The FTCT Cup….

I do not get how the ACC selected the teams for the FTCT Cup (which has recently been renamed the ACC Premier League). Currently, you have UAE, Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore playing. In previous years, my thinking was that they are making the Asian Associates play against each other. But now since Kuwait [...]

The Twenty20 Debate…

The ICC wants to have a global championship for it. India doesn’t. Usually I think India is just acting like a spoilt brat in terms of global cricket, but here, I have to side with them.
First of all, this 20 20 cricket is for those who find 50 overs to be too much. There is [...]

Incorporating Nepal and Denmark…..

First off all, let me say that there is nothing wrong with the structure of Intercontinental cup. In fact, its a good one, perhaps barring the fact that the Bermuda/Canada/Netherlands games are taking place in South Africa, whereas I would have liked these games to take place IN one of these countries so that their [...]

ACC woes…

Why doesnt ACC start a ranking system for their members?!?!? ECC does it, and ACC definitely arranges the matches for the countries. Why cant they just use EXACTLY the same system as ICC and produce their own regional rankings???
After the recent ENT SEA and ENT Middle East Cup tournaments, in my opinion, the rankings in [...]

Spurring the Cricket Industry [I]

Looks like for once, some great news came out for the associates. The ICC announced a schedule of ODIs for the 6 new nations (well, Kenya is not new, but reborn). There are going to be 64 games in all involving the minnows. Kenya will play 28 (thats a lot of cricket), Bermuda 20, Canada 17, [...]

Professionalism in the Associates

I was talking to someone yesterday and I realized something. Something that is fundamental to raising the standard of the associate nations compared to the test teams.
Nepal just beat NZ and SA at the U19 level. Now, if you were to take the same players from these countries 10 years into the future, when they [...]

Maldives?

There seems to be another country in South Asia which apparently is crazier about cricket than Bangladesh….. Maldives.
I was just looking at their website (click here to take a look) it looks like their side is returning after winning a world cup. President coming to the airport to welcome them, Traditional dancers, and a huge [...]

Best Associates from U19 WC

So how do we rank them in the end? It looks like the official rankings of the Associates are the following:
Nepal
USA
Ireland
Uganda
Namibia
Scotland
In my opinion, Nepal rank the chart like their official standing. They beat a test nation, and lost to another by only 2 runs. This latter loss saw them knocked out of the super league [...]

The third tier cricketing nations…

The third tier of International Cricket seems to consist of the following 8 teams: Loser of Nepal/Namibia, Italy, Uganda, Denmark, PNG, Fiji, USA and Malaysia. While the second tier teams get the intercontinental cup, and 6 out of 8 of them also get ODI status, these third tier teams get absolutely nothing.
It is a pity. [...]

ECC Div 1 and England

This year there will be 5 countries in the European Championships Division 1 tournament; Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy and Denmark. This division is the premier league of the tournament, with the champion country ending up to become the ECC champions.
It is time for England to also start particiapting in this premier division. Ireland, Scotland and [...]