Tony Munro

Cuba, the Falkland Islands and the hosts, Mexico, are among the four countries set to make their official debuts at the World Cricket League Americas Division Four next year.

The other participant will be fellow debutante, Costa Rica in the event tentatively scheduled between May and September.

Cuba were to make an international debut of sorts in the 2008 Stanford 20/20 tournament before an embargo by the US Government blocked their involvement.

For the Falkland Islands, it will be one of two tournaments they will play next year. The other is a triangular involving three locations named after Viscount Falkland, the commander of part of the Royalist forces at the Battle of Newbury in 1643 in the English Civil War between King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. The triangular, to be played at Falkland in Fife from July 19-24 will feature Falkland (Fife), Falkland (Newbury, Berkshire) and the Falkland Islands. The tournament is part of Falkland Fife CC's 150th anniversary celebrations. Incidentally, the islands were named for Viscount Falkland as his son was the Secretary of State for the Admiralty when Captain John Davies sighted the Falkland Islands in 1682.

Meanwhile, in the coming 2009-10 season separate Twenty20 tournaments are to be played at the Islands' capital, Stanley, and military base at Mount Pleasant, with the winners of both meeting in a final. The traditional highlight of the season, the South Atlantic Ashes, between the Governor's XI (representing the civilans) and the Commander of the British Forces XI (representing the military) will be played as a three-match series in January, February and March.

The Commander of the British Forces XI has drawn first blood in the three-game South Atlantic Ashes in the Falkland Islands, winning the opening match against the Governor's XI by 105 runs. The CBFs, representing the military, notched up 203 in their 50 overs, before the Governor's XI, drawn from the island's civilians, were dismissed for 98.

It was the first serious game of what is going to be a busy 18 months for cricket in the islands.

Continue reading "A busy year in store for the Falkland Islands"

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"

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.

Falklands' season kicked off at Mount Pleasant Airfield (MPA) this month with two Twenty20 knock-out matches played back to back. In the first match, MPA took on a weakened Stanley side, coasting to an easy seven-wicket victory. In the second game, Kelpers met HMS Nottingham.

The Kelpers finished on a modest but defendable 96 for 4 after the end of their allotted 20 overs. HMS Nottingham were immediately in trouble at the start of their innings and were all out for 54.

The final of the Twenty20 Knock-Out competition between MPA and the Kelpers is scheduled for March, when the matches in the Falklands Cup (the Twenty20 league) will also be played. The first match in the South Atlantic Ashes series between the Governor’s X1 and the CBFs X1 was scheduled for Saturday, January 26th, starting at 12 noon at the MPA Oval.

Junior Cricket
Junior cricket continues to expand with the start of an indoor junior league with 5 teams as a joint venture of the Community School, the Leisure Centre & FICA. The outdoor junior training sessions have seen good numbers turning up and there is to be a 4-match outdoor series leading up to our proposed Under-17 tour of Chile in April.

Falkland CC near Perth, Scotland has extended an invitation to FICA to join in the celebrations of their 150th anniversary in 2010. They hope to have a triangular tournament including Falkland CC, the Falkland Islands and Falkland CC from Newbury, England whom FICA played last July during their UK tour.

From ICC Americas' regional newsletter

The main event of the Falkland Islands season is the three-match series for the South Atlantic Ashes played between the Governors XI and the Commander British Forces XI. This commences on January 26 and the final match is on February 23. There will also be a new competition – a Twenty20 knockout series which will be held on January 20 and March 8, with a Twenty20 league running throughout March.

Following representation from the Falklands Cricket Association, the Education Department agreed to include cricket in the sports curriculum from the beginning of the school year.

One of the major problems that junior cricket faces in the Falklands is that children go to the UK for further education from age 16 so they lose some of their best players. "It is very encouraging to hear that most of the students are continuing to play cricket whilst at college in the UK which promises to strengthen the depth of adult cricket in the future," said a spokesman.

Charlie Randall

The Falkland Islands are playing their first matches as members of the ICC in southern England next week, and one of the seven tour fixtures is against Outwood, the Surrey village who played Argentina in 1979, three years before the south Atlantic war broke out.

Outwood are looking forward to the match on July 12, proud of their unusual double. Keith Barham, the club’s fixture secretary, said: “We flew the Argentinian flag on our ground when we played them, and I have asked the Falkland Islanders to bring theirs so that we can fly that – blue with union jack and Falkland coat of arms.

He added: “We got soundly beaten by Argentina in a 60 overs match when they were over for the ICC Trophy, though we weren’t as strong as we are now. We don’t expect the Falkland Islands to be very good. They’ve only got a population of 2,500, and they are a bit limited who they can play. They can’t really tour Argentina.”

Barham arranged the Falkland fixture when he discovered their intention to tour. “I have several investments down in the Falkland Islands and subscribe to their local weekly newspaper Penguin News ,” he said. “On the front page it mentioned plans to tour England, so I picked up the phone and suggested a date. In two days it was fixed.”

The Falkland Islands, recently granted affiliate status by the ICC at Lord’s, open their tour next Tuesday against a Foreign and Commonwealth Office XI in London. Another game is against their namesakes Falkland, a club defined by a Victorian memorial to the Civil War commander Lord Falkland, killed at Newbury in 1643. The islands’ name originates from Viscount Falkland, an Admiralty commissioner in 1690.

Charles Randall runs the www.charlierandallcricket.com blog where this article first appeared