Your're E Mails
Hi
Ive been an ardent fan of your column for quite a while now. Just thought Id say hello and wish you all the best in what you're doing!
Vinayak Nagaraj Madras India
Thank goodness if it is true that Nigeria is to go it alone. The West Africa Cricket Conference should have been an umbrella organisation for competitions and joint development programmes - never an Associate member of the ICC. It has set back cricket 20 years as no or very little funding was going into a sport without a national team with an international programme.
There are Asians, Europeans and Aussies there as well as Nigerians playing the game. There have always been a lot of schools modelled on English public schools - ugh! where cricket was and is still played a bit. There are a lot of Nigerians at school in the UK at major public (independent) schools including Eton.
There is a very real potential for Nigeria to emulate the rise of Kenya. It is a fact of history that Cricket World XI beat Nigeria at Hornsy CC in North London when West Africa was refused entry to the ICC Trophy in Holland because of a late entry. Also, Dutch Immigration would not give them visas!! John Olefawu never returned after that tour and captains Dulwich CC SE London on Sundays.
It is bonkers that Cayman Islands aspires for Associate status. Belize has more clubs - so has Surinam but both are ignored. There are several Surinam clubs in Holland as well.
One place you have missed is Iran !! who have a Federation of Baseball, Softball and Cricket. Rumour has it that their application to join the ICC as an Affiliate has sat for years on a desk. Cricket in Iran has a history of 100 years or more through expat. Armenians and Iranians.
Merry Millennium,
Michael Blumberg London, United Kingdom
Tony
I have only just discovered this web page, so at this stage I am only just reading the current offering, let alone going back into the archives. Be assured that you have at least one interested reader in this part of the world.
My interest in these countries goes back more than 30 years and have been collecting books and pamphlets on cricket in these countries over this period. Much of course related to 'Ceylon' and 'Rhodesia' now of course fully promoted under new titles.
I watched a good deal of the cricket played in the first four ICC trophy tournaments. I was amazed on the visit to the Netherlands by the quality of the cricket clubs and the enthusiastic way that they encouraged the playing of the game.
Look forward to reading more as the winter progresses
Regards
Richard Holdridge Leicester, United Kingdom
I would just like to say that I am really appreciative that you still have your Cricket Around The World (Beyond the Test World is a good new name as well) newsletter. I always enjoy reading it and I hope you will be able to for a while yet keep it going.
In your recent newsletter (17th Edition), in your 'Countries Line up for ICC Membership' article you ask if Nigeria and Cayman Islands become associate members then there will be 28 teams competing in the 2001 ICC Trophy.
I am fairly sure that Bangladesh and Kenya do not have to compete in the ICC Trophy anymore, they automatically qualify for the 2003 World Cup because of their ODI status.
Am I right, because I am pretty sure that Kenya and Bangladesh don't have to compete in it anymore?
With that, I would still like to know the answer to your question though, with the ever growing number of associate countries, the ICC Trophy is becoming huge, almost World Cup like.
I hope I didn't take up too much of your time. Thankyou.
Nathan M. Perth, Australia
In my reply to Nathan, I sent him the article for this edition 'Dr. Ali Bacher says Toronto 2001 likely to be the last ICC Trophy', written before receipt of Nathan's email.
As mentioned on the main page, I believe 'Your Emails' can become a good forum for ideas and information on cricket at the non-Test level. Please email to tonymunro@cricinfo.com