Beyond the Test World
Nairobi shambles threatens Kenya's stability
The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was plunged into another crisis with the resignation of Nilesh Lakhani from the executive.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was plunged into another crisis with the resignation of Nilesh Lakhani from the executive.
Lakhani, who is chairman of the Parklands club, is seen as one of the people within the NPCA who actually gets things done, and his resignation will be a serious blow to the credibility of the already beleaguered executive. The NPCA has already lost its chairman and secretary this year.
Martin Williamson also warns that the stakeholders' meeting in Nairobi threatens to be overshadowed by the ongoing row, and that the Nairobi executives are making outlandish claims to mask their own failings.
Some of the accusations are ridiculous, others scurrilous, but they all have one purpose - to deflect attention from the glaring issues inside the NPCA. Those at the helm of the NPCA know that the more mud they can sling, the greater the disharmony and the better their chances of clinging to office.
Florida match ends with player being shot
A cricket game in Florida ended when one of the players shot an opponent with a semi-automatic rifle.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
A cricket game in Florida ended when one of the players shot an opponent with a semi-automatic rifle.
The UPI agency reported that Devan Bascom shot Francis Singh in the abdomen after he was threatened him with a cricket bat following a heated argument in the match in Orlando. In a rather bizarre comment, police said that while Bascom appeared to be acting in self defence, the presence of a gun at a game was “unusual”.
"The shooter was defending himself from an attack with a cricket bat which is similar to a baseball bat, but it's flat," a spokesman said. "For this man to bring a firearm to a sporting event is odd but then again, he has the right to do so. He has a concealed weapons permit and if, in fact, he was protecting himself, he was authorized by law to do so."
Bascom was questioned by police but not arrested while Singh underwent an operation and was reported to be in a stable condition.
Full postBready and Brigade face off in 2008 Senior Cup
Barry Chambers
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Barry Chambers
The draw has been made for the 2008 Northern Bank Senior Cup, with Bready taking on NW league champions Brigade at Magheramason. The two sides have been frequent opponents in recent years, with Brigade coming out on top in 2006, thanks to a partnership of 312 between Iftikhar Hussain (204) and Wajahtullah Wasti (115). There were happier fortunes for Bready in 2005, when they skittled Brigade for just 66. Trevor Britton, the captain, took 5 for 18.
Brigade will have a new captain at the helm next year, as Charlie Elder takes the reins from Mark Simpson.
Donemana will also have a new face in charge, with Dwayne McGerrigle replacing Jordan McGonigle who is stepping down after 5 years. They have been handed a tricky opening-round fixture against Fox Lodge. The Ballymagorry side have never reached the final, while McGonigle was captain when Donemana last tasted success in 2004.
Full postEl Salvador have high hopes for the future
El Salvador have just returned from their first ever foray into international cricket when they took part in the second Central American Championship, hosted by Mexico
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
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El Salvador have just returned from their first ever foray into international cricket when they took part in the second Central American Championship, hosted by Mexico. Belize, the reigning champions, pulled out at the last minute to hand El Salvador an opportunity.
“We left for this tournament brimming with excitement and determination but a little short of experience in the conditions we would play in,” Andrew Murgatroyd, the founder of El Salvadorian cricket told Cricinfo.
“The end result was a fantastic tournament with great performances and a steep learning curve. We played markedly better in our second game against a team [Mexico] who proved to be the eventual winners. By the second game most of us had doubled our total cricket-playing experience at this level.”
Full postBeleaguered Bermuda seek public advice
Bermuda are to have an open forum for members of the public to offer their thoughts on the state of cricket in the country
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Bermuda are to have an open forum for members of the public to offer their thoughts on the state of cricket in the country. In addition, the board are proposing a domestic Twenty20 league.
The Board's beleaguered Two-Day and 50-over Leagues will also be key topics for discussion as local cricket's governing body continue their efforts to encourage fans to come out in throngs in support of local cricket. BCB technical committee chairman Allen Richardson, national coach Gus Logie, top umpire Roger Dill, national team skipper Irving Romaine and former national team skippers Gladstone (Sad) Brown and Clay Smith will all be present to facilitate the meeting.
Read the full story at The Royal Gazette.
Full postNamibia crush poor Denmark
The World Cricket League Division Two has begun in Namibia with the home side laying down an early marker with an eight-wicket win against Denmark
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
The World Cricket League Division Two has begun in Namibia with the home side laying down an early marker with an eight-wicket win against Denmark. For a full round-up of the opening day click here.
Full postCricket in Rwanda
Rwanda's cricket is coming along leaps and bounds, which is unusual for a country which not so long ago was a French colony where no English was spoken
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Rwanda's cricket is coming along leaps and bounds, which is unusual for a country which not so long ago was a French colony where no English was spoken. But now, reports Scotland's Sunday Herald, the national championship has five clubs, while women's and junior teams are set to head to Nairobi for the East African championships.
Full postQatar aim for girls' Under-19 tournament
The Qatar Cricket Association is putting together plans to field an Under-19 girls' side for the tournament in Malaysia next year
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
The Qatar Cricket Association is putting together plans to field an Under-19 girls' side for the tournament in Malaysia next year. The board has already met to discuss plans and, according to one newspaper, the response was good.
Aruna de Silva, the QCA's head of women's cricket development, told the Gulf Times: “Everyone at the meeting was positive about the idea of promoting cricket among girls studying in schools in Qatar. The QCA is willing to support girls' cricket in schools with whatever help possible.”
If all goes according to plan, the association hopes that the girls will also be able to take part in
the Under-19 tournament in China in 2010.
Full postAfghans unite in passion for cricket
The Daily Telegraph’s Tom Coghlan reports from Kabul on how cricket is taking a hold in Afghanistan, so much so that he says it is becoming a national obsession
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
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Cricket has seized the popular imagination in Afghanistan since 2001, a country where the game was unknown until waves of refugees fleeing 30 years of fighting picked it up in camps along the Pakistan border. Earlier this month Afghanistan's fledgling national side came from nowhere to win the Asia Cricket Council's Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait.
Bolstered by that success, the Afghan Cricket Federation is moving to gain entry to the next ICC World Twenty20.
Subtleties of guile and tactic have yet to take hold in the Afghan game, which seems to appeal more to the famously warlike Afghan temperament. Defensive shots are regarded with disdain.
"This is like being in Helmand," muttered an onlooker at the training session, ducking for cover as a ball winged overhead with the trajectory of a tracer bullet, the first in a sustained bombardment.
Full postThailand board fails accountability test
It's a year since the Cricket Association of Thailand held its last election
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
It's a year since the Cricket Association of Thailand held its last election. In the intervening period Thai cricket has been blighted by an internal dispute which has done serious harm to the standing of the game both inside and outside the country.
On November 9, 2006 the CAT's AGM took place in Bangkok. When it came to election of officers, there were two candidates for chairman. One was Ravi Seghal, the incumbent, the other was Vaughan McClear, an Australian national and a long standing vice president and adminstrator. A secret ballot of the 13 constituent clubs was held and McClear emerged the winner by eight votes to five. It was not an unexpected result as Sehgal's methods were not universally popular. The rest of the meeting proceeded normally and after less than two hours the AGM concluded.
But Seghal was not prepared to go quietly. On November 14 the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) sent a letter to the Asian Cricket Council in which it advised that it had appointed a brand new committee to run the CAT. It was ostensibly a purge of all foreign nationals, which included McClear. His replacement as chairman was Seghal. It later emerged that this committee had been appointed six weeks earlier but nobody had seen fit to mention it.
Everyone was astounded. At no stage in the past had this been raised as an issue, but within days of Sehgal's ousting the SAT had stepped in. What's more, the ACC seemed eager to accept what they had been told. McClear was sent a remarkable email by the ACC's chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq in which he signed off: "We sincerely hope that you will continue to help and support the development of cricket in Thailand as you have done so admirably and actively in the past."
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