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

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.

	The Hungarian Cricket League final between Crown CC and Genpact was a fiercely competitive affair © Caboodle

Caboodle, a "Hungarian portal," has a fascinating article on the rise of the great game in Hungary.

Before the season started this summer, many of the Hungarians had only seen cricket on TV and the majority of foreign residents involved hadn't played for years. Throughout the spring and summer, Grieve and Brown worked hard to bring their idea to life. Brown set up a team in his native village of Dunabogdány, Grieve continued training the students at the school he teaches at in Székesfehérvár. They were joined by four other XIs, two works teams and two outfits founded at open training days in the Városliget park.

All of the HCA participants from around the country were at the Taj Mahal to celebrate the season and dish out awards. Grieve brought a group of girls and boys from his school in Székesfehérvár to the event and awarded a prize to Fanni Cziráky, the best, and only, female player to compete in the league. "If cricket is to have a future in Hungary, we must involve the Hungarians and reach out to them," he said in his closing speech. He praised the school he teaches at, Comenius in Székesfehérvár, who have supported cricket at the school financially.

"I talk about cricket to my students all the time, and the language of cricket is English. That in itself is great for the kids," he said, "we have practice four times a week in a car park and it is great news for us that there is a competitive cricket league for us to be involved in. I am not a big cricketer, they were really my inspiration for helping start the league," he added.

Are you a Hungarian cricketer or follower? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.