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.

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Thanh Nien News, a Vietnamese newspaper, has an interesting piece on the English Cricket Club of Saigon (ECCS) which "connects members of the British community in Ho Chi Minh City with one another, preserves culture and does charity work".

The club chairman, Mr. Alan Mossman, said, “We want cricket to be a means of linking our fellow-countrymen and encouraging English expatriates to play our traditional sport. We also want to popularize it to other communities, including Ho Chi Minh City dwellers.”

“At the same time, we call for contributions from the club members, so that we can do some charity work in HCMC, as a way to express our honor and gratitude to the country we are living in.”

All the members strongly support the club's community policies.

The ECCS has grown quite big since it started in 2006.

It celebrated its first anniversary last month with a ceremony and officially made itself known to the public.

On the occasion, the club donated VND10 million to the Wildlife At Risk (WAR) in HCMC.