Tony Munro

The development of cricket in eastern Europe takes another step forward this weekend when unofficial national teams from six countries compete for the Prague International Twenty20 Cricket Cup 2008.

ICC Affiliates Bulgaria (in their first tournament since gaining ICC membership last month) and the hosts, the Czech Republic, will be joined by teams from Belarus, Russia, Hungary and Romania in the two-day event, starting tomorrow.

Enthusiasts in Belarus and Russia have been thwarted in their desire for form national bodies and join the ICC by the bureaucracy and cost involved in forming official sporting bodies in countries of the former Soviet Union.

Similarly, the tournament organiser and Czech Cricket Union official, Timothy Hort, told CricInfo that it was imperative that the tournaments like these in future saw some benefit from the ICC's new financial position.

"Some countries, many due to their prospective status, have showed apprehension with committing to the tournament as they would not have financial assistance for travel and accommodation," he said. "This is set to change in 2009 with the new format of ICC funding.

"Also, the need to find sponsors for this tournament is greatly required to allow these kind of tournaments to flourish and improve facilities and cricket in the Czech Republic, and Eastern Europe."

Teams from Estonia, Poland, Slovakia and Croatia also played the the recent Euro Twenty20 in Carmel, North Wales, meaning the Slovenia, Ukraine and Latvia, are the only eastern European countries where cricket has a permanent presence not to field 'representative' teams this summer.

A club team from Slovenia, Ljubljana CC, though, does play regular matches in the Austrian Open League.

The draw:
Group A: Belarus, Romania, Russia
Group B: Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary

Saturday
9am-12pm - Czech Republic v Bulgaria, Romania v Russia; 12.15pm-3.15pm - Bulgaria v Hungary, Belarus v Russia; 3.30pm - 6.30pm - Hungary v Czech Republic, Belarus v Romania.

Sunday
Semi-Finals - 9am - 12pm - 3rd v 4th; 5th v 6th - 12.15pm - 3.15pm
Final - 3.30pm - 6.30pm

Guernsey have become the 34th country to be granted Associate membership of the ICC after their application was unanimously approved during the annual conference in Dubai.

Vanuatu had also applied but they failed to meet the necessary playing requirements as they had not beaten two existing Associates in competition. Mozambique withdrew their application.

A further three countries from the Europe region - Bulgaria, Estonia and Turkey - were granted Affiliate status, taking the ICC's total member count to 104.

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Continue reading "Future bright beyond the Test world"

Three countries have applied for ICC Affiliate membership and two more to be upgraded from Affiliate to Associate membership.

Bulgaria, Estonia and Turkey’s applications for Affiliate membership will be considered by the ICC and its annual conference in Dubai at the end of June.

Guernsey and Vanuatu have applied for an upgrade to Associate membership which, if successful, will mean a substantial increase in the funding available to their national associations.

Consideration of Vanuatu's application is subject to it meeting the playing standard criterion in its matches against existing Associates in the World Cricket League Division 5. An ICC team is inspecting the facilities in Guernsey this week.

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

A Bulgarian travel blog has an interesting (albeit rather confusing) report on the poor state of the country's pitches which it blames on the insect of the same name. At least, we think that is the case. Have a read and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

An English club - New Victoria CC - is about to tour Bulgaria. Details on the tour can be found at www.newvictour.co.uk.