New Zealand to receive ICC assistance for development

New Zealand Cricket will be a beneficiary of the ICC's Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP), and will receive US$1.8 million over a period of three years. The programme is geared towards developing more competitive teams among the ICC's Full and Associate/Affiliate Members. New Zealand are currently No.8 in both the Test and ODI rankings. The decision was made at the meeting of the ICC board in Dubai. The first Full members to receive ICC funding as part of the TAPP were West Indies and Zimbabwe last year.

"The New Zealand Cricket initiative will focus on a programme of 'A' Team cricket and the development of coaching and sports science expertise," an ICC release stated.

The TAPP programme, which formed part of the ICC's strategic plan for 2011-2015, began at the start of last year, with a $12m fund aimed at giving teams at all levels a chance to generate funding support from the ICC in order to improve team performance.

Ireland and Scotland were the first to receive TAPP assistance in June last year, at the end of the ICC's annual conference in Kuala Lumpur, with an award of $500,000 per annum for three years. Countries that would like to receive funding are asked to go through a bidding process starting with a formal application that could lead up to a possible presentation, before the award is recommended by the ICC's finance and commercial affairs committee to the board. The ICC then works with the board to develop a three-year MOU to detail the specific activities to be supported by the funding.

The increasing number of domestic T20 leagues was also discussed at the meeting and the board agreed that further deliberations must be aimed at "attaining co-existence between domestic T20 leagues and the international game". "Domestic Twenty20 leagues have provided so many opportunities for players and officials alike as well as entertaining large domestic crowds," the release quoted the ICC chief executive David Richardson as saying. "A workable and balanced international playing calendar is key to the sustainability of the game."

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo in October last year, Richardson said, "there has to be a way to make sure that they [domestic T20 leagues] can exist and complement international cricket rather than destroy or cannibalise it."

The next ICC Annual Conference will be held in London in June this year.

The ICC Board consists of the president or chairman from each of the 10 Full members plus three Associate member representatives. Also present at ICC Board meetings is the ICC President, who chairs proceedings, the ICC Vice-President and the ICC Chief Executive.