Beyond the Test World
Argentina prepare for World Cricket League
The 2007-08 Argentine cricket season kicked off in the last weekend of October with the Saturday Championships (Second Division tournament)
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The 2007-08 Argentine cricket season kicked off in the last weekend of October with the Saturday Championships (Second Division tournament). This year’s Saturday Championship league includes nine teams.
The month of November will see the continuation of the Saturday Championships along with the First division Twenty20 League (six teams). It is also an action packed month for the juniors with the School U-15 and open leagues and the first ever ADE Trios Festival. There will also be a number of Kanga festivals held.
Argentina will also host a combined South American team (consisting of four players from Chile and Brazil respectively). The South American team will play a four match series (including two Twenty20 games) against the Argentina national team in preparation for the forthcoming ICC WCL Division 2 tournament, due to be held in Windhoek, Namibia from November 24 to December 2.
The Argentina National team are finalising their preparation for the ICC WCL Division 2 tournament. The team will depart Buenos Aires on November 17 and will spend five days based in Potchefstroom (South Africa) where they will play two warm up matches kindly hosted by North West cricket. The schedule for the ICC WCL Division 2 tournament is as follows:
Full postKenya lend Uganda warm-up support
A squad of 14 Kenya players are lending their support to Uganda to play two friendlies at the Lugogo Oval this weekend, to help them prepare for the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia later this month
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
A squad of 14 Kenya players are lending their support to Uganda to play two friendlies at the Lugogo Oval this weekend, to help them prepare for the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia later this month.
Steve Tikolo, the Kenya captain, along with Thomas Odoyo and other senior players are all participating, but Kenya have given Maurice Ouma the captaincy. They also called up a couple of younger faces, Ken Migai and Moses Otieno to gain experience.
Uganda will fight it out with United Arab Emirates - who today beat Bermuda in the Intercontinental Cup - Argentina, Denmark, Oman and Namibia for the four slots reserved for the group in the 2009 World Cup qualifier.
Click here for the fixture list
Full postBoard set to step in to sort Nairobi chaos
The AGM of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was postponed for the fourth time last week after it emerged some clubs were yet again not served with the correct documentation in time.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The AGM of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was postponed for the fourth time last week after it emerged some clubs were yet again not served with the correct documentation in time.
The meeting had been called for November 7 but Cricinfo has learned that clubs were not given adequate notice of the meeting nor were given enough time to lodge items for inclusion on the agenda. The original AGM in July ended in controversy after clubs, angry with the way the executive had become almost unaccountable, rejected the accounts and refused to allow the meeting to progress. Several subsequent dates have been announced for the AGM but none have materialised.
The increasingly shambolic NPCA has been further rocked by the resignation of David Waters as its secretary. Waters, a leading force in Kenyan cricket for many years and still a the head of the national selectors, is believed to have grown tired of the way that the NPCA executive has been operating and also that his name has been used to give authority to actions of which he has not been aware.
This latest failure to hold a meeting - the last valid AGM was in 2004 - is likely to be the last straw as far as Cricket Kenya is concerned. It seems increasingly likely that it will consider stepping in and suspending the existing executive and forcing through fresh elections, as it is entitled to do. Such an action would almost certainly be looked on favourably by the ICC which has been monitoring events in Nairobi closely.
Full postBrazil league up and running
October 21 saw the first Brazilian league game between Curitiba’s two new teams – Swadisht and Gralha Azul – with Swadisht coming away with a four-run victory
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
October 21 saw the first Brazilian league game between Curitiba’s two new teams – Swadisht and Gralha Azul – with Swadisht coming away with a four-run victory. Curitiba have benefited from the recent arrival of a number of new players from around the cricketing world, as well as several home-grown players who have taken up the sport. The HSBC groundskeepers did a great job to prepare the field, despite plenty of rain earlier in the week. If the weather cooperates the teams hope to sneak in one more match before the national Twenty20 tourney in Sao Paulo in mid-November, which will feature teams from Curitiba, Sao Paulo and Brasilia.
Brazil captain Matt Featherstone and three other Brazil players will be heading to Buenos Aires in November as part of a South America X1 to play some warm up games against Argentina, ahead of the ICC World Cricket League in Namibia.
Courtesy ICC Americas
Full post5,000 seater cricket ground opens in Florida
A $70m park has opened in southern Florida – the most expensive new park in the state – including a 5,000 seater cricket ground, the first of its kind in the United States
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
A $70m park has opened in southern Florida – the most expensive new park in the state – including a 5,000 seater cricket ground, the first of its kind in the United States.
"It was just a vacant lot, nothing here," Bill Kristen, the county parks and recreation project manager, told sun-sentinel.com. "I think everybody realized the area had to be revitalised."
The Central Broward Regional Park opens officially tomorrow, where local residents will watch exhibition matches for football, cricket and American football
Cost overruns almost killed the project in 2006. The contractor sought as much as $15.3 million more than the $35.5 million the county originally agreed to pay for construction. But cost-saving alterations, such as building a vehicle storage garage underneath the bleachers, helped lower the cost overruns. The county in December agreed to pay the remaining $7.5 million, and work resumed. In total, the county paid about $70 million for land and construction, the most it has paid to open a park, said Bob Harbin, Broward park director.
PNG rising stars head to Australia
Two of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) most promising young players have been awarded a six-month scholarship with the Wanderers club in Townsville, Queensland.
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Two of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) most promising young players have been awarded a six-month scholarship with the Wanderers club in Townsville, Queensland.
Assad Vala, a 20-year-old batsman, and 19-year-old pace bowler Loa Nou have been rewarded for their outstanding recent performances at both domestic and international level, and will spend the Australian summer testing their skills against the best players in Townsville.
The initiative, a partnership between the Wanderer’s CC, PNG Cricket and the ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) Development Program, will also see both players learn about club administration, turf wicket preparation and the coordination of junior development programs.
“This is a great opportunity for two of our young players to experience Australian culture and quality club cricket,” said PNG Cricket's chairman Mick Nades. “We thank the Wanderers for their support of PNG Cricket and hope that this is the beginning of a long relationship.”
Full postUAE head for South Africa warm-ups
The UAE team will tour South Africa as part of their preparation for the ICC World Cricket League which takes place in Namibia.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
The UAE team will tour South Africa as part of their preparation for the ICC World Cricket League which takes place in Namibia.
"The ICC World Cricket League is the qualifier for the 2011 World Cup. We will be playing against Uganda, Denmark, Argentina, Namibia and Oman. Prior to the series, UAE will tour South Africa to play a few warm-up matches," Mazhar Khan, administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, told Gulf News.
Full postConquering Everest
A group of 18 professional and amateur British cricketers are trying to set a world record for holding the world's highest match at the foot of Mount Everest
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
A group of 18 professional and amateur British cricketers are trying to set a world record for holding the world's highest match at the foot of Mount Everest.
"Three teams are planning to play six aside on the mountain, playing five overs each on the Gorak Shap glacier," Andrew Baud, a spokesman for the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA), told AFP.
The glacier-turned-cricket ground is at an altitude of 5,184 metres (17,000 feet), and just below base camp on the southern approach to Everest, the world's highest peak.
"They are taking 40 spare balls up there I can imagine they will need them," Baud said. "At normal altitude it would take about an hour, but it can get as low as minus 13 degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) so it may take around two.
Full postEnglishmen in Vietnam
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".
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
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.
Full post