Beyond the Test World

Afghanistan amongst famous names at Lahore camp

Tony Munro

25-Feb-2013

Afghanistan, sentimental favourites for this month's World Cricket League Division 3 tournament, are currently mingling with some famous names at their training camp in Lahore.

Leading batsman, Raees Ahmadzai, told Cricinfo this week that Shoaib Akhtar, Aamir Sohail, Rashid Latif, Ijaz Ahmed and Aaqib Javed, were amongst those providing guidance to the Afghans during the two week camp which finishes this Saturday.

Ahmadzai said the team had enjoyed the camp and the chance to tap into the expert knowledge of their mentors.

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East Asia-Pacific bounce back in style

The ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) team have bounced back from a humiliating outright defeat in Round 1 to overcome South Australia Country (SAC) in Round 2 of the 2009 Australian Country Cricket Championships (ACCC).

Tony Munro

25-Feb-2013

With Round 2 being the first of the one-day fixtures, EAP were confident that the talented batting line-up would succeed second time around, and that they did.

With SAC electing to bat first on a good wicket, it was Haodo jnr and Fijian Lomani to take the new ball. After a solid opening stand of 25, youngster Haoda jnr ripped through the top order with a scintillating spell of pace bowling, taking 3 quick wickets, and with Lomani knocking over dangerous opener Knight, SAC was reduced to 4 for 46.

SAC continued to fight against a disciplined EAP attack, eventually dismissed for 181 in the 47th over. Haoda jnr followed up his outstanding form in Round 1 to claim 4 for 38 from 9 overs, while Lomani, Dikana and Ovia chipped in with 2 wickets each.

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East Asia-Pacific struggle in Australia

The ICC East Asia – Pacific (EAP) team began poorly in Round 1 of the 2009 Australian Country Cricket Championships (ACCC), succumbing to a strong Queensland Country (QC) outfit in the first two-day match of the tournament.

Andrew McGlashan

25-Feb-2013

With five debutants in the EAP team, an inexperienced but talented and enthusiastic line-up was selected to take on the perennially powerful Queensland side on a flat and slow pitch at Nuriootpa Oval.

EAP began well, grabbing an early wicket through the pace of Simione Latu, a Tongan, to have QC 9 for 1. QC then consolidated with a patient 31-run partnership, until PNG pace duo Raymond Hoada Jnr and Rarua Dikana produced a devastating spell of 3 for 12 to have QC reeling at 55 for 4.

From there the batting strength of QC came to the fore with an exceptional 196-run stand between Stains and Fitzsimmons, with several dropped catches adding to EAP’s frustration.

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Papua New Guinea stars turn out for East-Asia Pacific

Tony Munro

25-Feb-2013

Tony Munro

Eight of Papua New Guinea's best players will receive valuable match practice ahead of this month's World Cricket League Division 3 tournament when they play for East Asia-Pacific at the Australian Country Championships over the next nine days.

Rarua Dikana, the national captain, John Ovia, Ipi Morea, Vani Vagi Morea, Assad Vala, Kila Pala and Mahuru Dai will all get the chance to tone their game for the vital Division 3 tournament where a place in the final will give Papua New Guinea a coveted place at the World Cup qualifier in South Africa in April.

The East Asia-Pacific squad is a composite team representing the ICC's East Asia-Pacific development zone in the Australian Country Championships against country teams from the mainland Australian states. Their first fixture is a two-day game against Queensland Sunday.

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Uganda in 2008

Innocent Ndawula, a sports writer with Uganda's Daily Monitor looks back at the country's fortunes in 2008

Will Luke

25-Feb-2013

Innocent Ndawula, a sports writer with Uganda's Daily Monitor, looks back at the country's fortunes in 2008

And the cricket oscars go to... 2008 was undoubtedly better for Ugandan cricket, but again, it was only good and not great. The decisive time is going to be in January 2009 when the senior team takes on the world for a berth at the 2011 World Cup. These are the awards.

Grandest entrance Mohammed Barney Ebrahim! He arrived on a Sunday evening July 13, was chauffered to Hotel Africana and later unveiled on Monday morning at the home of cricket in Lugogo. The game was changing, quicker than anyone imagined. 48-year-old Barney, a former South Africa National Cricket Academy and South Africa ‘A’ coach was being unveiled as new head coach, taking over from Kenyan Franco Otieno. Surrounded by the big wigs of the game, albeit keeping the financial details away from the menu, Barney’s terms of contract were spelt out with qualification in Argentina ranking highest on the list. UCA went the extra mile to court the big man but the team will have to ‘dig deep’ like Barney likes to say.

Highest point There were wins over Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from England, Afripals and Kenya ‘A’ but the scenes of delirium in Nairobi when Uganda bloodied the noses of the Zimbabweans by 17 runs (D/L Method) in their pre-tournament warm-up on the Kenya tour in October will live in the memories of many for a long time.

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Denmark announce World Cup Qualifiers squad

Denmark has announced an 18-man preliminary squad for the World Cup Qualifers in South Africa in April

Judhajit

25-Feb-2013

Denmark has announced an 18-man preliminary squad for the World Cup Qualifers in South Africa in April. The team intends to spend 10 days in South Africa in March ahead of the Qualifiers there in April.

Derbyshire wicketkeeper-batsman, Freddie Klokker, retains the captaincy of a squad which is largely unchanged from the one which finished third in the European Division One tournament in Ireland last July.

Meanwhile, middle-order batsman Max Overgaard is in Australia, where he has been spending the summer at Melbourne district club, Prahran.

Squad: Frederik Klokker (capt and wk), Rizwan Mahmood, Mickey Lund, Carsten Pedersen, Søren Vestergaard, Bashir Shah, Omar Hayat, Lars Hedegaard, Morten Hedegaard, David Borchersen, Michael Pedersen, Rohit Kanayia, Henrik Hansen, Thomas Hansen, Max Overgaard, Troels Thøgersen, Jacob Larsen, Bobby Chawla; Peter Palle Klokker (coach), Neil Foster (assistant coach).

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van Troost outlines vision for Dutch cricket

Andre van Troost, the recently-appointed chief executive of the Netherlands board, has spoken to Cricket Europe about his vision for the future and the problems he faces in the coming year.

Martin Williamson

25-Feb-2013

Andre van Troost, the recently-appointed chief executive of the Netherlands board, has spoken to Cricket Europe about his vision for the future and the problems he faces in the coming year.

Aside from the obvious goal of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup, van Troost singled out the need to get more people playing a game which has seen numbers of participants falling off.

"We have to reverse the decline," he said. "We need new clubs, more clubs with youth sections and women's teams, just more players. The more players you have, the larger the pool of talent from which you'll find the future stars. But we can't do it alone, even with a full-time development officer. We need help from the clubs."

Attracting sponsors has been an issue and one that will prove more so given the global downturn. "We're a small sport, and the economy's in trouble. It's not an ideal climate to be looking for a new main sponsor. But there are some possibilities on the table, and in the meantime there are other things you can do."

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Uganda win below-par competition

Uganda retained their East African Women's Championship title with a ten-run win over hosts Kenya in the final, but it was a tournament that raised major questions regarding the standard of those competing.

Martin Williamson

25-Feb-2013

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Bermuda secure Baimax Cup

There was a soggy end to the tour of Argentina by Bermuda’s development side, but a 12-run victory over an Argentina President’s XI at the Hurlingham Club was enough to ensure they won the Baimax Cup by three games to one.

Martin Williamson

25-Feb-2013

Heavy rain meant there was never really any hope of play starting in the fifth game at the Belgrano Athletic Club but the series was decided the day before as fifties from Irving Romaine and Glenn Blakeney sealed the win despite Argentina posting 269 for 9, their best score of the rubber.

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Ireland announce World Cup Qualifiers squad

Ireland have announced their squad for next year's World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa

Will Luke

25-Feb-2013

Ireland have announced their squad for next year's World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa.

There are no surprises in the 18 names, with the 15 who won the Intercontinental Cup against Namibia in South Africa last month all retaining their places. They are joined by Eoin Morgan, who missed that trip due to injury and Middlesex commitments, Paul Stirling and Reinhardt Strydom.

"I've decided to go with the group of players who have served us so well this past season," the coach Phil Simmons explained. "It's hard to go outside that group, and the fact there's so little cricket for us between then and the qualifiers makes it nearly impossible for anybody else to stake a claim.

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