Two years on…

Dear Readers, 

Its been 2 years since this blog was started in Dec 2005. I should probably have written this article on 9th Dec, but I got caught up in other things.

This blog has so far been read 80,913 times, with 2743 comments. There are a total of 354 posts.

In Dec 2006, the blog had been read 32500 times, with 1500 comments. There were a total of 250 blog posts.

So the actual delta for 2007 is 48413 times read, 1243 comments, and 104 blog posts.

My biggest problem this year has been …. interestingly, the same that associate countries also have :). The fact that since I am not a professional writer, the site goes into a hiatus once the work gets hectic. This has primarily been the reason why the number of posts this year has not been the same as last year, infact it has been less than half the number.

But there have been more comments per post, for which the readers like you have to be thanked. It has kept the site alive during periods when the content was not coming forth.

The year overall has been one of extremes. Ireland beating Pakistan and Bangladesh, Scotland losing to WI on the penultimate ball, Bangladesh beating SA and India, Zimbabwe beating Aus in 20 20 WC, Oman making it through to ICC Trophy, Uganda and Denmark beating Bermuda, Bermuda getting a viewership of 1 billion people in a group match at the WC….. the list goes on. Many of the themese from the previous year were equally present this year as well. Lack of playing numbers, ICC funding, expats, playing calender etc.

Hopefully the next year will be better, both for this blog and also for associate world of cricket.

Regards,
Nasir M. Khan

Canada making new league? With a baseball player?

3 international players and 1 baseball player?

But I like the 4 city based teams…… for once they are trying to create a single league covering all of Canada. I dont know the authenticity of this link

News: ICC releases schedules for HPP associates

The following is the ODI schedule:

20 March: Ireland v Bangladesh (ODI)
22 March: Ireland v Bangladesh (ODI)
24 March: Ireland v Bangladesh (ODI) 
28 June: Canada v Bermuda, Canada (ODI)
29 June: Canada v Bermuda, Canada (ODI)
1 July: Canada v Bermuda, Canada (ODI)
1 July: Scotland v New Zealand, Scotland (ODI)
2 July: Scotland v Ireland, Scotland (ODI)
3 July: Ireland v New Zealand, Scotland 
28 July: Ireland v Netherlands, Dublin (ODI)
29 July: Scotland v Netherlands, Dublin (ODI)
31 July: Ireland v Scotland, Dublin (ODI)
11 August: Ireland v Canada, Ireland (ODI)
12 August: Scotland v Kenya, Scotland (ODI)
13 August: Scotland v Kenya, Scotland (ODI)
18 August: Scotland v England, Scotland (ODI)
21 August: Netherlands v Kenya, Amsterdam (ODI)
24 August: Ireland v Kenya, Belfast (ODI)
25 August: Ireland v Kenya, Belfast (ODI)
27 August: Ireland v Kenya, Belfast (ODI)
18 October: Kenya v Ireland, Kenya (ODI)
19 October: Kenya v Ireland, Kenya (ODI)
21 October: Kenya v Ireland, Kenya (ODI)
23 October: Kenya v Ireland, Kenya (ODI)
25 October: Kenya v Ireland, Kenya (ODI)

The six ODI associates will be playing the following number of matches in the whole year. The Ireland number is most likely to go up by 3 when they finalize their Bangladesh tour in March; maybe a little more if they can get a game against SA as well. But the rest leaves a lot to be desired. Canada, Bermuda, Netherlands dont even play Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Kenya doesnt play Zimbabwe. And in fact, Netherlands plays no games against test opposition. At the same time, while the ICC was supposed to give 2 games against test opposition to the top 2 associates, only Scotland plays England and NZ, but Kenya does not.  

Maybe the ICC is telling the HPP associates to organize the tours themselves on top of these.

Ireland  15
Kenya   11
Scotland 7
Canada  4
Bermuda  3
Netherlands 3

News: Kenya get $445K sponsorship

EABL has committed to support Cricket Kenya with $445K (Sh 28 mil) over the next 4 years. This is about $110K per year. Not bad at all.

Now perhaps Kenya can play some cricket ! Maybe more than 1 game every 2 months!

Kenya already has Ihsan as their sponsor, and also the agreement with Nimbus Productions.

News: Ireland get a $615K cheque…

Well….. actually they got 2; one of $100K, and one of $515K. This should take care of somethings for the next year.

News: Bangladesh chalk out tour plans for Ireland….

The details are here, but Bangladesh have essentially offerred Ireland a longish tour. 2 four day games, 2 three day games, and 3 ODIs. This is likely to be a 3-3.5 week long tour.

Also, it has been decided that the 20 20 championship will have a qualifier, instead of selecting the top 2 ODI teams from the associates.

News: The WI rugby team….

There is now a west indies rugby team. This article is very interesting, and it talks about a lot of the issues that we keep on talking about regarding small countries. That is not the only reason why I am posting it here. What I found interesting is that Bermuda, Bahamas and the Cayman Islands have joined in this WI Rugby team, while all three choose to play as seperate countries in cricket.

News: Kenya league gets sponsor…

Looks like the league is still on, pushed out a little to January now. But $35000 has been pledged by a company for this tournament.

News: World Cup format may change…

It was reported today that there are 7 different formats that boards would like to have, instead of the format that was tried in this world cup…

The comparison is almost always made with the success of the 20 20 world cup. It is not taken into consideration that the champions trophy in India, which was actually a similar length tournament, did not really excite “crowds” like the 20 20 world cup did. The ICC trophy in 2006 had all the teams playing in it.

Lets first ask the right question, then we may get a correct answer. The 20 20 world cup was a success primarily because India and Pakistan made it through to the final, and India won some very close games. If 60 percent of the revenue comes from the subcontinent, that is interestingly also where the crowds come from (even in SA and the Caribbean). If the World Cup of 2007 had India and Pakistan making it all the way to the final, beating teams like SA and Australia on the way, then I am quite sure all this talk about the World Cup being too long would not have come about. After all, world cup 2003 was only 3 days shorter, and I dont remember anyone complaining about that in the Indian press.

The tournament format of the 20 20 world cup was a good one, and the same can be kept for 16 teams as well without any problem. Such a tournament can also be finished in 30 days if the ICC is intelligent about it. PCB’s argument that such formats are bad because a team can get knocked out on a bad day is essentially wrong. World Cups are about big matches, they are about do or die situations. They are about momments that live forever. Anyone ever complain that semi finals or the final should be made into a series as a strong team can have one bad day and get knocked out in the semis? The format of 2003 was actually very bad, because the minnows were never taken seriously. At least in the 2007 world cup you had to play the games against them with all force. Sri lanka lost to Kenya in that tournament, but there was no consequence, so it is not a known game. Compare that with 2 upsets in this world cup, Ireland beating pakistan, and Bangladesh beating India. Everyone knows about them. And in any case, 2003 format leads to a lot more one sided games.

I have a feeling that the ICC is actually going to be pressed to reduce the number of teams, which will mean that instead of 16, there will be only 14 (2003 format), or perhaps 12 teams (exact 20 20 format). This would mean that only 2 minnows will be participating. I wonder if that happens, whether the ODI status will still stay for the 16 teams, or only be given to those that qualify.

Trust me, you can have a 30 day world cup. But if India and Pakistan, especially India, get knocked out in the first 4 days, then 30 days is going to start looking like a very very long time!

News: KNCB’s grand plans…

CricketEurope had an article recently talking about the steps that KNCB is thinking of taking. The article is available here

There is talk of a seperate “Pakistan Cricket League”? Because there is too much tension between the “2 cultures of Dutch cricket”? Where is this “talk” emnating from? The Pakistani community or the Dutch community?

This is strange stuff. What is the Pakistan Cricket League going to achieve? Its not like there can be a Dutch Pakistani team playing ODI! They are better off integrating with the main league. Seperate clubs are ok if they really have an issue, but there is no point in not playing with the indegenous clubs.