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.

Chile maintained their unbeaten record with a 54-run win over neighbours Peru on the third day of the ICC Americas Division 3 tournament in Argentina. Chile were pressed all the way and at 68 for 6 appeared to be on course for a low score. But Tim Messner (57) and Kamran Zeb (41) added 75 runs for the ninth wicket as Chile climbed to 203 all out. Peru had troubles of their own as they slumped to 5 for 4, and despite a sixth-wicket stand of 62 between Ahmed Nadeem (53) and D. Lakdal (49) they were bowled out for 149 in 38 overs. In the other game Brazil slid to their third loss in as many days as they were bowled out for 169, a total Turks and Caicos Islands passed for the loss of five wickets.

Chile now have three wins from three games and need to beat Brazil in their final game on Friday to win the tournament.

Remaining matches

Friday 15 February - Belize v Peru, Brazil v Chile

Saturday 16 February - Belize v Turks & Caicos Islands, Brazil v Peru,

Chile dominated the first two days of the ICC Americas Division 3 tournament in Argentina, beating pre-tournament favourites Belize by 26 runs on the opening day after posting 271 for 6, with their captain Simon Shalders leading the way with an 84-ball 104. In the day’s other game, Peru, only admitted to ICC membership in 2007, went down to an eight-wicket defeat to Turks & Caicos Islands combination, whose veteran captain Ralph Doughty took 4 for 18 in 9.2 overs.

On the second day Chile powered to an eight-wicket win over Turks and Caicos Islands. Turks and Caicos were bowled out for 252, with Donvan Mathews’ 68 the top score. Chile's Paul Woolocombe lead the chase with an unbeaten 104 with captain Simon Shalders scoring 69. In the other match Belize beat Brazil by 138 runs, bowling out the Brazilians for 55.

An ICC Level 1 Coaching Course was held in Lima from October 22 to 27 and was followed by a Level 1 Umpiring Course from November 3 to 11. The charms of Lima, including a wonderful and historic club for such events in Lima Cricket & Football Club, good hotels at low prices, rain free weather and a central position in South America, make this city an ideal venue for such events. The second Cricket Veloz, a Twenty20 competition fought out by four clubs, LCFC, the Kiteflyers, the Eidgenossen and the Indians, will take place on November 18 at Markham College, Miraflores.