Associate and Affiliate Cricket

The changing order of world cricket

2014-02-12T18:52:00.002+05:30

When I entered into 2014 Cricket I had great hopes for future of cricket. I had hoped that we will see the game open up and embrace the modern world ways. As I entered the year of hope, the first month was not the one I wanted and is all set to shake the world cricket order in multiple ways. The shake up is at virtually at all the levels.

The restructure by Big 3 has changed the game forever

ICC Restructure
Firstly was the proposed ICC restructure norms which have now been passed in a little bit watered down form. This virtually has surrendered the control of cricket to the so called Big 3- BCCI, ECB and CA. These 3 nations now form the permanent members of the 5 member committee which controls every aspect of the game. Only glimmer of hope is that this 5 member executive council still reports to the ICC Board which consists of all full members.

The restructure also means that the Big 3 now get major funding with BCCI getting the major share. The Associates on their part are all certain to lose funding except for the top 6 which are now supposed to get half the funding the associates get. This means that in the 105 members the top 16 might take most of it and rest of the 90 odd members will have even lesser share when infact they need the most. The only silver lining here would be that in absolute terms we might not see a drop in funding for any member as ICC revenues are set to increase from present 1.5 B$ to 2.5 B$ for a next period of 2015-2023. The bad news is that instead of everybody getting the 66% increase most members will stay at similar levels or at the best a very small increase while the Big 3 who least need the money (As they have many other sources) taking most part of it.

It was hoped that from future there might have been some chance of some top associates being made part of the Future Tours Program-FTP. Under FTP it is envisaged that all the Test nations play rest of the 9 test nations over a period of 8 years so that the lower teams had a chance to play the bigger teams. This system has not worked perfectly but something is better than nothing. Adding some of the top associates might have given them the exposure to play the top teams and some additional funding that could have helped the game at grass root level. However what we got from the proposals is that FTP is scrapped and will be replaced by bilateral agreements. It now means that bigger teams have no compulsion to play the lesser teams and it will be guided only by profits they can bring from a series. This ends up Associates with very limited choices and reduce them to begging from full members

For the next cycles the ICC tournaments will only be played in the Big 3. This is a complete you turn on ICC announcement that they could look into proposals of Associate to host the tournaments like ICC World Twenty20. ICC also announced scrapping the Test Series and decided to re-continue the Champions Trophy. Originally this tournament had been started so that the game could be taken to new countries and in a knock out format it included at it's peak as high as 12 countries and has been hosted in unconventional places like Kenya, Bangladesh. Now this tournament has been cut to 8 nations with just the so called big 8 playing the same. There were voices in the circles that the World Cup could be reduced to just 8 countries as Associates don't add any value!!!

Hopefully Ireland would be playing Test Cricket before 2020

The only visible silver lining was that Test Cricket will be opened up and will be based on meritocracy. This has been the demand of many associate cricket lovers and is a welcome move. However even this step has been much below the expectations. The initial proposal was that BD and Zim will be reduced to playing the Intercontinental Cup and then the Top 2 teams would play with the bottom 2 teams of the 8 Test Teams and from these 4 teams top 2 get test status. This was limiting the test status to just 8 nations. Thankfully this backward step was reversed by the hard work done by BD but as was hoped by Associate lovers that there might be increase in Test Nations to 11 or 12 was not the case. Now under the proposals passed the winner of Intercontinental Cup in 2019 will play the 10th rank Test Nation in an home and away format and the winner will get test status for 4 years. Associates which over the year play themselves with very few quality exposures against top teams are now expected to play the 10th rank Test Team who will have played the longest format against all the top teams. This is a very unfair expectation from the Associates to get Test Status.

ICC World Cup Qualifier
Finally in the associate world there were many shakeups for the next cycle. 3 present ODI nations including the only associate world cup semi finalist Kenya besides Neth and Can have lost their ODI status. They have been replaced by impressive homegrown upcoming nations of HK and PNG besides the expat based but impressive UAE. Many expected Ken and Can to lose their ODI status but Neth was a shocker. They were 3rd in the WCL Championship but now have relegated to Div 2!! This is a major shakeup even we do not consider the shake led by big 3. Another surprise besides Neth was that Nepal whom many including me expected to get an ODI status were relegated all the way to Div 3 taking back their cricket by atleast another 4 years. It seemed after the qualification to World T20, the team went into relaxation mode satisfied by a short term achievement and missing on the long term and bigger prize.

The changing world order with PNG, HK and UAE getting ODI status while Neth, Ken and Can losing it

Future & ICC World Cricket League tournaments
Division Five
In the near future we will have the Div 5 taking place which will have Malaysia, Tanzania, Guernsey, Jersey, Nigeria and Cayman Islands which will be hosted by Malaysia. All the teams are homegrown and most of Associate lovers would like to see the potential nations of Malaysia, Tanzania and Nigeria to qualify for Div 4.

Division Four
Div 4 will consist of Oman, Italy, Singapore, Denmark and top 2 teams from 2014 Div 4 tournament. This will be critical tournament for many nations like Oman and Denmark which have been on a downward slide. The top 2 from this will qualify for Division Three

Hopes dashed for millions of fans with team relegated to Div 3. They will have a tough fight to get back in world order

Division Three
Div 3 will consist of Nepal, Uganda, USA, Bermuda and top 2 from Division Four. This will be a cracker of tournament with Nepal and Uganda would be eager to prove themselves to be better than the rest, while USA and Bermuda would be raring to take revenge of last time and top 2 from Div 4 raring to go ahead. The top 2 teams from here would go into Div 2

Division Two
This would be a stepping stone for chance to get future Test Status. The Top 2 teams from this tournament would most likely make the lineup for 8 teams Intercontinental Tournament. This tournament will have the 3 teams which lost ODI status-Ken, Can & Neth besides former ODI nation Nam and top 2 from Div 3.

2015-18 Intercontinental Cup
This would be the first Intercontinental Cup with a purpose that it always lacked. A purpose where the winner will get the Test Nations. The tournament will have the 6 ODI status nations - Ire, Afg, UAE, Scot, PNG and HK besides the top 2 teams from Div 2. Most likely like last time a parallel WCL championship will also run along which might provide a pathway to 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh and not the world cup as 2019 World Cup is just 10 nation

There are many things which will become clear as the time progresses. Hopefully ICC does not get into a mode of cutting down tournament for associates which would be death blow to game in future. Also ICC needs to work on getting more members unlike the present case where they have made the criteria for Affiliate membership much more stricter. Then the ultimate big question Cricket into Olympics needs to addressed and that too with ICC working in favor of taking game into the Olympic fold. This will give a much needed step to take game into new markets and will force ICC to become much more open. But turkeys don't vote for Christmas and I am losing hope with the administrators. I hope there will be some light for me at the end of the tunnel

ICC World Cup Qualifier Previews Day 3

2014-01-14T21:54:00.001+05:30

After a rest day the action begins again with two teams playing their first games. Both are on a downward slide and here to prove a point while the other two are coming from wins and would like to continue that.

Netherlands had their good moments in World Cups and surely would want to relive them

1. Netherlands vs Namibia
Neth proved in the last game that the losses in warmups are just experimental outages. They are here with a purpose and would not like to see any change in plans
For Nam it is the first encounter and hence would want to start it on winning ways and prove a point. The task is daunting but not impossible and they surely will give their best
Verdict:- Neth should take it without much difficulty

2. Canada vs UAE
UAE had a great start to the tournament and they are a determined lot. On the other hand Can are on down slide and would definitely want to stop that. It will be a good encounter but UAE look much more prepared
Verdict:- UAE have done their homework in a much better way and should take this game

It will be an exciting day which can make the tournament much more exciting. Let's hope to see some good action

2015 ICC World Cup Qualifier Previews- Day 1

2014-01-12T22:03:00.004+05:30

This is the first day of a tournament which is expected to be very exciting. There are 4 games on day 1

1. NETHERLANDS vs UGANDA
Netherlands have not been in the best of forms in the warmups having lost both the games comprehensively. They would be worried about their form but this match gives them a perfect opportunity to recoup and gain their momentum.
Uganda on the other hand would be confident after their win over Canada. Incidentally Canada have defeated Netherlands in the Warmups too and this fact would be giving them confidence to prove the critics wrong

Verdict:- Overall Netherlands and very high on experience and have better set of players than Uganda and should take the game easily

2. KENYA vs PNG
Last time these teams met, PNG took the game in the World T20 Qualifiers. PNG would be finding confidence in this and would be confident to take the game. Kenya on the other hand have a new captain who at junior levels was a successful captain and would be hoping to repeat the magic. PNG are loaded with young talent and know these conditions better than Kenya, while Kenya would be hoping their experience to take them through in the game
Verdict:- It surely will be a closely fought game but I expect PNG to take it away

3. NEPAL vs UAE
These teams know each other very well and they know this game is crucial to set the tone for the tournament. Both the teams are high on confidence based on the recent success in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. UAE have an advantage of having more experience having played the WCL Championship and barely missing on World Cup Qualification. For Nepal this tournament is to prove a point that they are ready to join the big boys. The game will be a test of wits.
Verdict:- It will again a very close game and very hardly fought. I expect in the end Nepal to come out as the better team

4. SCOTLAND vs HONG KONG
Scotland are one of the favorites of the tournament. They have a solid lineup with good batting and bowling which are well adapted for the conditions. HK on the other side are a young and dynamic side raring to go ahead. However HK would have to overcome the loss of key player Munir Dar. Overall Scotland would have a massive advantage but don't be surprised if HK produce a shocker
Verdict:- Scotland are massive favorites and should easily take the game

2015 World Cup Qualifier: Preview Group B

2014-01-12T01:01:00.001+05:30

Like the Group A, Group B is a equally hard fought group. Uganda had been written off till now but their performance against Canada in the warmup game has now forced them to rethink their position .The group contains ODI status nations like Netherlands and Kenya and upcoming countries like PNG, Uganda & Namibia. Netherlands, Kenya will be playing to save their ODI status and PNG, Namibia and Uganda will be eager to replace them.

Group B is equally competitive as Group A and picking the top 3 teams in difficult

Before going with the review of each team let us check some facts on the group B

GROUP B
Teams:- Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, PNG & Uganda

ICC Seeding
1. Netherlands
2. Kenya
3. Namibia
4. PNG
5.Uganda

PREVIEWS
1. Netherlands
They are the favorites to win the tournament along with Scotland however they would be disappointed with their 2 out of 2 loses in the Warmup games against Canada and UAE. They have a good mixture in the team of experience and youth and would be very comfortable with the European like conditions present in NZ. Their experience of playing across the globe along with county experience will be really handy. They have a good pace line up as well as batting line up.

The young and dynamic Ahsan Malik will be player to watch

However Netherlands should avoid being overconfident and taking other teams lightly. These are not old times where they had to fight few teams while other were walkovers. Here each and every team will be a challenge to overcome

Key Player:- Ahsan Malik

Expected Verdict:- Should easily make it to Super Six and strong contender for the trophy

2. Kenya
Kenya are a team which can realistically fall from grace. From the high period of 2003 of reaching the Semi Finals of World Cup to now where they are under serious threat to lose ODI status. To save them from such situation they have called back their old guard like Odoyo and are really hoping they will carry them through. The strength of the team is the loads of experience it had and which come handy like the case in the warm up against Nepal.

The young Irfan Karim is a real class in the team who has been underutilized

However the team does not have best of the equations in the dressing room and not the best 15 are alleged to be picked for the tournament. The oldies in the team also bring down the standards of fielding and the youngsters may be too inexperienced

Key Player:- Irfan Karim

Expected Verdict:- Should make it to Super Sixes but do not expect them to retain the ODI status

3. Namibia
Like their African partners they would be hoping to get back to their high days of 2003 when they reached the World Cup. The team has been suffering from many events off field- The controversy of Black Players, Some key players missing tournaments, sponsors pulling off. These events can have a major impact. As they play in South African Domestic setup hence they will not be short of experience.

Christi Viljoen would be a key batsman who can contribute with ball also

They have a good batting lineup however the balling needs to buck up if they have to make a major impact.

Key Player:- Christi Viljoen

Expected Verdict:- Do not think they have the muscle power to make it to Super Sixes

4. PNG
PNG were impressive in the start of World T20 Qualifiers and many were expecting them to qualify. They defeated Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya in the tournament. However towards the end of the tournament they lost the momentum and missed out on qualification. NZ is like their second home as both NZ and PNG belong to EAP region and PNG will leave no stone unturned to qualify from their second home.

On his day Tony Ura can destroy any bowling lineup single handily

PNG have a explosive batting lineup with some good bowlers in the team. The experience of Geraint Jones will also come very handy to the team. The team however would have to keep their mental strength and not lose it like they did in World T20 Qualifier

Key Player:- Tony Ura

Expected Verdict:- Should make it to Super Sixes. Whether they will play the World Cup or not depends upon their group game against Netherlands

5. Uganda
Many critics have given this team no chance to make it to next round especially after their performance in World T20 Qualifier but little do they realize that Uganda are a much better ODI team than in T20. They in no way can be taken lightly. They have a strong bowling lineup who on their day can blow away any batting lineup.

Captain Davis Karashani will be key for the team

The batting is a concern for the team but the form showed by the team in warm up game against Canada has shown that lot of hard work has been put in the area. Uganda is one of the favorite team of many Associate Cricket lovers and they would love to see this team good

Key Player:- Davis Karashani

Expected Verdict:- Very unlikely to make it into Super Six

The tournament starts in a day and it surely will be a very good and exciting one. Let's wait for it to see some shocks, some new exciting teams and a load full of action

My Interview with Cricketlok.com

2014-01-11T01:20:00.003+05:30

I extend my heartiest apprecitation of Birat Raya to give me chance to express my views in my first of Interviews. I am copy pasting the same interview from cricketlok.com. The interview can be found at the link given below

http://www.cricketlok.com/definitely-expect-nepal-play-world-cup-3/

“I definitely expect Nepal to play the World Cup”

Jashanpreet Singh Gill a keen follower of Associate cricket and Admin of the famous facebook page ”Associate and Affiliate cricket” is talking with Birat Raya about the upcoming World Cup Qualifier, Nepal chances on it and future of Nepali cricket.
As a keen follower of Associate cricket, how you are watching this World cup Qualifiers (WCQ) ?
To me this would be the most important WCQ which will decide the future of game in years to come. On one hand we have the traditional nations like Canada, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland fighting for their spots and on other hand we have upcoming nations like Nepal, PNG and UAE very determined to replace them. So to me this is an ultra-important tournament and I will follow each minute of it.
So what kind of result you want from the tournament?
From my heart I would want Nepal and PNG to qualify for the World Cup and if there are 2 more ODI spots (Which ICC is yet to confirm) then I would want Kenya and Scotland to take those spots. But my head also says that replacing Netherlands, UAE and Canada will not be that easy.
Why Nepal & PNG?
Nepal and PNG because it will be good for the game, If I see all the 10 nations then Nepal is hands on ahead of others in Interest of the game. The Playing XI on the ground not only represent the ambition of mere 11 guys but nation as a whole, who would not want such dedicated fan base to be added to the game.PNG also have a big support like Nepal only difference is they are a much smaller in size hence we listen far less comparatively, But the passion is in no way less.
As a supporter of Nepal in this Qualifier, do u think Nepal deserve the place on main tournament?
Well they surely deserve a spot, there is no doubt about it. In fact back in 2012 I have placed bets with my friends that Nepal will be playing in 2015 WC and I see no reason to get back on my bet. But it will not be easy though, they will have to overcome the pace and Bounce which I feel their batsman struggle against. Although they have found 1 young bowler in World T20 Qualifier but still pace attack remains an area of big concern. Having said that I have full belief in the coach and am sure he will carry them to World Cup.
Our senior team is playing for the first time in NZ & the kind of condition. Compared to other teams, it is going to be more difficult for Nepal. Isn’t it?
Well in 2008 Nepal did very well in similar condition in Jersey except for the loss in Semi Finals against Afghanistan. So I feel it is more of a mental block. As a seam bowler you don’t need to be the quickest but should be able to exploit the conditions. Similarly in batting you don’t need to hit every ball .So overall the challenge for Nepal will be to adapt mentally and have the belief, Rest will follow.
So what should be the strategy of Team Nepal in the tournament?
The Basic requirement is to play the natural game. Nepal traditionally has always been better in ODI compared to T20′s and they should not forget that. Beside that the critical factor would be batting. Batsman should concentrate more on rotating strike and should realize that this is not Subcontinent where you need big score of 250+, even a score of 180+ can be a defendable. I am hoping that the batsman will be prepared to face the bouncers and if they succeed on that then nothing else should trouble them. In bowling Spinners will play a crucial role, they are the strength of the team and should find confidence from that. Pace department should focus on swing and bowling in right areas. At the end of the day everything comes down to the basics and team should concentrate on that.
Nepal has been drawn together with Canada, UAE, Hong Kong and
Scotland in group stage, how do you predict the order at the end of it?
Scotland are the team to beat. We must realize that the result here will also be carried forward to Super Six and Netherlands and Scotland are the biggest challengers for that World Cup Spot and the conditions are also on favour of European teams. Beside that I don’t think UAE, HK and Canada will give much trouble. The game against Scotland will decide if Nepal reaches world cup or falls short.
So you are expecting Nepal to play the world cup, can u explain how?
Yes I definitely expect Nepal to play the World Cup. As I already told you that I think Nepal will defeat UAE, Canada and HK at the group Stage and from the other group I expect Netherlands, Kenya and PNG to reach Super Six. Here again I expect Nepal to overcome Kenya and PNG. The critical matches will be against Scots and Dutch. And I am hoping that Nepal will defeat one of them to secure the 2nd place on the tournament.
You are making it so easy.
Well if I have the belief behind the team, it will sound easy and all big things in life are completed in small steps. Hence here too things should be taken on a match by match basis not a tournament as a whole which makes it pretty simple.
Key Performer for Nepal in the tournament?
Well from batting prospective I expect Paras Khadka to be the mainstay and hope Sharad Veshwakar will continue his good form from UAE. Basant Regmi will be critical in bowling and his type of bowling suits the condition. I am also very impressed with Avinash Karn, he has a very good action and will be amazing in New Zealand condition. His left arm action coupled with swing can be deadly like Zaheer Khan used to be for India.
You are the admin of famous page AAC and you have lots of fan in Nepal who follows your information for associate news. Since when you started following Nepali cricket closely & how is the reaction of Nepali fans with you?
Well I always have liked cricket and wants it to be the number one game in the world. I followed Associate Cricket since 1996 when UAE, Netherlands and Kenya played that world cup. Then for many years I was in touch with Associate Cricket through news and internet. Finally in 2011 a friend from Afghanistan asked me to be co-admin of the page Associate and Affiliate Cricket and since then I haven’t looked back. I came in contact with Nepal cricket through Cricket.com.np in 2010 and since have been following Nepali Cricket very closely. In fact the biggest chunk of followers on my page is from Nepal. Nepali fans are passionate and want their team to do well and a place in 2015 World Cup watching their team play against the likes of India, Australia would finally do justice to them. Hence this tournament becomes even more critical for Nepal.
How do you define the behavior of Nepali fans? We are rated on of the worst by international Critics.
Well that is true, they are presently not the best behaved fans but the fans also mature with time. On the other side we should understand that when the country has been suffering from so much in past few years- Coup, Communist Threat, an indecisive Constituent Assembly then sports represents a big hope and passions are bound to flow. However with things getting better and over the time fans will mature. Passionate fans are never bad for the game.
We talked lots of positive stuffs, what if we neither qualify for world cup nor get an ODI status?
Well that will be very bad for the game. As much as I think the game is doing well in the country, CAN have not done a very good job. Not getting World Cup Spot is still understandable but not gaining an ODI status would be highly demoralizing for the team. Nepal known to be Associate Chokers in past can again go back to the old ways and then it will take another 4 or 5 years to get the team back to this level. This could be nightmare for the development of the game in the country.
You are following Nepali cricket closely since 2010, how do you rate the progress and what are things you want to see in future?
Well the rate of progress has been good but the area that concerns me the most is domestic set-up. If CAN wants the team to challenge the likes of Afghanistan and Bangladesh in future they must work on domestic set up. By domestic set up, I mean a Multi-Day Domestic Tournament besides the regular ODI and T20 competition. And it is time for Players to be centrally contracted. Finally a stadium, we have been hearing about Mulpani since 2008 and its 2014 now and still seem no sign of completion. Internationally if Nepal keep doing the goods and get ODI status, team will get good exposure through the tournaments like Inter Continental Cup. So it is the domestic scene where I want to see some action.
We don’t have good infrastructure and if we get ODI status in this situation how will it affect?
That is why I said Mulpani is critical. If Nepal gets an ODI status then they will have to finish it otherwise they will be forced to play the matches abroad which will not be good for the fans and for the development of game. This is for the sleepy administrators at CAN to understand.
Your message for Nepali cricket fans before WCQ?
“Hope for the best and be prepared for the Worst” is the motto that should be applied in walks of life. They should be hopeful of good performance but just in case they miss out still respect the team. They are giving their best on limited resource.

2015 World Cup Qualifier: Preview Group A

2014-01-10T18:46:00.003+05:30

This World Cup qualifier would probably be one of the most interesting and critical for the game of cricket. On one side we have traditional teams like Netherlands, Scotland, Canada and Kenya fighting hard for their spots, a resurgent UAE and Namibia fighting to claim back their glory days and upcoming and emerging nations of Nepal and PNG dedicated and fighting to replace these nations. This will without doubt be a very hard fought tournament with deciding the 2 finalist is a very difficult task. It will not be unlikely that experts can pick two teams and in the end those teams end up in bottom 5.

The fight for the 2 spots will be a tough one. Picking 2 teams is very difficult

In the World Cup Qualifier the teams are divided into 2 groups of 5 teams each. From these groups 3 teams will go into Super Six. In Super Six the 3 teams from each group will carry the points of matches against the 2 teams from the group. Finally from Super Six the top 2 teams will go into finals and reach the World Cup.

GROUP A
Teams:- Canada, Hong Kong, Nepal, Scotland & United Arab Emirates

ICC Seeding
1. UAE
2. Scotland
3. Canada
4. Hong Kong
5. Nepal

PREVIEWS
1. UAE
UAE have been very impressive lately especially in the 2011-13 ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. They just missed out on qualification and came third in the tournament. They also proved themselves again when they qualified for the 2014 World Twenty20. Their batting is top class along with their deadly spinners.

Shaiman Anwar will be the key player UAE will be relying upon

However in NZ they would have to overcome many challenges to keep up the performances.The are an aging team and the fast bowlers are not fast enough. This could be their Achilles heal.

Key Player:- Shaiman Anwar

Expected Verdict:- Should make it into the Super Sixes

2. Scotland
They are the hot favorites for the tournament. They would be most equipped to deal with the situation as the conditions in NZ are almost similar to conditions in Scotland. They have a solid batting line up lead by players like Calum MacLeod, Kyle Coetzer. The pace battery is equally impressive with a young line up consisting of Safyaan Sharif, Gourdon Goudie.

No team can ignore Calum MacLeod who is in super form

Key Player:- Calum MacLeod

Expected Verdict:- Winner or Runners Up

3. Canada
Canada are a team which have seen a great downfall. They finished a poor 12th out of 16 teams in World T20 Qualifer. On top of that they had a major loss when their ace captain Ashish Bagai announced his retirement after being troubled by politics going on in Cricket Canada. However even with the reduced line up they are not a team to be ignored. They are known to make a comeback in critical tournament when it is a matter of life or death for them. They still have some good batsman like Gunasekera, Nitish Kumar who can single-handily destroy any bowling lineup on their day. They also have some decent bowlers like Harvir Baidwan. However overall Canada would have to put a super effort and brilliantly lead to make a come back

Gunasekara:- He has a good technique and destroy any lineup on any day

Key Player:- Ruvindu Gunasekera

Expected Verdict:- Not expected to make it to Super Sixes

4. Hong Kong
They have been a surprise package for many especially when they made it into 2014 World Twenty20, but few people know that they are a young team and unlike the names suggest it is a team that has been built from junior levels. They have some technically some very good players in both bowling and batting. The team is a good mixture of youth and experience.

Irfan Ahmed:- He is both deadly with bat and bowl and is a one man army

Despite all the goodies the team is yet to prove itself in ODI and that too in conditions of NZ. The absence of expierenced player Munir Dar will also hurt them a lot. It will be challenging for the team

Key Player:- Irfan Ahmed

Expected Verdict:- Not expected to make it to Super Sixes

5. Nepal
They are a resurgent team filled with the belief that they should be playing with better of the teams. They surprised many with their performance in World T20 Qualifier where they came third. Lead by a tactical coach and cool captain the team is hoping to make history. Paras Khadka is the traditional batting powerhouse of the team but players like Sharad Vekaswar have shown their worth in World T20 Qualifier. Basant Regmi is a brilliant all rounder who has impressed many and the conditions in NZ surely support his spin style. They have a young pace lineup consisting of Avinash Karn and Sompal Kami who can be a real surprise package
Having said all that the batting still suffers against quality fast bowling and to prove themselves they will have to overcome this weakness. The pace department has also been traditionally below par and this time even though they have potential but it is a young and inexperienced lineup.

Paras Khadka: He is Mr Dependable for the team who can contribute both with Bat and Bowl

Key Player:- Paras Khadka

Expected Verdict:- Though most critics have rated them lowly but I will give them a chance to make into Super Sixes. Whether they will make into Finals will depend upon two game for them- against Scotland and Netherlands

So overall this will be a keenly contested group and the predictions made now can be easily thrown out of window. That is the level of competition. It will be an interesting tournament and really looking forward to it.

A case of Parachuted funding for relegated Associates

2013-12-22T03:20:00.001+05:30

On 14th April 2011, Uganda played a match against PNG and lost it by 1 run. What was critical about this match was that a win or tie would have made Uganda stay in Division 2 but this loss relegated them to Division 3 of World Cricket League. But this was not the critical part. The critical aspect was due to relegation into Div 3 Uganda no longer was part of ICC High Performance Program. Due to this there was a major cut in the funding for Uganda by the ICC. This first major effect was that the board was no longer able to give central contracts and the players lost out

A loss of ODI status can mean the players losing their central contracts for Kenya

Uganda are not the only case. Seeing the present level of performance Canada, Kenya might be on the verge of losing their ODI status and in return a major cut in funding. The cut is funding can be as high as 80% giving a sudden shock to the boards

Funding related to performance is not a unique feature in cricket. Infact most of the games also follow the performance related funding. In soccer the teams in premier division get more funding than those is the second division. Performance related funding pushes the team to reach higher performance level and for the teams at a higher level it pushes them to stay there and not relegate not to lose funding. This helps the game to increase the level of performance

However in most of the sports there is always a parachuted funding for teams which are relegated to lower levels. Parachuted funding means that there would not be drastic and sudden cuts, rather the cuts would be gradual. This is important so that it does not have a shock effect, rather allows team to settle down in a gradual manner. This in anyway does not mean the team will be sitting comfortably but there is a loss of funding.

So a Parachuted Funding would mean that Kenya if they lose ODI status this time the funding will not drop from 500,000$ to 100,000$ in straight one year, rather it might go to 350,000$ in first year, 215,000$ in Second year and then to 100,000$. This will mean that all the hard work put at ground level will not be washed away in 1 year and the board might strive for alternate resources but never allowing the team and board to be in comfort zone.

In a rapidly changing times for ICC, hopefully they will notice this very important requirement and act on it and not bring a case where a loss of 1 run means whole team losing their jobs.

Time to bring back ICC Knockout

2013-12-09T16:26:00.002+05:30

In 1998 ICC came out with a brilliant tournament. It was to be hosted in a upcoming cricket country, give chance to few ODI nations to play in that and in a high octane knock out format, where is you miss the opposition hits. The tournament got a brilliant response from the first tournament in Bangladesh. The second tournament was even more exciting and the Indians defeating the favorites Australia and South Africa lost to Kiwis in the finals. However from 2002 ICC went for a change of format and removed the knock out format with a league system though small in size greatly increasing the number of matches.

Over time the pressure of time forced the tournament to be cut to just 8 teams making it a pointless tournament killing the purpose it was created for. This year in a complete change of tournament structuring, ICC Champions Trophy has been struck off now replacing it with the required ICC Test Championship. They also reduced the World T20 from 2 to 1 in 4 years. This now leads ICC to 3 tournaments in 4 years leaving 1 slot free.

How the proposed ICC format will look using the present ODI rankings. A short and interesting tournament

Cricket really needs to get aggressive and spread it to new markets. ICC Knockout is one of the exact tournament which is one size suits all though in small doses. Being a short tournament it can be easily fit in the FTP, it can be easily hosted in upcoming countries and the upcoming countries can get a chance to compete against Test Teams outside the World Cup and finally the format will keep everybody interested in the tournament. Even if the major teams loses early the tournament is short enough for ICC not to worry it will be dragged on.

Since 2007 ICC based on performance gives ODI status to 6 Associate teams. ICC Knockout gives us a good chance to make it a 16 team tournament with 10 Test Nations and 6 ODI Status Nations. To help spread the game ICC should host it in a upcoming country. It will help to take the game to non traditional markets.

The ICC is also going for reduction of World Cup from 2019 reducing it 10 nations. This leaves with a real possibility of Associate member left high and dry from ODI form of game and reduced to just playing T20 against full members. This is very counterproductive and hence becomes even more important for ICC to reintroduce the tournament.

I hope some good sense prevails in the ICC and we see it reintroduced it from 2018.

Busy

2013-10-28T01:39:00.001+05:30

Hello All,

I would be kept busy and would not be able to write articles till January next year. This does not mean I will stop writing. Some time I have to give to settle my life. I would definite start back when this mission get's over with. Keep visiting and commenting here.

Thanks
Jashan

Review of ACC Emerging - Nepal

2013-08-28T03:48:00.000+05:30

To start with the announcement that ACC Emerging would be a biennial tournament is a welcome decision. It will give the emerging Associate teams of Asia a very good exposure against good teams. Ideally the teams could have been part of Asia Cup, but it's better to have one bird in hand than two in the bush.

For the Nepal team it was perhaps the first time when they faced such a quality opposition. It should be perhaps a reflection of the opposition they will have to face regularly if they hope to get ODI status. But unfortunately they were placed in a oddly formed group of death. I do not know how ACC formed these groups. As per me the groups based on seeding should have been

Group A:- Ind U23, Bd U23, Afg, Sp
Group B:- SL U23, Pak U23, UAE, Nep

Anyhow Nepal had perhaps all the 3 top teams in it's group and a very big challenge to overcome. To start with they put up a very spirited performance against Afghanistan and perhaps dominated for 90% of the match but in the end sadly lost by 3 runs. It was the experience and temperament gained with it that lost them that match. The loss took such a toll that they were pretty much thrashed in the next 2 matches.

So what are the positives and negatives that the tournament offered. For the positives perhaps it is the exposure that team gained. Till now the team has been playing the likes of teams in Div 5 to Div 3 with weak teams like Mozambique to stronger ones like USA. But even the likes of USA and Uganda are no match to quality of India or Pakistan U23. This exposure will give each player an aspect to reflect upon and work on it. The coach can also make players work harder reflecting them on their weaknesses.
Secondly some individual good performances by Paras, Basant, Sagar & Subash would give a boost to morale of these players and give them confidence for upcoming matches. These were after all performances against some very quality sides.
Thirdly the overall tour of Sri Lanka and Singapore was able to give the coach the time and matches to experiment some younger players and different combination. The presence of quality opposition were the real test of the players

However the Negatives far outweigh the Positives. Firstly in the whole tournament reflected how the team lost it's self confidence. After the first match which did not go in their way, afterwards the team seemed to have lost morale and could not regain it in rest of the tournament. The big tournament is infact half mind games. You have the lows and then you have to bounce back. Except of few individual the team effort looked missing
Secondly the team failed in all aspects. Batting was a bigger let down as it failed in all 3 matches. Bowling also was pretty ordinary against the test teams. With such performances Nepal cannot hope to challenge the likes of Netherlands or Scotland it faces in future.
Finally it should be a realization of difference in the level between it and top teams which needs to be plugged for future. The team surely needs to work all areas especially building partnerships and rotating strikes & fast strike bowling.

So the next question comes what should be the future coarse. Is all the hope lost. No not at all. The team surely has the potential to be playing both 2014 World T20 and 2015 World Cup. However for that to happen the team needs to have a structure plan

1. The coach needs to work hard on the mental strength of the team which will help them to keep cool in the matches and also if required bounce back in tournament. As the level of competition will be much harder the bounce back will require much harder mental strength than what it was required in ICC WCL Div 3. If need be some experts can take some sessions with the team. This is an area which is usually ignored but very crucial.

2. Batting is the area that the team will have to work upon. For that if CAN can get some batting experts for two months, 1 month before T20 qualifier and 1 month before WCQ will be greatly helpful. The team has potential as shown by Paras, Subash and Sagar, but it would be building partnerships, running between wickets, working on technique that are more crucial than individual brilliance that is the need of the hour.

3. Pace Bowling is the Achilles heel of Nepal. The WCQ is in NZ and WC is also in Aus and NZ. In these places without a good pace strike bowling is huge disadvantage. Nepal's traditional strength of spinners can be easily blunted there. The young pacers of Sawad and Karn have shown some hope but much more needs to be done. These 2 along with the veteran Binod Das need to be given bigger exposure. They can be perhaps sent to NZ or Eng for some advanced training and getting acclimatized to the conditions there.

4. More quality exposure is key. The team got a good exposure in SL and Singapore. Now it will get back and work on the various opportunities. However to evaluate the progress the team is making CAN should ensure that they get to play quality team. For Dubai, a tour of Sri Lanka against similar oppositions they played this time would greatly help. If not there similar practice matches in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh would also do. If CAN is not able to arrange the same a 5 Match series against Afghanistan in UAE would perhaps a win win situation where both board can earn some revenue and good practice.

5. Finally there needs to be a special focus on WCQ in NZ. This tournament will be make of break for Nepali cricket. A good performance here will get Nepal ODI Status, more funding, a chance to play matches against test teams. play multi day matches in Intercontinental Cup. Hence this is the tournament. For the WCQ in NZ, CAN would have to get more proactive and get the team to play in similar conditions which can be NZ itself or Eng, Scot, Ire, Neth or Canada. These all are costly places but it would mean high risk but high returns.

These are some crucial times for Nepali Cricket. A good effort by the team, coach and board will be a game changer for the sport in the country or it can be a chance missed which everybody may be forced to woo for many years. Nepal does not need news like it has be fined by ICC but rather some proactive work by CAN who should wake-up from their sleep and finally contribute to the game in the country.

Felicitation vs Real Ground Work?

2013-07-29T00:23:00.002+05:30

Recently the biggest fan club in Nepal got together and conducted a felicitation program for the Nepal Cricketers. They were able to get some leading movie stars of Nepali cinema and got a good coverage in Media also. All the players were present along with the successful coach. The Fan Club was really happy in conducting the event.
The though that comes to my mind immediately is should this be the top priority for Nepali cricket or does it lies somewhere else. The Nepal team has been very successful in recent years winning Div 4, then ACC Trophy, Qualifying for World T20 Qualifier and Div 3(Though with hand of god in it), and many hope that they will make it to both 2014 World T20 as well as 2015 World Cup getting the ODI status. Since the time they have started winning they have been showered with the gift. This is where I see the south Asian mentality starting to kick in, not with honoring the players after all they are a talented bunch but with the issue of short term measures

Can Nepal afford to be bound by short term measures or thinking long term is the key?

At present the biggest worry for me is the youth that is on offer for Nepal. Many writer have earlier pointed out that this time Nepal U-19 came with the worst ever performance finishing 4th in the tournament losing to Afghanistan, UAE & Malaysia. At U-16 level Nepal also lost to Malaysia. It is the first time in many years that a player from U-19 team could not make it into the line up of the senior team. These are very serious issues. Nepal at junior levels was supposed to be unbeatable few years ago. Baring Afghanistan, where there is real passion for game any other youth team in Asia beating Nepal is a very serious issue. The pressure will be felt few years down the line when the Pipeline of players would finish

Nepal presently would have issue of resources and NCFC creditably has been able to garner resources from fans spread across the world. However the money collected should be spent judiciously on long term projects. I would go by a Chinese saying "Give a fish to hungry man and he eats today. Teach the hungry man how to fish and he eats for life". This summarizes the point of investing in long term.

This picture says a thousand words

The first thing that comes into my mind is various equipment that the present and future set of players would require. There are many training equipment or gym equipment that coach would have in his wishlist. Taking right people into loop such equipment would keep benefit players for many years. This is the place where Nepal team needs most support and a help here is the real help

Secondly the other area which needs big attention is the school cricket. I am sure that many students would be watching or playing cricket. A School Tournament in Kathmandu and some other bigger cities would help the upcoming players in these schools to showcase their talent. The best of the talent across the schools could then be given a chance in front of the coach. We all know that Nepal team is in big need of some good pacers. Talent identified here could have been trained for future for benefit of the team

Finally in future it would be beneficial to arrange to send many players across the world for advanced sports training. These players after being trained can pass some tips to other players and whole team gains from the experience.

I am not criticizing the Nepal Cricket Fan Club here, in my view they are the most genuine fans here who do many selfless acts for Nepali cricket. But as a genuine fan of Nepal & Associate Cricket it is my duty to criticize certain actions and guide it towards what according to me would be betterment of Cricket in the country.

Lets hope that we soon see Nepal team playing in the top cricket tournament and showing the huge potential it has in it. These certainly would be some of the most exciting times for Nepali cricket but we should not get carried away by it and keep an eye for future.

10 Things that will happen if Ireland win the 2015 World Cup

2013-06-14T22:07:00.001+05:30

Ireland cricket team has been making quite the right noises for some years. From the victory against Pakistan in 2007 world cup, famous win over England and recently a very good series against Pakistan again. It is of no doubt that they are much above the other associates and many people want them to be elevated to test status. With more exposure they can soon join the best in the world. Now what will happen if in 2015 they win the world? Can they, I think with a few improvements they can but what will be the consequences?

1. England team will have all Irish line up for Next World Cup
The England team has a habit of poaching players specially from South Africa, and sometimes from Ireland and Zimbabwe. The England team will be hosting the 2019 World Cup so to be safe they would want to have all the Irish players in their line-up. How will they safeguard the same? Well it is quite simple they have a ICC rule for it. A player can play for a Non Test Nation (Ireland) & Next Day play for a Test Nation (England). But that player after playing for England would have to wait for 4 years to go back to Ireland. Surprised, well that is our ICC

All England would need to do ensure that every Irish player plays for them immediately and till next world cup they cannot play for Ireland!!!

Like Ed Joyce, whole Ireland team expected to wear blue's!!!!

2. Triple heart attack- BCCI, ECB & CA Chiefs
Well don't be surprised. These are the 3 people who are still in the colonial mindset and want cricket to stay that way. Their years of effort would go for a toss. So what can we expect, probably a shock of their life and a heart attack

3. World Cup will be reduced to 4 nations
There would be talk around the people in Test Nations of the useless format of the 2015 World Cup and how it somehow favored weak team like Ireland to take advantage of Rain, some one off matches and somehow win the world cup. There will be talks to giving the world cup it's right size and not the huge 2 month drag format.
A 10 team 2019 world cup would not satisfy them because the number of matches has not reduced. So a perfect representative World Cup of 4 Nations - India, Australia & England get automatic entry and 1 spot open for rest of the World. After all it is a World Cup and representation of World is required (Pun Intended)

4. India, Aus, Eng get super member status
Getting Cricket on the right path would be very much required. These 3 countries who contribute 95% of the money want their money to be safeguarded and threaten to go on their own. Under pressure the boards agree to the same and these 3 get super member status. From the next world cup (Which is 4 nation as we remember) they get an direct entry. For T20 World Cup, they get directly into the Semi's. For Test World Cup, no other country is worthy of playing it and is 3 team closed affair.
Well cricket is where it should be, back to colonial times as the Big 3 wanted.

5. David Cameroon Government Falls
With the Paddies winning core English game their is uproar in England. They watched with pain when Windies won it. Then land of Seditious Fakir(India) won it, they still accepted it. Aussies winning meant raging people. The Colonial outposts Pakistan and Sri Lanka winning had the pot almost full. But now it was the next neighbor and people would not be able to face such a site. The country is upset at England not being able to save it's culture and the huge protests force government to fall

6. North Ireland chooses to leave United Kingdom
This win gives a new hope in North Ireland. They no longer want to be associated with the Main Island since they are even better than them in Cricket. Hence it is decided and North Ireland chooses to leave UK

7. IPL finally gets Kevin O'Brien
Suddenly he is wanted by all the teams. The IPL teams line up for him and he finally makes his IPL debut. In fact KOB get's so much popular that so many products are behind him to be doing commercials for them

8. Ireland get it's first World Cup
They have not won it in Rugby Union or League, they have not done it in Football. Gaelic Football doesn't have a World Cup. So this would be a first World Cup for Ireland.

9. Irish Whiskey Ahoy, Ireland a Indian Tourist Hotspot
Suddenly there would be a big craze for Irish Whiskey in India.

Rumor would be people who drink it have sudden rise to power. There would be talks of Ireland as a magical land, and suddenly Indians would be visiting Ireland for Holidays.

Then there would be few who would realize the beauty of Ireland after all it will be all in news for all the reasons and would want to visit it

10. Wales cricket team is formed
Till now the Welsh ignored the fact that they play as part of England. Suddenly with Ireland winning the World Cup, the Welsh realize that they infact are a older cricket playing nation, they have more clubs, they have more players, better infrastructure and if Ireland can do it, they surely can. In an overnight session, Wales Parliament passes a motion to separate from England Cricket team

This article has been written in light humor and does not intent to hurt the feeling of anyone. It wishes to highlight some irony's in World Cricket. Kindly read it for fun and not get serious behind it :) Enjoy

A Separate Wales Team

2013-06-05T22:21:00.003+05:30

Cricket has been a game given by Britain to most of the established teams. However one of the most conspicuous absence from International cricket has been a Wales Cricket Team. It is surprising because we see other members of United Kingdom like Ireland(N Ireland plays as part of Ireland) and Scotland also playing and having decent standards. It becomes even more surprising when we get to know that channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have their own separate teams!!

When we look at other sports Wales has it's own separate team. The English Wales rivalry is well known in both Rugby Union and League. Wales also has it's separate team in other sports like Football, Hockey or Basketball.

So that brings us to a question what about Wales team? Well to start with Wales are represented in cricket. How, the England team we know that plays is actually not a England team but rather a England and Wales Team. Yes and the Board ECB is actually England and Wales Cricket Board with W surprisingly ommitted

It is not like Wales never had a team. Infact Wales team used to play against visiting teams like New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies during 20's & 30's. They infact have managed to defeat West Indies in the past. Wales also participated in the 1979 ICC trophy. They did very well in the group winning 2 matches, losing 1 and 1 match abandoned against the Sri Lanka, who narrowly piped them on Run Rate to qualify for the Semi Finals.

There always have been demand for a separate Wales team. The treatment given by ECB (With W missing) is not appreciated in Wales. Lately the demand for a Wales team are growing louder with the issue being raised in the Welsh Parliament. However can a Wales team actually be successful. There are many factors which suggest a affirmative answer.

To start with the domestic number of players in Wales is higher than both for that of Ireland and Scotland. Glamorgan the County team representing Wales has won the county championship 3 times while Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Netherlands who have taken part in county could not even come close to such performances.

Wales also have got the infrastructure in form of the Swalec stadiums which is one of the 12 stadiums of England. Not only this a Wales team when last played had actually defeated England and Welsh Player like Simon Jones was instrumental in helping England win the Ashes.

With such good prospects I expect the Welsh team to actually do very well internationally and can easily challenge the likes of teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe,Ireland or Scotland. A Wales team can also open the door's for a Euro Cup in which England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands can take part.

However a separate Welsh team would not come without challenges. Firstly it puts the risk of losing funding as ECB would not be sharing rough 2 M$ of annual funding it gives to it's counties. Secondly the Swalec stadium would also lose as it will lose lucrative matches like Ashes, and England international matches (Like it is one of the 3 stadiums for Champions trophy). Thirdly it would mean Glamorgan moving out of county championship as it happened with Scotland after they left England Team. Finally Wales would have to form it's own domestic structure and like Ireland would have risk of it's players moving to England for better prospects

Glamorgan playing a County match. Can we see the county players wearing a national jersey soon?

As the move for a separate Wales team would be supported by Government some funding from Government is expected. Besides the regular ICC funding Wales would be easily available for TAPP funding. Some private funding is also expected and rivalry in the British Isles against Ireland and Scotland can definitely get some level of sponsorships

Finally to have a quality set up is a challenge faced by all the European teams like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands is quite similar. Some teams to start with have formed a first class tournament. Ireland has already started a 3 team First Class tournament and so did Scotland with a 2 team tournament. Netherlands has been having a annual North V South matches. The key would be as it the case with Rugby, the 4 nations can come together and form a 10 Team first class tournament (3 Teams each From Wales and Ireland & 2 Teams each From Scotland and Netherlands). This can in provide a quality domestic cricket for teams and also source of income for the home boards.

In the circumstances going in Wales I expect Wales team would be formed soon. Hopefully it is formed before the 2015 World Cup so that it can be in the process to reach the 2019 World and gain ODI status for future. The team would face many challenges but I am sure would have been the case in other sports. Let's hope to see the rise of another good teams in cricket soon.

The new fans and the burden of expectations.

2013-03-29T21:20:00.001+05:30

Fans are always a pleasure in sports. The dynamism of sports is driven by fans itself because they instill energy in the sports and more importantly money to keep the sport alive. Cricket also has it's share of fans. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies and to some extent in teams like Australia, England (Remember Barmy Army) are the teams with the solid fan base behind them and their opinion cannot be ignored. Perhaps Indian team would be the team with 1.2 Billion as the largest number of fans behind a team.

Cricket in Associate world is not as lucky as most test teams. Most of the multinational tournaments happen in front of empty grounds. But this is not the case everywhere. A typical match in Nepal, Afghanistan will get ten of thousands of people to the ground. It would get an decent gathering at places like Ireland or Scotland.

Here in Associate in the country of highest mountains, the fans have started a commendable task as big as everest itself. The fans were always active here. Infact when I started following Associate Cricket it was a website dedicated to Nepal cricket ( A real rare at that time) that got my interest. Then the fans had the biggest cricket group and fan pages on facebook, discussing about Nepal cricket and did not discard the support even at tough times like when the team got stuck in Div 4. They all had a belief ( Still have the Belief) that team is meant for something higher and would soon be joining the big boys.

Then this year came div 4 and the team had a cent percent record here and returned to streets filled with fans. This is the time when few die hard fans came together to form a fan club. One of them my real good friend (Birat Raya) along with others went from post to poll to get an official nod for the fans club and was successful. This I believe after present coach Pubudu is the most important development for Nepal Cricket

Fans Club around the world play an important role. In some sports the member of fan clubs are part of board of teams to represent the fan's point of view while making decisions and also get teams to identify talent from Grass root levels.

The Nepal Cricket Fan Club (NCFC) is already getting resounding support. As a first step they got an electronic scoreboard installed in the ground. Then in this week came an important landmark "Hamrocricket.com" their exclusive fan club page. I liked the name when about a year ago when Birat bounced it off to me.

Nepal has a huge fan base

However these are just small steps in the long journey the club needs to go for. I would list down few steps the club should aspire as part of their journey

1. Written Constitution and a Democratic Institution
An important part of a young organisation is defining a constitution that clearly helps it define the vision, mission and the path that will be taken by the organisation. Defining a constitution also ensures that it builds in transparency and trust of the fans who will be pinning their hopes on the club

Being democratic is another part of being transparent. However a person may love a thing but it is the critics that makes the best out of him. The Iranian King loved the country and wanted to make it a superpower but still was thrown out in a revolution because there was no democracy to let off the steam. An election will keep bringing in new set of people who will bring in new ideas

2. Permanent Face- Salaried Employs
In any successful country or company there are always a permanent face and a new face that keep coming. Like in democratic countries the Politicians are the new face and Bureaucrats are the permanent face. This helps in bringing the stable face for organisation. Even in private companies in sales they have their employs at location as new faces and distributors as the constant faces.
I am jumping the gun but when things get stabilized then NCFC should definitely have some central and regional salaried representatives.

3. Nominal Paid Membership
There is a saying "There are no free lunches in the world". NCFC surely needs loads of members but it should keep a nominal fee for membership. I am not saying something like Rs 1000 a month but it might be token like Rs 100/year
Why because it will bring in 2 benefits- Firstly it would bring in seriousness of members who would now have stakes in the organisation and would force it to be accountable and secondly it would bring in a source of income for NCFC

4. Conducting Regional Tournaments
This would be the real and most important contribution to cricket. NCFC should have conduct these tournaments across the country where it will make teams from the rural to come out and unearth the raw talent. Then they could identify the potential talent and bring them into contact with coaches and selectors to unearth the best of them. I always believe that Nepal Cricket team does not represent the best XI. According to me there surely are many players who will be better than some in the team
We must remember that Pakistan team always brought in pacers who belonged to poor families and did not know English. There were the most lethal lot. India came out much stronger when players from smaller cities started coming in like the present captain Dhoni

5. Supporting the players for specialized training
Although this is the job of CAN, but we know that finances can be a constraint for CAN. Here NCFC can really step up and contribute. It has already done the support like it already did for sending 2 players to Sri Lanka.

Personally I am very positive for NCFC as I know some of the die hard Nepal cricket lovers like Birat Raya, Anna Bhola have taken the realm of the organisation. I am really hopeful and hope that Nepal team would be joining the big boys and the Rhino Army would be supporting their team in T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

A better way of Funding Required for ICC?

2013-03-15T12:36:00.002+05:30

Funding surely is a tricky business for ICC members. Baring a handful of about 6 out of 106 members, the rest 100 are solely dependent on ICC funding.

The situation becomes even more critical when we know that 70% of Funding is due to 1 country and next 20% is due to 2 countries. Hence how much funding is dependent on what type of a member a country is (Test, Associate or Affiliate), additionally for Associates what is your performance is (ODI Status (6 Teams), High Performance Program (4 Teams) and Rest). Besides this finally which region a member belongs to also means different funding for members. There are 5 regions of ICC- Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and East Asia Pacific. Belonging to Asia means most funding and most tournaments as Asia CC get's around half of ICC Development fund and other half is distributed amongst the other 4 Regions.

This means a Test Nation (10 Teams) get roughly 7.5 M$ / Year, while the 6 ODI nations get 0.65M$, 4 HPP members get 0.4 M$, 27 balance Associates get .16 M$ and the 59 Affiliate get miserly 0.015 M$ from ICC. The region funding varies and it mostly covers cost of tournaments.

So this means a country such big as Indonesia with a population of over 220M get's roughly 30,000$ has to develop it's cricket, take the team for ICC tournaments. It also means that a country of Bermuda with a population with 60,000 and Nepal with a population of 40M get the same funding of 0.1 M$ from ICC.

Also when a Associate member looses the performance based funding it can have major consequences. Uganda when lost it's HPP membership it meant Uganda Cricket Association had to end central contracts with whole teams as it could no longer afford it. And this happened when Uganda lost a match to PNG by just 1 run and that run cost them roughly 240,000$ and entire team's salary

If we try to understand why ICC formed such funding, it was because it was only in last 15 years they expanded and tripled their membership. At that time they were for a standardized approach for membership as it did not have expertize to manage the critical aspect.

On top of that as Cricket is not an Olympics sport, this means that Government's are not interesting in funding the sport.

ICC has recently made some changes. From 2013 Associate members instead of the fixed 0.16 M$ will start getting 0.1 M$ fixed and rest based on a scorecard. The ICC also has formed a TAPP funding where based on need as presented by various members ICC funding. Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands have got 1.5 M$ for 3 years based on this funding.

However now the time has come for a complete restructuring of Funding. The funding should be based on certain criteria so that the development can be carried out in a much more sustainable way. The ICC needs to take care on few points

1. Performance of Board
ICC needs to define performance parameters for all it's members like School & Junior Cricket Participation, Transparency in Operations and money, Government Support, Domestic Cricket Tournaments and Scorecard each of the boards. The more the Score more the ICC level of funding. This will means boards taking much more long term sustainable steps

2. Population and Area of Countries
Population and Area of countries have a deep impact of how funding can be utilized. USA and Bermuda may be both Associate members and presently should never get same funding (As is the case today). USA is a huge country with 315 M population and 9 M Sq Km area while Bermuda is just 0.06 M Population. So definitely these factors need to be considered while funding is given.

3. Performance of Team
The better the performance of team, the more exposure ICC needs to get for the team. Hence a Ireland should be given a chance to play more Test teams or their A teams and also go for a sustainable domestic first class tournaments.
The better teams need that extra thrust to make them more self sustaining for future and in long term releases more money for the next level of upcoming teams

4. Parachuted Funding
The case of Uganda where when they lost HPP membership the whole team was out of central contracts. When a team in it's bad days, the funding should go out in a Parachuted ways. Uganda which lost funding from 0.4 to 0.16 M$ in 1 year instead should have gone down in 3 years. That way the board can plan for a comeback. Now it become a double blow, the membership and also lot the funding.

5. Full Members to be brought in the funding plan
Presently all the funding rules are applicable only for Associate and Affiliate members. ICC should make the whole structure more open, where if Ireland perform well they should be able to play Test Matches and Zimbabwe may lose out. Also the difference of 7.5 M$ to 0.6 M$ should be removed.
Yes ICC will need to support the full members for playing Test matches but this should not mean a 12.5 times difference of funding. The ICC should be transparent in why and how part of funding for each member

Most of these things were covered by Woolf's report. ICC instead of even discussing it has pushed it aside. If ICC has to move with times it will need to come out of the colonial elite mindset and in sync with modern methods. Hoping for the best.

5 events in Associate Cricket which changed World Cricket

2012-12-27T18:41:00.002+05:30

There have been many incidents in Associate Cricket if which went in opposite order would have changed the whole world order in Cricket. Many of these incidents will come as a surprise to the Youth of Cricket who know Cricket as just probably 6-7 Good Teams and 3 Minnow Test teams whom they will not see their country play and perhaps a Kenya and a Ireland or maybe now have got a glance of Afghanistan.

Perhaps the events that will be mentioned below if had happened, then the whole scenario of World Cricket would have been different. Although there can be many more but I have listed the top 5, and like a curtain-raiser I will go from No 5 to No 1.

5. Argentina not Invited for ICC Membership
This name would perhaps bring most number of surprises. Very few people know that Argentina was once considered a decent cricket team of the level of probably New Zealand at that time. Argentina had the largest population of English outside Britain. When ICC was formed it was formed as Imperial Cricket Council and membership was limited to British Empire only and Argentina was not eligible. With passing of time the game simply went into decline
If Argentina has been an ICC member then the game surely could have some footing just has been the case with Rugby and Hockey in Argentina. It would have also meant Spanish playing cricket country widely opening the Cricket market and Cricket could have been much bigger game but alas!!

This could have been a picture of a major cricket team talking in Spanish-Ola

4. Canada postponing Test Membership
Another shocker for you :) . Well in the 1950's ICC made up it's mind to offer Test Cricket to Canada. After all Canada was a major Commonwealth Country and cricket had a long history here. However Canada felt that it would need some more time to develop it's cricket and guess what that time never came and the boat was missed.
Imagine if Canada had been a Test Nation, it would have meant Cricket would have been a major game in North America and perhaps a lot of influence on sports in USA too. Did we miss a Canada- West Indies Rivalry for the future.

Imagine Canada playing against Australia in Boxing day Test

3. Ireland WC Victory over Pakistan
Pakistan one of the favorites of the tournament. Ireland, virtually an unknown team. It is St Patrick's day, an Important day for Ireland and many Irish fans in the ground. Pakistan was bowled out in 130's and that was a shocker, but Ireland began to crumble. That was not long to be, Ireland stumbling but crossed the finish line and created history.

They never knew their hard earned victory would bring misery for Associates

This should have made ICC happy with cricket improving but it had the exact opposite impact. ICC for next world cup cut the teams from 16 to 14 and the process of Elitism gained hold. This was to be further strengthened when ICC almost made a decision to make 2015 WC a 10 Test Playing World Cup only but the team which started it actually came to rescue when it chased down England by magic effort of Kevin O'Brien.

2. Cricket missing out in Olympics
Cricket was only played once in Olympic with Great Britain taking the gold and France taking the silver. This event was never repeated.

Do we need to say anything on this

Imagine with cricket in Olympics would have meant that many countries would have taken the game and much more money and support from the government for Cricket. Well it is a chance missed and ICC still does not want Cricket in Olympics!!!

1. Imperial Cricket Conference- USA not invited
Cricket at one time was very popular game in USA, but as everything British was opposed hence was cricket. However cricket remained a strong games in various pockets like Philipdeplhia, New York and some areas and continued to thrive there. The game surely needed support in form of exchange of games with England and other countries.
But what happened, ICC never invited USA as it's member and game went into a big slide. Imagine with US the biggest sports economy involved in the game, it would have put game in a different league.

Obama could have been No 1 fan of Lara!!!!

I many times imagine what the game would have been with Argentina, Canada & USA playing the boxing day test with Australia or fighting a T20 olympics game with China. Well only if & buts were true.

Club + Domestic League way forward for Nepal and Afghanistan

2012-12-05T14:37:00.001+05:30

South Asia is the power hub of cricket and in South Asia two nations Nepal & Afghanistan are really rising very quickly. These 2 nations if go the right way can surely join the likes of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or New Zealand soon.

Afghanistan has already established itself to be a top Associate / Affiliate Cricket Nation, which has rapidly progressed from Div 5 to Div 1 within a span of 4 years. Nepal also if going the present way can soon be seen playing the 2015 World Cup and getting an ODI status.

These 2 Associate unlike most Associate have a population crazy about cricket but like most of the associates the both countries are reliant on a small pool of players. Over that the playing XI depends on few stars to take them to victory. This is a very dangerous situation. When these stars fade away then the team can go in a downward spiral.

This was the case with Kenya who had got a good set of talented players in their ranks but without a domestic structure the replacements never came and now we all know in what state Kenya is.

Having known that a domestic structure is very important the question comes on the aspect of funding. Both Afghanistan Cricket Board and Cricket Association of Nepal are not rich enough or have funding like Test Nations to for a full comprehensive domestic structure. So how do we overcome the 2 dimensionally opposite issues

Typical village in Afghanistan & Nepal. Majority of population in these countries live in villages and essential for strong cricket team.

To look for the answer we need to understand the demographics & geographical factors of both the countries which are quite similar in many aspects. Both the countries are mostly hilly regions with major cities located in broad valleys. Both the countries consist mostly of villages spread across the country with a few major cities. Afghanistan has cities spread out across the country while Nepal has it concentrated towards the Central and Eastern Parts.The Village is a very strongly knit unit in both the countries, where it is like a family and is headed by a Sarpanch in Nepal and a village elder in Afghanistan.

In such a scenario the to have a spread across the country it is very important to have players from the villages. India increased massively in strength when players from smaller cities started to come (Like the Captain Dhoni) against older days when most of the players came from bigger cities. India also has majority of Population in rural areas, and involving them surely is helping

Right Burkhashi in Afghanistan and Left Elephant polo in Nepal. Village level tournaments are already been organized in both the countries.

Hence to reach the villages we need a club structure. By Club I do mean not a club like in England where some old folks are sitting drinking beer playing cards and watching a cricket match, with gentlemen claps. A club is a simply a team which can be formed by a village or some locality in the towns. It is not a concept which is something very new. It already happens in both the countries where the villages come together and play in some sort of tournaments. In Afghanistan Burkhashi the national game is a example of the same, while in Nepal, Elephant Polo or local soccer matches or volleyball matches keep happening

The Point is about making such tournament more structured and monitoring them in an efficient way. To start with such tournaments can easily be financed. Firstly to start with to register a club a nominal annual fee can be charged. When we have such a local club tournament a minor entry fee can be can be charged from each team. Then secondly local sponsors can be roped in. The local tournament normally have local sponsors and these need not be the exotic ones like Pepsi etc but can be a local business, who would want the tournament to be named after his late Father or some big shop or some local business. It is a great point to maximize the reach in local areas.

Hence the local club tournaments can not only be made self sustainable but rather can earn some small profits out of them. However based on local tournament you can unearth some good players but will not be able to give them good exposure. For that a Domestic Set up is essential

The Domestic Set up should be based out of provinces or major cities. These countries ideally should not have more than 6 to 8 teams in the domestic set up. These can be regions like West, North etc or Based around major cities. Each domestic set up should have a catchment areas in which all the local clubs will be registered to it. Hence the domestic team say a Kabul or Kathmandu may have clubs from the city and the surrounding villages. It will choose its player roster from these clubs. For Financing it will have some income from clubs, conducting tournament and then would receive certain funding from ACB or CAN. This would help it in paying some money to the domestic players who then would give more time for the domestic tournaments.

The Domestic tournament can be conducted with 2 day, 1 day and T20 matches spread around the playing season and ensuring that it is played on the weekly off days. The team play half of the matches in it's home ground and would travel for rest of it's matches. This would mean that people can work on weekdays and play cricket on weekly off days throughout the year rather than playing for 2 weeks and not playing for rest of year. This continuity would definitely improvement fitness and mental ability of the players

This Club + Domestic structure ensure that a good set of some 90 to 160 Players will be playing some quality cricket at domestic level, earning a small money from it while maintaining their regular lives and jobs. The Clubs would help in providing a constant stream of talent for the teams and a good player has a fair chance of making it into the national team

All these things might look very easy but it would definitely need a lot of effort from the boards and definitely dedication. If the system is implemented soon the quality of team can definitely improve many fold and we may see these teams challenging the best. Let's hope for it and see it happening soon.

Cricket's gateway to Central Asia

2012-11-01T00:25:00.001+05:30

In the recent World T20 world, one team really impressed and surprised everybody. Not many could imagine that a country which has been under war for more than 30 years could perform so well. Afghanistan with it's battery of pacers and swashbuckling batsman impressed the whole world and perhaps is taking all the right steps towards becoming a good team.

When I heard about Afghanistan team playing against a local Peshawar club I could never imagined that one day, Australia would agree to play an ODI against the same team and surprisingly many players were part of both the teams. Afghans learned cricket when they were in refugee camps in Pakistan. Many of the Pakistani stars were Pashtun's like Imran Khan, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan and it became very attractive to Afghans. When in 1992 a Pashtun Imran Khan lead Pakistan to World Cup victory this has an immediate connect and liking for the game. Thus the game entered Afghanistan

Afghanistan cricketers not surprisingly belonged to only one group Pashtuns, and the other Ethnic groups were not represented such as Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbek or Turkmen. This was not surprising since mostly Pashtuns came to Pakistan while others went to other countries like Tajikistan, Iran etc which were not cricket country.

However overtime things began to change. The game of Cricket became a proud symbol of representing Afghanistan. Now besides Pashtun the other ethnic groups also started to relate to the game. Teams and Clubs were there in almost all the states. Cricket truly has started to become a national game. The U-19 team for first time had youngsters across the ethnic groups.

It is a matter of time when, we will soon have a composite team in Afghanistan. This has already started to sow the seeds of Cricket possibly becoming a major sport in many other countries. Afghanistan shares ethnic group across borders. Pashtun are spread across Afghanistan and Pakistan, Tajiks across Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Uzbek similarly across Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, Hazara share religion with Iran, Turkmen with Turkmenistan and finally Baloch across Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iran.

Afghanistan and it's location in Central Asia

With the Afghan's having relations across many borders, with the game engrossed in the nation, it would mean that sooner or later seeing the passion with their relatives across the borders the game is bound to spread in the Central Asian nations of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and in the Middle East country of Iran.

This means that like the Geopolitical Strategic importance of Afghanistan, similarly it is of the same importance to ICC. With Central Asia playing cricket, it would draw interest in many other areas like former Soviet nations and many more middle east populations. But that is a thought too far for this time. The Central Asian countries have shown their mark in many sports and these athletic people surely can make some great cricket teams.

So Afghanistan becomes a really important nation for Afghanistan. Not only ICC can establish Cricket as a game which will bring peace to Afghanistan, by helping the country, but it naturally helps many more countries come to fold of cricket. Let's hope to see a cracking cricket team of Tajikistan or Iran playing a cricket match against India in near future.

Sierra Leone Cricket “rising from Ashes”

2012-10-02T16:19:00.001+05:30

Sierra Leone as a country has experienced more than its fair share of hardship.
The civil war which stretched from 1991 to 2002, decimated the country. 50,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands were wounded, many permanently, and towns, villages and cities were left without basic amenities.
Cricket which had a rich history in the country of course cricket was a victim and not spared.

Few people may be aware that cricket has been played in Sierra Leone at sub-regional domestic level since the 1930’s and was enjoyed by a modest but dedicated and passionate group of followers and participants. Unsurprisingly, the civil war obliterated nearly all the cricketing infrastructure. Grounds and equipment were destroyed almost without exception.

Many would think that the game could have and perhaps, should have died. Instead, it has made a genuine “From the Ashes” comeback.

Cricket bringing hope in Sierra Leone. Cricket is making all the right noises from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone

Juniors are playing the sport in larger numbers than ever and the nation fields representative sides at every level in African regional tournaments.

Incredibly, like the rise of Phoenix Sierra Leone national Under-19 squad in 2008 in a dream like performances defeating African heavy weights like Kenya & Namibia successfully came runners up in Africa and won its way through to the final stages of U-19 World Cup qualifying in Toronto, Canada. Sadly shattering all dreams the Canadian government refused them visa’s and denied in what could have been a Afghanistan like story.

Cricket in Sierra Leone has made all the right noises and recently received a major boost with the announcement that United Kingdom based coaching agency Coaching Cricket Excellence has donated equipment - including bats, pads, katchets, helmets, gloves and balls - to the Kenemmanjane Club in Freetown.

The SL cricket mostly consists of Clubs. Of them once club stands out-the Kenemmanjane Cricket Club . The club has both men’s and women’s teams that are presently in domestic leagues and competitions and the women’s team was Bronze medal winner at the Sierra Leone National Women’s T20 Cricket League 2012.

The Director of Coaching Cricket Excellence Peter Willings said helping Sierra Leone is part of a wider aim I have to supply cricket kit and other sporting equipment to parts of the world that are not as advantaged as Britain. “We have more than enough cricket equipment here, both new and old, and I believe it’s only right that people elsewhere get use of it rather than it being available to those who have plenty already.”

Coaching Cricket Excellence is a Coaching Agency based in Ealing, West London, England. They exist to help people of all ages play the sport. They currently have projects running in Uganda, India, Rwanda, South Africa and the Caribbean.

Peter Willings said “Kenemmanjane Cricket Club is doing a wonderful job helping generate interest in cricket. Keep getting the children involved from as young an age as possible and with luck you’ll get a touring team from the UK come visit you soon.”

Peter further promised that he will continue to help the Kenemmanjane Cricket Club with equipments and other areas as long as he is able to. “I’ve assisted with sending cricket kit to Uganda, India, Rwanda, Afghanistan, the West Indies and South Africa thus far. I would like to say a big thank you to my friend Bernie Spratt and our donors for their support, without that it wouldn’t have happened.”
The Founder and Secretary General of the Kenemmanjane Cricket Club Emmanuel Pessima spoke of his delight at receiving the new equipments. “We have the desire to develop cricket much more extensively at the grassroots level but we don’t have the necessary equipment and facilities. Hopefully this donation will be the beginning of something wonderful. “We would like to thank the Coaching Cricket Excellence and their donors for wonderful contribution. It will really help us and we are very grateful.”

Let’s hope this would help SL cricket rise to higher places and would be closely watch them in the African Div 2 which is undergoing presently in SA.

High time for Central Contracts & Stadium

2012-09-15T18:33:00.002+05:30

This article comes at a time when the Nepal fans are very happy with a great win the team got in ICC World Cricket League Division 4. The fans now are confident that the team has a good shot for 2015 World Cup.

While the team has done greatly and very nicely guided with the dynamic coach Pubudu, it must be noted that the team performance has not been due to some great work done by Nepal Cricket Authorities but rather than the passion of the players and some extra curricular activities led from the front by the Coach. The Coach got the Captain Paras to play regular Club Cricket in Canada. He got Shakti Gochan a trial in an IPL team, while 2 young players got a chance to play in Sri Lanka. These got players much some required exposure and regular match practice.

While the coach has been doing great job the organizers are nowhere near to what they are supposed to do. When I started following Nepal Cricket the list of to do's for Nepal Cricket remain exactly same even after so many years. Well the things in Nepal have changed a lot. There is a working democracy now, the civil war is over and the confidence in country is much higher.

Out of the many to do lists, 2 clearly standout. If these are fulfilled it will address many of the problems plaguing Nepal Cricket. The first & very very important is the Central Contracts.

Central Contracts are the very core to a sports team. It means that the players would not have to worry on the financial aspect of life and just focus on Cricket. It would also mean that unlike what happened in the past when Nepal have lost loads of U-19 players because they simply did not see any future in cricket can be retained. The U19 players now can see a future in Cricket. It would also mean that many more upcoming players in country would think of Cricket as an option.

However many people would say Central Contracts are simply not possible. There are no resources. Countries like Ireland who get much more money from ICC are not able to give central contracts to all the player, even though they have private sponsorships.

I would like to simply to point out that Ireland get around 0.6 M$ from ICC while Nepal gets around 0.1 M$, but the funds received from ACC are much higher than what Ireland receives from ICC Europe as around half the development funds go to ACC. Also the per capita PPP income of Ireland is $41000 as compared to Nepal's $1250 and a purchasing power of Dollar in Nepal is 2.5 times more than Ireland. This simply means that funding of Nepal puts in a much stronger position than that of Ireland. A average central contract in Nepal of 25000 Rs (294$) would be good enough to start with while this is simply not imaginable in Ireland.

So definitely Central Contracts is a possibility and CAN should extend the same immediately to 15-20 Players. Government gave players 300000 each after winning Div 4, well that is exactly what is the amount that is required for Central Contracts

The second most important thing is a Stadium. The benefits of a stadium are numerable. It would give the team a place to call their own where they can practice on quality ground. Secondly the coach is really pushing hard for a National Cricket Academy. The stadium definitely would mean National Cricket Academy up and running and would be producing players for future

Sharjah Stadium: A stadium which changed the fortune of UAE Cricket.

The stadium along with TU ground combined can be used for conducting fantastic domestic tournaments and a fantastic exposure to even domestic teams.

However the biggest benefit of a stadium is the International Exposure Nepal can get. I tried to work on some simple numbers. If CAN invites India A for a 20 day tour of 1 Four Day Match, 5 One Day & 2 T20 Matches, the total Cost which CAN would have to bear would be around 1.1 Crores. This includes cost of India A team travel, Stay, Food, Facilities and also the cost of Nepal team and officials. Now under normal circumstances CAN would bear all the costs. But if Nepal has a stadium and even if 10,000 People(Much less than what people turn out) come for each match buying 150 Rs tickets, this would cover all the costs and give CAN a profit. The private sponsorships & broadcasting rights would be additional to CAN.

This means CAN earns and Nepal team also get excellent exposure. The people would also see some quality cricket and would surely want to watch it. Then the stadium can be used to host International matches. Imagine if the stadium was already there then Nepal could have been the host location for Pakistan. For Pakistan it would be a much cheaper home ground than UAE and surely with good crowd support. This also brings in lots of tourism in Nepal which surely should get Nepal Government interested

The Stadium surely would not come cheap. A decent stadium would cost around 5 M$ (45 Crores). CAN may not have all the money but it surely got funds from ACC, it can rope in Nepal Government and rest can be in form of loans. As we have already seen a India A tour can be profitable to CAN if used properly, similar tours can be arranged and the loan to be paid off. It is all about thinking in an entrepreneurial way.

These are the 2 issues which addressed by CAN brings in loads of good for Nepal Cricket. It brings in full player focus, better exposure to team, chance to develop domestic cricket, opportunity to get more talent and tourism for the country. In 2 words "Complete Package". So the cricket lovers and fan in the country should really push hard for both the issues to be addressed. I would be waiting for these to happen soon.

10 Countries where ICC should invest in

2012-09-13T22:17:00.002+05:30

Cricket has been rapidly expanding around the globe. There are now highest ever 106 members of ICC with another 10 ready to join. There are talks of getting it in Olympics and the IOC chief really wants that too happen

But there is another side. The ICC revenue's primarily comes from one country India. There are not many countries from where ICC earns much. Perhaps the other surplus countries for ICC are Australia, England, Pakistan, Bangladesh & South Africa.

The ICC works on a system where the profit it makes, is distributed amongst the 10 Test Nations and other 96 Associate/Affiliate Members in form of development money. This is in tune of approximately 7.5 M$/Yr to a Test Nation, 0.6-0.7 M$ to Top Associates, 0.4 to HPP Members, 0.1 to Associates and just 0.015 to Affiliate Members. This money is major source of income for almost all the 106 members baring a few named above. Without the aid the cricket in countries would simply collapse.

So this brings in a question, can ICC risk the present structure. In my opinion a big NO & for the following reason- All the eggs in one basket- India. If tomorrow another sport rivals Cricket in India it would directly impact the source of money for ICC and it could be disastrous.

So ICC is like a financial company who should want to hedge it's risk. So based on the factors of Sports Economy, present interest, History of game in all the countries, I have picked a list of 10 countries. Some countries presently are in good shape when it comes to cricket's standing in the country, but might not be very big countries. These countries are like low hanging fruits, where ICC should quickly work, and make the country self sustainable. Whatever little additional income these countries bring would mean ICC is earning and not spending in these countries
The second set of the countries would be where game might have some base, but if established there would bring ICC loads of revenue's

So let me share with you, the 10 countries where ICC should definitely invest for the future

1. Ireland
Obviously it is the first country which comes in mind. 2 successful World Cups, has made news both inside the country and outside. The win over England was covered on the front pages of all the newspapers. It is where ICC should invest in 2 ways, first is to get the team more matches with Test Nations which bring some revenue's and secondly a domestic structure.

2. Scotland
The Scots have really worked hard on the youth and many good players are coming in. Cricket has a strong tradition in the country and the future looks good. Like Ireland ICC needs to get them more matches. Also like the case of Rugby, where Wales, Scotland & Ireland have a combined domestic structure, ICC should work and establish a similar Structure for Scotland, Ireland & Netherlands and if need be extend it to Denmark & Wales.

3. Canada
The game is now well known in the country thanks to the absolute cricket loving 1.4 Million South Asian out of a population of 4%. Just imagine even if another 10% of country starts following cricket it would mean a population more than New Zealand. The game has been making right noises. The World T20 will be broadcast live on a major sports channel. This country needs some focus from ICC and it can be a major revenue earning country for ICC

4. Afghanistan
War ravaged, Terrorism, Taliban. Perhaps not the country you might be thinking for ICC to invest in. But do you know, that it has been one of the fastest emerging team. The Afghans are naturally talented. This can be seen by some of the best talent of Fast Bowlers emerging from the country. It must be noted that the legendary Pakistani fast bowlers are from the same tribes as the Afghans.
War or no war, this country once this teams goes raring there is no stopping. ICC urgently needs to get them more exposure in matches with top nations and their A teams

5. Nepal
The country has one of the biggest following of the game. When the team recently won the ICC WCL Div 4, thousands of fans turned at the Airport to welcome the team. Whenever they play a match in Nepal, 15000 people turn in the stadium.

Such level of crowd support can not be met by many Test Nations. These are placed where ICC needs to work faster

The game is the no 1 game like the other South Asian nations. The biggest investment ICC needs in the country is in form of a Stadium and help them establish domestic structure. With these investment the country can soon join the likes of top nations soon.

6. USA
USA doesn't need any explanations. The biggest sports economy in the world. For Cricket surprisingly the second highest internet earnings come from USA after India!!! The game is presently not in a healthy state in the country because of a pathetic Cricket board whose only job looks to be clinging to power and eating whatever money they have. The ICC investment besides monetary should be to get USACA, their board in order and then things will just flow.

7. Kenya
They had shown promise. ICC did not focus on them and then they lost their way. The country surely has got talent. Their board is now taking some steps to improve the game, but like most associate they also need exposure to better teams.

8. Netherlands
Netherlands can be the gateway of the game into mainland Europe, presently it is limited to British Isles. Netherlands have a strong cricketing culture but ICC needs to help developing the game at junior level and as already discussed help establish a Euro Domestic league involving Scot & Ire. If the game picks here then it is bound to spread to Denmark, Belgium & France. So this country is like the gateway to mainland Europe

9. China
China is the future. It is the superpower of sports. If China takes the game that means 20% of humanity has taken the game and along with South Asia that means half of the world is there. Not only by number of people, China is full of money and ICC can earns loads from here. What does ICC need to do, well simple, get the games in Olympics. We all know once the game is in Olympics China will get everything in it. Besides that ICC surely need to create many Coaching centers and Coached around the country which is the best way to spread the game. ICC would have to invest atleast for 10 years before expecting any returns

10 Argentina
Surprised. Well do you know before the World War, the Argentina Cricket team was almost as powerful as say the Kiwis. They had the largest British Population outside Britain. The game has a long history and at once time the game was more popular than Football. But with ICC's insistence of making members from commonwealth and British expats leaving the country, led to decline of the game.
Now why Argentina, the answer is simple. Cricket has got it's strongholds in all continents except South America. Also Cricket is to make a strong in Hispanic countries. So Argentina is the doorway. If the game develops here, then it has a good chance of taking it to South and Central America.

The ICC surely is doing some work but it is more general in nature. ICC needs to pick up countries as project and close them for maximum impact and let's hope it happens soon.

Associate XI in U19 WC based on Performance

2012-08-25T11:29:00.000+05:30

The U19 WC is almost over. The Associates could not make it to the next round but there have been some good associate performances. Specially there have been some players who have stood firm and challenged the opposite teams.

The Associate XI have been formed based on the Overall Performance of the players, the consistency they have been showing and the value of their contributions in the match. You will not players who had one match winning performance and in the rest of the tournament were not to be seen. After all if I was a selector I will look on the overall performances.

The Associate XI has 6 Batsman, 1 om whom can do part time Bowling, 1 All Rounder & 4 Specialist bowlers including 2 Fast Bowler & 2 Spinners.

1. Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan)

This batsman was the backbone for Afghanistan batting line up. With his 204 in the tournament including a solid 69 against a close game against NZ & a critical 83 in a very critical match against the Scots this was the batsman the team could depend upon. This young lad has already made International Debut and he would be the star to look in the future.Today we maybe seeing him in action against Australia in a ODI

2. Javed Ahmadi (Afghanistan)

This right hand batsman is the highest scorer for Associates in the tournament. He was specially effective against Scotland with a century & half century against them. He also tried to resist against Pakistan and was handy with the ball taking some wickets. Like his counterpart he has already played for Afghanistan and maybe we see him in action against Australia in the only ODI at Sharjah.

3. CN Kent (PNG)

This young all rounder was the backbone for PNG. He got it all both a century and a five wicket haul and contributed in almost all the matches either with his batting or bowling. Like the Afghanistan players above he is also a member of PNG senior squad. Hopefully in near future he would be able to take his team to higher levels.

4. RE McLean (Scotland)

He is a great find for Scotland for future. He was the second highest scorer for the Associates with 2 half centuries. He performed very well in the league stages with a 36, 59 & 67 against NZ, Pak & Afg and then a swanky 47 against regional rivals Ireland ensuring a successful chase taking Scots to victory and securing 11th position for them. Looking for this name in future.

5. TE Kane (Ireland)

The Ireland batting has really disappointing tournament with not a single good performance to their name. He was the backbone of his team batting and ensured he was there stubbornly and fighting from his side like his 78 against Scotland which took Ireland to a respectable score. He also chipped in with his bowling and took a single wicket in all but one match.

6. FRJ Coleman (Scotland)

He was the mainstay of Scottish batting in the league stage with scores of 65, 39 & 30 and along with his team mate McLean ensured taking the Scots to respectable scores.

7. SP Khakurel (Nepal)

A team whose batting failed almost every-time with 2 times in double digits, it was encouraging to find a batsman who was fighting it out. Like TE Kane, SP Kakurel was the backbone of Nepali batting. His 55 against England showed the class this batsman had performing against a quality opposition. Nepal over the years have lost a lot of U19 players and I hope this batsman is not lost.

8. GH Dockrell (Ireland)

This young spinner has impressed everybody in the 2011 WC making even the top batsman struggle against him. He had high hopes to overcome and surely he exceeded expectations with a whopping tournament highest 22 Maiden overs, an Economy 2.05, and an Average of 12.3. His 22 Maiden & 2.05 Economy is far better than even players from Test Nations which can be seen from figures like 10-6-10-1 against Aus (Who are in Finals), 10-3-22-4 against Nepal, 10-5-8-1 against Namibia, 10-4-22-1 against Scotland. He was also handy with the bat. He surely is class and I said earlier would love to see him playing Test Cricket for Ireland one day

9. RK Vishvakarma (Nepal)

He was the third highest wicket taker in the tournament (An he played 1 match less). Against PNG he simply ripped them apart. The figures 6.2-4-3-6 speaks volume of his class, an economy of 0.47 the second best in U19 WC history. Lets hope to see the player ripping apart opposition in the WCL Div 4 the next tournament Nepal is playing

10. RAJ Smith (Scotland)

He was the second highest wicket taker for Associates with 12 wickets in the tournament. He spearheaded Scottish bowling with his Medium Pace specially with his 3/34 against Kiwis & 4/45 against the Afghans. He surely is another great find for Scotland who are really focusing on the youth. Hopefully we would be seeing him trouble the likes of Kohli's in the future.

11. Sayed Shirzad (Afghanistan)

Afghanistan has produced some great pace talents and Sayed Shirzad can be one of them. This speedster just knocked out the batsman at other end. His 4/34 against NZ & 3/33 against Scotland were clinical performances. Hopefully we can see him in action along with Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran soon

We should keep an track for all these players as many of them can turn out to be future stars for their country. Best of luck to all the players.

Associate Performer Squad Round 1- 2012 ICC U19 WC

2012-08-17T17:35:00.001+05:30

The 2012 U19 is presently underway. The Associates teams sadly could not do very good. Each of the Associate team lost to the full members. Some of the matches specially of Scotland and Afghanistan have been close by overall the Associates were simply thrashed.

However said that there were few Associate Stars who showed their class. Given more exposure these players can turn out to be world class stars.

The performances of Associate players in round 1 would be of greater significance as these were against the stronger better side. The difference between Great and Good players is that Great player will show their mettle against a very good opposition while it may not be the case for Good players

The Associate Performers team is a list of 14 players who despite their teams performances performed well and showed their class

1. R.E. Mclean (Scotland)

3 Matches against quality opposition of Pak, NZ & Afg, this man was the backbone of batting with scores of 36, 59 & 67. He acted as the pivotal role in batting with a consistent performance and the team rallied around him. He surely is class and we hope to see him performing at the top level

2. FRJ Coleman (Scotland)

He was a second pivot of the Scottish Batting. As his teammate he was consistent in batting in all 3 matches with scores of 65, 39 & 30 bailing the team out in difficult conditions. Though the team has been losing causes we surely will look to his performances in the Plate rounds.

3. Sayed Shirzad (Afghanistan)

This young gun from Afghanistan was the Highest Wicket taker in the Group Stage ending with impressive figures of 4/35 and 3/33 against NZ & Scot. He simply ripped apart the opposition without conceding many runs. If he continues this way he surely would be next Hamid Hassan for Afghanistan

4. CN Kent (PNG)

PNG were ripped apart in each match specially in Batting but this young all rounder resisted the opposition often missing company at other end ending with scores of 24, 39 & 27 against Zim, WI & Ind when the team never crossed 200. He also had a 5 wicket haul against Zimbabwe. Hopefully he would help PNG make into World Cup in near future.

5. CA Soper (PNG)

This young bowler was the PNG mainstay in the Bowling department and also chipping in batting at critical stages. He had a 5 wicket haul against 2 time champions India and restricting them to a score of just crossing 200. In the match against WI, where PNG just managed 100+ score his 23 was critical in PNG crossing 100.

6. GH Dockrell (Ireland)

Australia ripped apart England, Nepal and Ireland in the tournament but here was a person who simply ripped the Aussies. The Impressive figure of 10-6-10-1 tells how much Aussie's were scared of him and their simple strategy was "Avoid Dockrell". This young lad and captain of Ireland had already impressed everyone with his bowling in 2011 World Cup and was very critical in Irish Performances. Not only in bowling where his 4/22 broke the back of Nepal he chipped in with his batting at critical stages like his 26 against England

7. RAJ Smith (Scotland)

This bowler was impressive ending with 3/43 & 4/45 against NZ & Afg. He also hung around with a impressive 34 against Pakistan. The Scots have many young promising talent and he is one of them for the future.

8. RK Vishwakarma (Nepal)

This young lad has been the backbone and consistent performer for Nepal despite his team having a disastrous outing. His bowling troubled the batsman with he ending with figures of 2/50, 2/31 & 3/63 against Aus, Ire & Eng was critical in getting much required breaks for Nepal. He was very critical with batting when Nepal struggled scoring 32 & 20 against Ire and Eng. If Nepal is to get more exposure in future, this young man is the real potential for them and hopefully will not be lost like many talent lost in past

9. TE Kane (Ireland)

This all rounder has critical knocks in batting where Ireland were struggling. When Ireland managed all 3 scores in 100's this man scored 28, 21 & 39 in the 3 matches and was able to take wickets too in every match. His 6.3-1-13-1 was critical in choking Nepal and winning the match for Ireland by 14 Runs. Hopefully we should continue to see him in green and not lost to England like so many players have been lost

10. Afsar Khan (Afghanistan)

This sturdy batsman was rock solid in his 42 & 44 against NZ & Scotland. He was also critical inn the fielding taking 5 catches some of which were very critical. Afghanistan should work on him and realize his full potential.

11. W van Vuuren

Namibia had one of the most terrible tournament where they were thrashed 3 times in all the matches but Vuuren was one of the handful performers for the team. His all round performance against SL helped team build some creditability with his 38 & 2/65. He also hung around with his 20 against BD

12. Yamin Ahmadzai (Afghanistan)

His 7 wickets in the Group Stage with a 4/35 against helped in forming a deadly pair with Sayed Shirzad. The rate at which the pace bowling talent is coming from Afghanistan is very heartening to see. He is surely a potential who can be seen soon playing for the Senior Side in near future

13. SP Khakurel (Nepal)

His 55 against England helped Nepal to end up with a decent score and not ending in 2 digits like against Australia. His 31 against Ireland was not enough to see the team through for a victory. If there is one person who is a bright spot in the Nepal batting in U19 WC this is the Guy. Would love to see him playing at senior level soon

14. Z Groenewald (Namibia)

He is one of the first player to come from the black community in the country where the game is dominated by the White people and it was heartening to see the game spreading in Namibia. On top of that he was one of the 2 performers for his team who with his 6 wickets gave the team some tooth. His 26 & 19 against SA & BD were also fighting performances in though which were pretty much losing causes.

This team of 14 surely must be nurtured by ICC for the future. ICC could give them Scholarships or Central contracts and give them global exposure which would help them grow and help their teams to grow and perform at international stages. Best of luck to these stars.

The "American" dream of a Premier League

2012-07-25T22:53:00.003+05:30

In 2010 USACA the so called American Cricket Board announced that it has formed a collaboration with NZ Cricket, Poddar Holding of Singapore to form Cricket Holding America. It was a firm that was assigned to hold a T20 league in USA in 2012.There was excitement for the league not in USA but rather outside as people thought that Cricket may finally break back into the nation.

But as time passed it was USACA back to it's old ways. It first fired it's CEO once the deal was secured, perhaps the bufoon Dainty wanted full share of 2 M$. Then there was a fraud election. And then an announcement that tournament will be held in 2013.

I wondered if it is possible to ever hold the league in USA and make it popular. There are many reasons that will work against it. To start with the market to begin with is not the 350 Million Americans but rather 5 Million Target population. To add to this population is scattered all over the country. Then there are not proper stadiums in the country. So with so many challenges is it really possible.

I pondered upon the question and realized it is a fine line to walk. The APL will have to many tick in the check boxes

1. Proper Administration
To be a Proper Administration you have not to be USACA. The good thing is NZC and Poddar Holding have formed a independent body to control T20 League known as CHA. They have to be sure that they make all the proceeding in a very fair and transparent manner. They are not BCCI of America but rather like starting a Handball league in India and hoping to challenge IPL.

2. The Target Population
To start with CHA should not make the mistake of taking whole of 340 M American Population as the market but rather should target only the populations from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Nepal, Sri Lanka & Afghanistan. These are the populations who though are far away from their nations but yearn for Cricket. If they get quality players to watch, they will not miss it.

Based on Wikipedia and various other sources I have formed a approximate cricket population in major North American Cities. The population belong to countries mentioned above.

Cricket Populations (Ind, Pak, SL, BD, Nep, Afg & WI) in major American Cities

3. Use of Major Stadiums
Imagine a Excited South Asian talking to American about the APL match. The American seems to be Interested in tagging along seeing the Excitement and then finally ask "So where is the Match". Imagine the answer coming as some ground on outskirts of New York. Well if the American had some intention of giving it a try once it will be lost.

The T20 or any leagues have a element of glamor in them and what can bring glamor into sports. Using the best stadiums of the country for the league in the most glamorous thing.

Clockwise: Citi Stadium, Possible Grounds for APL, Fort Lauderhale Cricket Ground (Only ODI Stadium in USA) & Yankee Stadium. The First & Last Stadium will bring in the Glamor that this league would require a lot

There are many options that can be used for APL which may include mostly Baseball Ground (They just fit the Size) and the only ODI Cricket Stadiums in Florida and Toronto.

4. Optimum Number of Teams
To start with the number of teams should be kept as low. If I was there I would be holding the tournament I would keep the number of teams as 6. This would help the stars to be effectively distributed amongst teams. It will also help to keep the league short which will be appealing both to fans and the stars to squeeze in time for tournament.
Based on the target population the 6 teams should be 2 from New York, 1 each from Miami, San Francisco, Chicago & Los Angeles.
If teams from Canada are also included then it should be team Toronto Replacing Los Angeles and if we go with 1 team from New York then Vancouver joining the league.

5. The Northern Neighbor- Canada
Toronto has 682,000 Cricket Crazy population a whopping 11% of Population of City. It is the highest percentage just less than Miami & Florida. It is also ahead of all American cities except New York & Miami.
Vancouver also has percentage Cricket Crazy population than most American cities and population ahead of US cities like Los Angeles or Washington.

These stats surely make the case for the league to be a combined US & Canada league. And this is not just a case that will happen with Cricket. All the Big 4-MLB, NBA, NFL & NHL actually are US+Canada leagues

6. International Stars & Recognition
To start with the league should be recognized with ICC. As NZC is involved this would not be that difficult. However the bigger thing would be getting the agreement of the important boards i.e. BCCI, PCB, SLC, BCB & WICB. These are the 5 critical boards for the league and if CHA is intelligent enough it should offer some financial incentives to these big 5

The 4 South Asian Cricket Giants & their stars specially Indians would be critical in the league to make it a success

The Caribbean people make a major cricket population and ignoring their stars would be a foolish step

The league should be studded with stars from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies. It should also ensure it gets the stars of Sri Lanka but also Associates like Nepal & Afghanistan. These associates are also cricket crazy nations and if the fans know their stars are playing alongside big names they surely will make the league popular not only in US residents but back in Nepal & Afghanistan too.
Some of the names could be likes of Dhoni, Kohli, Sehwag from India, Afridi, Shoaib Akhtars from Pakistan, Shakib & Tamims from Bangladesh, Sangakara, Murali, Jayasurya's from Sri Lanka, Gayle & Pollards from Windies, Hamid Hassan & Nowroz Mangal from Afghanistan, Paras & Shakti from Nepal. Getting some popular retired stars would also not be a bad idea.

Hamid Hassan(Afghanistan), Paras Khadka & Shakti Gauchan (Nepal): Cricket is very popular in these Associate Countries and their stars will help get in some extra dedicated fans

7. Last but not least, some Glamor to league
Glamor would surely be important. Involving some Hollywood & Bollywood Stars would surely bring in glitz & glamor to the league, an added incentive for people to come to the grounds

All said and done this would take a serious planning and action from CHA. Let's hope they are able to do it and cricket has got some footing in the biggest economy of the world. I will be waiting for APL in 2013. Let's hope they take in some of the recommendations.

Rise of PNG Cricket

2012-06-02T19:01:00.002+05:30

Imagine a country that has more players playing cricket than they do in Australia. Imagine a country where cricket surely is one of the most popular sports and perhaps cricket is the sport where the national team has given the best performance internationally. The country looks like a Test Nations and perhaps the name that could strike may be New Zealand, Zimbabwe or may be upcoming countries like Kenya or Ireland. Well with 50000 youngsters playing the country, it is PNG or Papua New Guinea

Now the question that comes into the mind of many readers is that where is PNG. PNG is a small country that is North of Australia and East of Indonesia. It is a country which has over 1000 Languages and little common across various tribes. The only major city in the country is Port Morbesy while rest of the population lives rural

Cricket like at most places was introduced to PNG by the missionaries when it was under British Rule.It was really picked up by the various tribes. It is to till this day a form of cricket known as Trobiand Cricket which is played by many tribes and is the most popular sport game.

Trobiand Cricket: The form of Cricket picked by Tribal's when it was introduced by missionaries. It is the most popular game of tribals.

Besides the tribes the game was popular amongst the various expats from Australia and Britain in the capital Port Morbesy. A team of 9 Expats and 2 Indigenous players became the first official team of PNG that played against Australia in 1972.

It is the capital where the game started to pick up. The game started to pick up in the capital, most recognizably the village of Hanuabada, a village is located on the outer suburbs of Port Moresby.

Cricket is so popular in the village of Hanuabada that everyday afternoon the streets are flooded with boys playing cricket. 9 out of the 11 members of present team come from this village

Children can be seen playing cricket every afternoon in the village of Hanuabada, just outside the capital Port Morbesy, PNG

With the cricket roots so strong PNG Cricket Board started it's efforts to take Cricket to other areas of PNG. They started to organize the cricket across the tribes to tap the natural talent there. The board also started various initiatives Liklik Kricket to take cricket to kids around the capital.

The board then collaborated with sponsors to form initiatives like BSP Cricket to take cricket to kids, Dulux "don't drink and drive" and various other efforts has raised the profile of the game. The board also ensure that they got more schools and colleges into the game so that talent keeps pouring in

Initiatives like the tie up with BSP have been really successful in PNG

It was over the years of these efforts to take the game of cricket to kids and across the nations produced great results. By 2010 we have over 50000 people playing the game in PNG. PNG which finished a low 11th in 1995 ICC Trophy and probably one of the lower ranked teams.

The team improved performance year after year. Finally in 2011 they reached their best ever performance when got a rank 3 in World Cricket League division 2 and hence qualified for World Cup qualifiers. This also meant that they improved the ICC ranking to 19. They further improved and gave even a better performance and finished 8th in the tournament out of 16 teams. They finished 4th in the group and just missed qualification to next round

PNG team hold great promise. We might see them challenging the big boys soon

Cricket hold great future in the country and more exposure perhaps someday making it into the Inter Continental Cup would really help break the country in the biggest league. The future looks bright and let's hope we get to see them play 2015 which is being help right in their continent.