China look to India for cricket boost

India have backed China's bid to secure affiliate membership of the International Cricket Council, a move that has been welcomed by the sports mandarins in a country where cricket has few roots. China will apparently look at "bilateral exchanges" with India on the cricket pitch in an attempt to boost the profile of the game there.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, had said earlier that his organisation would propose that China be given affiliate membership of the ICC. Reacting to that, Hu Jianguo, director general of China's sport administration, said, "We have noticed the very friendly attitude of the ICC on China's affiliate membership issue. We also warmly welcome the BCCI president's statement that India will propose China's affiliate membership in the ICC. We are speeding up the preparation work for securing the affiliate membership of the ICC."

Hu went on to say that China would enlist India's help to coach its players. "We lack professional cricket players, coaches and umpires," he said. "We also know that India is very advanced in the game of cricket. China should learn from India not just in the field of software but also cricket."