Appeal for space for the Afro-Asia Cup

The off-on-off Afro-Asia Cup was raised at last week's ICC chief executives' meeting in Cape Town, with a request from Cassim Suliman, the chairman of the African Cricket Association, for major boards to find space for its to be staged.

The tournament has suffered from indifference and the packed international calendar, but it raises much-needed funds for African and Asian cricket, as well as designated charities. However, support from major countries has been lukewarm, and its future has been pout in more doubt with the global recession leading sponsors and media companies to review their positions.

Nimbus covered the first two tournaments but withdrew ahead of the third because the absence of many leading players meant that TV revenues were disappointing.

A source close to the negotiations claimed that Nimbus' interest had been rekindled and that Kenya had been pencilled in to hold the tournament sometime in 2009.

However, the international calendar is already heavy with the rescheduled Champions Trophy and Champions League as well as the ICC World Twenty20, on top of pre-arranged tours by many of those countries whose participation would be required to make the event appealing to broadcasters.