Beyond the Test World
Greeks open their eyes to Britons and cricket
Like most nations, Greeks have been baffled by Britons and their bizarre ways of life
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Like most nations, Greeks have been baffled by Britons and their bizarre ways of life. And cricket is just one example of a sport that dumbfounds the ignorant bystander. But Greece is changing, and although their deep-rooted traditional way of life is unlikely to change (thankfully so), they are showing a greater adaptability to the west. To Britons and their silly game of cricket.
Expats in Greece sometimes struggle to understand our hosts, just as much as Greeks are baffled by the British. Greeks at the cricket followed our lead of occasional polite applause with puzzlement. "And you sit and do just this for five days?" said a bemused friend.
For Greeks, life, and especially sport, is to be shouted about with tears of joy or sadness.
Socially they respect our professionalism but are amused at our punctuality. They don't understand our irony, or our self-effacement, and think we are aloof.
Full postKirsten on Jersey
Cricinfo speaks to the Jersey coach and Guernsey captain, Peter Kirsten and Stuart Le Prevost
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Tony Munro
The two best teams in the recent European Division Two tournament, undefeated Guernsey and Jersey, fittingly met in the final round of matches to decide the title (no final having been scheduled). Guernsey needed nine from three overs with six wickets in hand, yet Stuart Le Prevost, the Guernsey captain, was dismissed at the start of the 48th over. Two late run-outs, and Jersey were jubilant. Cricinfo spoke to the Jersey coach, Peter Kirsten, and Le Prevost, about the final, and the tournament in general
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Peter Kirsten
How are your nerves after the way Jersey secured the win?
Full postHow are your nerves after the way Jersey secured the win?
Rwanda embraces Britain. And cricket
Rwanda may historically be a French-speaking nation, but their increasingly close ties with England has resulted in an upsurge in cricket being played
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Rwanda may historically be a French-speaking nation, but their increasingly close ties with England has resulted in an upsurge in cricket being played. Murad Ahmed has a fascinating article in today’s Times on Rwanda’s decreasing relations with France and how cricket is just one symbol of the country’s growing affinity with Britain.
Cricket is also a powerful symbol of Rwanda’s shift towards all things English. On a day off, the Conservative volunteers take on Rwandans at the game. Francis Maude, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, and opener for the British team, describes Rwanda as “a success story, from a country hollowed out, to a proper functioning state.”
Mr Maude top scores in the match with 20, but his wicket leads to a batting collapse, finishing with yet another English defeat at African hands.
Cricket is taking off here. In April Rwanda made the semi-finals of an International Cricket Council tournament in South Africa, beating Lesotho and Mozambique before falling to Ghana, in its best performance yet.
Full postEast Asia – Pacific (EAP) Development Program
A seminar for the ICC’s East Asia – Pacific (EAP) Development Program kicked off today in Melbourne
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
A seminar for the ICC’s East Asia – Pacific (EAP) Development Program kicked off today in Melbourne. The five-day course is “a key component in the process to achieve sustainable cricket education within the EAP region and includes an ICC Level 1 coaching Cricket Instructors Course,” the statement read.
Nine highly regarded coaches were selected from an extremely strong pool to attend. The participants are:
PNG John Ovia & Rarua Dikana
Vanuatu Richard Tatwin and Aby Joel John Japan Jummei Hanada & Nigel Dixon Fiji Seci Sekinini Indonesia Melvin Ndoen Tonga Sione Hamala
Vanuatu Richard Tatwin and Aby Joel John Japan Jummei Hanada & Nigel Dixon Fiji Seci Sekinini Indonesia Melvin Ndoen Tonga Sione Hamala
The ICC EAP have been able to gain access to world-class facilities through Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Club.
Full postColiseum of cricket
Cricket is gaining popularity in Italy, a football-mad nation, thanks to thousands of subcontinental immigrants flooding into the country.
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Cricket is gaining popularity in Italy, a football-mad nation, thanks to thousands of subcontinental immigrants flooding into the country.
With a few hundred thousand people from the Indian subcontinent now in Italy, there are real quality players moving up from the parks into the league and national side, said Simone Gambino, an Italian who caught the cricket bug while visiting England in the 1970s and who now heads the Italian Cricket Federation.
Local councils have begun to provide space for games, said Gambino. "There are around 100,000 people from the subcontinent in the province of Brescia, and they want to play cricket, so the council had to provide pitches to stop people being struck by cricket balls."
Full postScotland stage first floodlit match
Aberdeenshire and Stoneywood-Dyce staged Scotland's first-ever floodlit match yesterday, borrowing floodlights used by overnight workers on motorways.
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Aberdeenshire and Stoneywood-Dyce staged Scotland's first-ever floodlit match yesterday, borrowing floodlights used by overnight workers on motorways.
"It created a decent spectacle and the evening was a fantastic success with a great crowd turning up," Neil MacRae, coach of the triumphant Aberdeenshire side, revealed to the Scotsman. Click here to read the full story.
Full postChina to receive Bindra's help
The ICC has formalised the scope of IS Bindra's role as its principal advisor
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
The ICC has formalised the scope of IS Bindra's role as its principal advisor. Bindra, who began his two-year tenure in the newly-created post in July, will focus on "developing the game in China, implementing the ICC vision, assisting relations between the ICC and its members, and working with host members to ensure the success of ICC events.
Read the rest of the story at Cricinfo, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Full postPortuguese Henriques added to Australia squad
Cricket in Portugal may still be a minority sport, but they have one claim to fame: Moises Henriques , the New South Wales allrounder, has been added to the Australia squad in Darwin.
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Cricket in Portugal may still be a minority sport, but they have one claim to fame: Moises Henriques, the New South Wales allrounder, has been added to the Australia squad in Darwin.
Henriques only spent his first year in Portugal, however, before moving to Australia.
Full postPrague International Twenty20 Cricket Cup 2008
Tony Munro
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Tony Munro
The development of cricket in eastern Europe takes another step forward this weekend when unofficial national teams from six countries compete for the Prague International Twenty20 Cricket Cup 2008.
ICC Affiliates Bulgaria (in their first tournament since gaining ICC membership last month) and the hosts, the Czech Republic, will be joined by teams from Belarus, Russia, Hungary and Romania in the two-day event, starting tomorrow.
Enthusiasts in Belarus and Russia have been thwarted in their desire for form national bodies and join the ICC by the bureaucracy and cost involved in forming official sporting bodies in countries of the former Soviet Union.
Full postMezica United
By Brad Eve
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
By Brad Eve
Mezica Cricket Club is from the mountain town of Mezica na koroskem, which is known for its skiing, mountain biking and lead/zinc mines. It is also known for being the spiritual home of cricket in Slovenia as it where the very first cricket was known to have been played in this country by a group of enthusiastic youngsters from 1974 to about 1982 after one of the local lads was introduced to the sport on a school exchange trip to Birchington, Kent.
The Mezica players were reunited a few years ago and are once again playing cricket with many of the original enthusiasts still competing. They have recently constructed a practice net and have won the first two Slovenian National Championships both held in Ljubljana. They must also be strong favourites to win the first official Slovenian Cricket League which begins next year.
On top of all of this they have recently held for the second year running a tournament in Mezica itself. This years' participants were Mezica itself, Maribor and Bela Krajina Cricket Club (also from Slovenia), Comenius CC Szekesfehervar (from Hungary), Slovak CC (Hajske Slovensko) representing Slovakia and CC Velden 91 from Austria. Also invited were Vis CC (from Croatia) and Brno CC (Czech Republic) who were unable to attend.
Full post