ACC revival spells hope for region's Associates

Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, has made a number of proposals to revive the Asian Cricket Council which had its operations in Malaysia shut down on June 30, 2015. The proposals were "welcomed and approved" by the executive body of the regional association which held a meeting on October 27 in Singapore, supposedly the new home of the ACC's downsized headquarters from 2016.

Thakur proposed that the four Test nations from Asia should contribute two per cent of their annual income to the ACC. He also proposed a one-day tournament involving second-string teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and the senior teams of the emerging nations.

"The Asian Test nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will send their A sides with three players mandatory from the senior side," Thakur told PTI. "The Associate nations like Nepal, Afghanistan and Oman will play their first teams. This is an endeavour to make the Asian bloc in cricket stronger. The more they will play against the Test nations, they will become far more competitive."

Thakur also said that the next BCCI AGM will discuss his proposal to set up the ACC's Centre of Excellence in Dharamsala.

Former ACC CEO Syed Ashraful Huq welcomed the proposals, saying these have the potential to bring back the ACC in its former position. "I welcome Anurag's proposals," Huq told ESPNcricinfo. "It shows he is a visionary and a missionary of cricket in the Asian region. What he has proposed could bring the ACC back on its feet. We had to wind down our operations on June 30 but it seems now that something might be happening. Let us wait and see what happens."

ESPNcricinfo has learned that the formation of ACC Events, an auxiliary body proposed to replace the ACC and one that was supposed to have a two-man operation to run the Asia Cup, has been shelved. The executive body including the directors had agreed during the last meeting in Singapore to retain the 'ACC' brand and run the various proposed tournaments including the Asia Cup.

At the time of shutting down operations in Kuala Lumpur, the ICC took over the ACC's development programme.