BTTW's List of Cricket Playing Countries: 30 more join the cricketing family

It can be attributed partly to the ICC's untiring development programme, Mahendra Mapagunaratne's ceaseless efforts to entice more outposts to seek ICC membership or even the odd enquiry made by this page, but the number of countries listed as at least having a cricket presence has increased by 30 since BTTW unveiled its first 'List of Cricket Playing Countries' in the October 23 edition last year.

I plead guilty to omitting St.Helena from the second list in May (an ICC Affiliate member no less!) and that has been rectified. Albania, Angola, Benin, Congo Brazzaville, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mali, Micronesia, Senegal, Tunisia, Wallis & Futuna Islands and Yugoslavia are welcomed as part of the cricket family, although some with tenuous links.

Angola, Armenia, Benin, East Timor, Libya and Tunisia all have some degree of cricket activity, while it is understood there are moves in Albania, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Ecuador, El Salvador, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mali, Micronesia, Senegal and Yugoslavia to initiative activity there, mainly at the junior level.

I have reclassified the British Virgin Islands, Liberia, Morocco and the US Virgin Islands, with verbal confirmation that there are ad hoc matches being played in Monrovia, the Liberian capital by Indian expatriates, while Morocco has been placed in the list of countries with a league structure.

Cricket is known to be played or have a 'presence' in 173 countries or political units of which 103 are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations. By region, Africa has 38 cricket playing countries; the Americas 40; in Asia there are 26 countries with known cricket activity (reflecting the transfer of Hong Kong-China and Brunei), while East Asia-Pacific has 22 countries and Europe 47.

Although this may be viewed as politiically incorrect by some, perhaps a truer picture may be given by listing the actual nationalities playing the game. The next list will identify where cricket is played by women.

I was unable to get through to Iraq and confirm rumours that the National Olympic Committee (headed by one of Saddam Hussein's sons!) is allegedly attempting to introduce cricket.

Please read all of the classifications carefully should you be tempted to email and say "Where's Gibraltar?" - I received several emails after the last list claiming omissions of countries which were listed.

Nations with membership of the ICC:
Full Member/Part of Full Member nations of the ICC:
Anguilla*, Antigua & Barbuda*, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados*, British Virgin Islands*, Dominica*, Grenada*, Guyana*, India, Jamaica*, Montserrat*, New Zealand, Pakistan, St.Kitts & Nevis*, St.Lucia*, St.Vincent & The Grenadines*, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago*, United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales), US Virgin Islands*, Zimbabwe.
* denotes part of West Indies Cricket Board

Associate Member/Part of Associate Member nations of the ICC:
Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Fiji, France, Gambia*, Germany, Ghana*, Gibraltar, Hong Kong-China, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malawi+, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria*, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone*, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Zambia+.
*Denotes part of West African Cricket Conference.
+Denotes part of East & Central African Cricket Conference

Affiliate Members nations of the ICC
Nations with a formal league structure:
Afghanistan, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Finland, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Helena, Samoa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu

No formal league structure:
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Philippines, Spain

Non-Members of the ICC
Countries with a formal league competition structure: (And have a national governing body) -
Iran, Isle of Man, Guernsey. Jersey, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Norfolk Island, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Turks & Caicos Islands, Ukraine, Yemen
(Do not have a national governing body) -
Libya, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Russia, Turkey

Countries where a national governing body or formal cricket clubs exist but there is no competition structure:
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Estonia, Falkland Islands, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Laos, Latvia, Monaco, Mongolia, Peru, Poland, Rwanda, Slovenia, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Vietnam

No formal clubs but usually played on an 11-a-side basis:
Solomon Islands

Where cricket is played on an irregular basis/rules and team numbers subject to local permutations:
American Samoa, Angola, Armenia, Burkina Faso, East Timor, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, Liberia, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Slovakia, Togo, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Countries where cricket according to MCC rules is not played, but there are moves to get it established:
Albania, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo Brazzaville, Cote D'ivore, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mali, Micronesia, Moldova, Romania, Senegal, Uruguay, Wallis & Futuna Islands, Yugoslavia