ICC targets 100 members by 2005

In an attempt to globalise the game, the International Cricket Council has announced that it plans to expand the game to 100 countries by the end of 2005. Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, was speaking at the two-day seminar organised by the Asian Cricket Council at Lahore where the issue of expansion was high on the agenda.

The ICC has currently enrolled 89 countries, which includes ten full members, 27 associate members and 52 affiliate members. Mani added, "As well as increasing the number of playing countries, the ICC is targeting an improvement in the playing standards of its associate and affiliate members."

Commenting on Bangladesh struggling to put up a fight at the Test level, Mani said, "The ICC has been working very closely with the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the ACC to assist in the high performance development of the game in Bangladesh."

Mani also spoke about how the ICC had helped Kenya with their efforts to improve. "Kenya wants to play more one-day internationals and we have allocated an extra half-a-million dollars to them to further improve the quality of their game."