Who will win the ICC Twenty20 Qualifiers?

This is a very difficult question and the right answer is really difficult to guess. It is a tournament with too many teams and too little slots to fill. Over that the teams are all really competitive with almost all teams on their day have capability to defeat all other teams. However said that not all teams have an equal chance. Given the squads, exposure of various team I would put the chances as follows

THE FAVORITES
1. IRELAND
They are the most popular associates and clearly the favorites. They have got a great intelligent Captain who makes the most of the resources. The resources definitely are exciting lead by the dangerous Kevin O'Brien famous for his fastest century in the World Cup or the young and Exciting George Dockrell. The team has the talent and it will be tough be tough for most teams to overcome this talent

Can O'Brien repeat the performance. Let's hope so

2. AFGHANISTAN
They are a nation filled with passion for Cricket. Cricket unites this war ravaged country and the cricketers are the national stars. Afghanistan has one of the most potent talents who on their day can take on the mightiest names in Cricket. A fiery pace attack led by Hamid Hassan who can easily made place in most of the test sides or the calm and composed captain Nawroz Mangal, they would be making the most likely finalist with Ireland

He can single handily rip apart any Line Up

3. SCOTLAND
Surprised to hear this name. The Scots have a flourishing team whose average age is 24. The team stayed away from limelight as they missed out for 2011 WC, but in 2011 they have a performance that needs to looked into. They have played 4 ODI's and won 3, 2 against Netherlands and 1 against Ireland. They lost the 1 match to Sri Lanka. This is a team with real power works and taking them lightly is asking for trouble

GOOD BETS
1. NETHERLANDS
Surprised this name is not there in the favorites, well don't be. The biggest name and star is not playing the qualifiers, yes we are talking of ten Doeschate is not playing and hence this clearly puts them off the field of favorites. Having said that the team has still got some good talent and surely have a clear chance to make it to Sri Lanka

Netherlands surely will miss him

2. KENYA
Are you judging them by their performance in 2011 WC, well if the answer is yes, then my recommendation don't be fooled by that.  After the disastrous campaign the management has put all ticks in the preparation for this tournament. Firstly they formed the domestic structure which was important. Then they have given the young players loads of exposure which is very critical. The results have not coming in full swings but surely there are good signs. The visiting Irish team did not have it easy for the Inter Continental Matches.

3. CANADA
The performance surely have dropped after the World Cup with the loss of a great player like Ashish Bagai. They are down but never out. With some exciting players like Harvinder Baidwan, Jimmy Hansra or Manny Aulakh and they on their day can take any other team.

A leader lost?

4. NAMIBIA
When Kenya visited them they smashed them 6-2 in a T20 series. Presently they get to play in the Domestic Series in South Africa, whose experience they surely are relishing and the performance can be seen on the field. They have played in a World Cup once and surely would want to reach the top level again. The Burger's form would be critical for the team

PARTY SPOILERS
Here I would like to put teams who have a bleak chance of making into the World T20 but surely can spoil the party of teams who would be running towards it. The big names have to beware of them

1. PNG
The team is a result of hard work put in at Junior level. PNG have a great youth program with largest number of players involved in any Associate. The team has a great bowling line up. The one area where have opportunity is Batting and with former England Wicket Keeper Batsman Greaint Jones, surely makes them a very very dangerous team.

Will he be the X Factor for PNG

2. HONG KONG
Like PNG and Scotland this is a team made from developing the youth. It is a very young team which were the runners up in the Asian region and gave a very close fight to Afghanistan in the finals. They surely can never be taken lightly at any momemt

3. NEPAL
They have the biggest fan base amongst the Associates, a nation filled with passion for the game of Cricket. They got a new coach who was responsible for transforming Canada and doing all things right to do the same in Nepal. The coach is getting good exposure for the team before hits Dubai. The team is the best at Junior Levels who have defeated the likes of SA, BD, NZ & WI and people are hoping that they will this time transform the performance at senior level

He is a local star. Can he make it in International Stage, an area he desrves

4. UGANDA
If we talk of upcoming teams one thing is common amongst them. Be it  Scotland, PNG, HK, Nepal or Uganda. The development of youth is the key for success. The party spoiling could be seen at the African Division One where they defeated the Party of the better rated Namibia and won the tournament. They also made the right noises when their both Franchise's reached the finals in the EAPL. They have been traditional chokers, but this is the tag they would be hoping to get rid of.

5. BERMUDA
Remember a fat man taking a diving catch. Yes it was Bermuda itself. They have tasted the top level once and surely would be wanting to do that again for the most popular game of the country. The team surely have got great talents like David Hemp. Let's see how they fare in their biggest tournament of the year

6. USA
The nation is the second biggest market for Cricket in the world. There are over 20000 active players in the country. The country has got the mix of experience of India, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia and England. The team had once surprised the critics and reached the Champion Trophy. But, a big But the limitation is that the sports is run like a personal fiefdom under Mr Dainty where merit is often ignored. Having said that there are certainly some very talented players who can give a run for money to all the top teams in the tournament

Will US Cricket be luck enough to get rid of this sloppy faced Dictator

THE FILLERS
OMAN is a team formed of all but some expats. The team is aging and in T20 format that is not helpful

DENMARK joined the ranks of Scotland and Netherlands but over time the game somehow lost out. The nation has got some talent but I do not expect much action from them

ITALY is a upcoming team which draws its strength from likes of immigrants or overseas players of Italian origin. They overseas players are it X factor but I do not expect them miraculously reach Sri Lanka. Some wins here and there but not much besides that.


Finally this tournament will be a cracker of the tournament. Let us hope the best team makes it to Sri Lanka

Celtic League: A way to expand cricket in Europe?

In recent years we have seen some news in European Cricket that can shape the future of cricket in the continent. First is the resurgence of Irish cricket and their dramatic chase against England in world cup. Along with that the game has made right noises in Netherlands where the performance in world cup has helped cricket to stop it's downfall, while the Scots have been doing really good. Though they failed to make it to the world cup, but then after that made to finals of Intercontinental cup, teams performing very well in matches against Neth, Ire and other ODI and the junior team making it to the World Cup the game surely is on a roll

Besides that there have been lots of talks in Welsh Parliament about a separate Welsh team under the Gambit of ECB which even though is a English and Wales team, but conveniently remove Wales. Who knows soon over time like the Scots who went independent may soon happen for Welsh too.

England winning Ashes back to back also is coming at a right time bringing attention for cricket across Europe.

Celtic League is the place Cricket Should look upto

However the most encouraging news has been initial talks between Scotland and Irish cricket boards over the formation of a Celtic League. This idea is not a new one. We have recently seen a very successful East African Trophy and Premier League involving 4 teams from Kenya and 2 from Uganda. The tournament which started without sponsors or broadcaster before the end of tournament had both. The rebellious players who on seeing the success of the tournament apologized and are planning to come back. But where did the idea of Celtic League or East African tournament come? Both the Celtic League and East African tournaments came from a game that cricket should learn a lot of things from- Rugby

The Celtic league is already a very successful tournament that involves teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & Italy. This tournament which started in 2001 has picked up popularity over time and become the only first class tournament of these nations. It has also helped to have the first professional teams in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There have been some downsides where some professional clubs could not balance the sheets and hence were dissolved. The mistakes of the tournament can studied and ensured that they are not repeated

Cricket should definitely pick this brilliant experience and go for a similar league not just for Ireland and Scotland but even go further and have more nations as a part of it. Presently England with its 18 counties is the only place where professional Cricket is possible in Europe. European laws make that easy for these team to allow their players in county cricket but that has its risk of losing players to England. As an alternative professional set up to come to levels of county cricket is not possible if Ireland or Scotland go alone or together but lies in the fact that Wales, Netherlands and Denmark are brought into the fold

Professional set up depends on 2 major factors:- 1. The Economy of the countries i.e GDP of the countries, 2. The level of Interest- Are people willing to come to watch the game. The number of teams from each country should be based on both these factors. The fact can be seen that in Celtic League(Rugby), with a economy of 226 B$ Ireland had 4 teams while Wales with a GDP of 73 B$ had 5 teams and what happened? Even though Rugby would be slightly more popular in Wales than Ireland but soon the clubs started failing as they could not find money to sustain.

Going by the present Populations, Interest Levels and GDP the best format would be 4 teams from Ireland , 3 teams from Scotland, 2 from Wales, 2 from Netherlands and 1 from Denmark. This set up would help provide a much bigger population and economical base to sustain the game both in quality and monetary terms.This will help provide an alternate to County with more opportunities for domestic players.

The 12 teams can be as follows
Ireland:- Similar structure as Rugby Union: Ulster (Belfast), Munster (Cork), Leinster (Dublin) & Connacht (Galway)
Scotland:- The recently started 3 team tournament is the perfect way to go ahead: North (Aberdeen), West (Glasgow / Ayr), East (Edinburg)
Wales:- Presently only 1 county takes part in County championships. To increase participation it should be increased to 2 teams:Cardiff & Swansea (Glamorgan)
Netherlands:- The recently started North vs South competition is a perfect platform to go Celtic: North (Amstelveen) & South(Rotterdam)
Denmark:- Cricket is a very lower interest level, hence the whole national team should take part to ensure a competitive tournament. The capital Copenhagen is a perfect place.

The tournament may not be initially having the resources to go completely professional so can start as semi professional. Also since most of the places have stadiums Home and Away would be the best format. Any further expansion is very much possible in Netherlands and Denmark if it helps raise the profile of game in the country. Finally like Rugby the tournament should be run by a company with stakes of all the boards and an independent director. If cricket goes professional in these countries then it can pave the way for Euro Cup and further raise the profile of game.

Lets  hope the first step of Celtic Cup containing 6 teams of Scotland and Ireland goes ahead becomes a success like East African tournaments. I surely will be watching this space

Cricket's lost Bastions-Nations where cricket was popular at one time

Cricket as a sport is limited to few nations. For many year there were no particular efforts to take it to new areas. It was after the 1996 World Cup that ICC has taken some good initiatives to take cricket to new nations. Though they have not been perfect and many shortcomings have been there but there are many success stories to be proud of.

Having said cricket at many stages had many chances where the state the game could have been different. There are many countries where cricket could have been a major game but it missed out. The reasons have been many

1. ICC being formed as Imperial Cricket Conference and shutting itself to countries outside the commonwealth
2. The length of the game was also a limitation as only Test Match was the format
3. Rigid rules of cricket controlled by MCC who under colonial influence wanted to keep the game to gentlemen as per its definition. This literally shut any scope of innovations
4. The local factors in the country
5. The weather limitations

In many countries some or the most factors literally killed the game. The country whose name comes top of the list and if it was there in cricket list then the dynamics of the game would have been much difference- Yes talking about USA

USA

Cricket was once the most popular game in the country. Infact the first international match was played between USA and Canada and it was so popular that in 1800's around 10000 people attended that game. However around the civil war a game very similar to cricket- Rounder & Baseball started to become popular. Baseball was easier to play as it just required a bat and ball and a ground while cricket required a proper pitch.
Also cricket was played by the elite and soon baseball started to emerge as the game of the masses. Cricket had its pockets but then 2 things happened. ICC was formed in 1965 and since US was a non commonwealth nation the game was shut for it. This meant no tours of counties or MCC. Secondly the pockets where Elite played the game soon started to shift towards Golf and Tennis. Hence sadly the game which was very popular soon lost out there.

Now recently with people from South Asia, Caribbean & UK, Aus coming to USA brought the game along with them and game has seen a resurgence. Cricket is a fast growing sport but if in peak times it was 1000 now it is 1. Even if it reaches 100 that would do a sea of good for the games. Hopefully over time the game will see better management by USACA and game improves

Canada

Cricket was declared as national game by the first prime minister of Canada. As already mentioned Canada was the first nation to play an international match of cricket. However the game in Canada was tied to rivalry with USA. As the game declined in USA, the same happened in Canada too. Also weather also played some part in the decline of the game.
Like USA, the game has seen a resurgence. In fact after 1979 Canada qualified for the world cup in 2003, then 2007 and 2011. Also the whole team in now on contracts showing the game is coming back. However there is still long way to go.


Malaysia

Before independence the games dominated all the newspaper. At once time Malaya had defeated the visiting Australians. In the limited sports culture in the country the game had good enough mind share. Malaysia was admitted to ICC as an associate after 1965 when ICC changed from Imperial to International.
By that time the game had lost a lot and never recovered to old levels. There were other causes for game not becoming popular. Whenever cricket was taken to any country it was played by british only. Over time the Elite of that country also started playing the games. In England, Aus, NZ, Zim or SA it is still the European that played the game. In India and Indian sub continent we had Kings, Nawabs, Raja, Zamindar etc who were the Indian Elite. They played along with the British and after they left continued to play. Hence the culture of the game continued and soon masses picked the game in all the 4 Test Nations of Indian Sub Continent.
In Malaysia there was no such elite and hence when the Britishers left suddenly no one was there to continue the tradition and we had an Broken Arrow.
With cricket again getting globalized and T20 the new format to expand the game, the game like most part of the world is seeing some resurgance. The MCA has also a vision to get Malaysia ODI status by 2020 and recent performances of Malaysia have been encouraging. They came 3rd in ACC trophy narrowly loosing to both the Finalists by single digits. Also the junior program has been rekindled. FInally MCA has got 4 sponsorships. Lets hope they regain the interest of Olden times

Fiji

Cricket was once a very popular game in the Island Nations. The Fiji team used to regularly play against the various teams from New Zealand and it was a event always in news. Infact the Indian and West Indian teams had played against the Fiji teams in Fiji on route to play Australia. However been a small nation and having smaller population meant that the level of cricket team would have been on lower side as compared to the test nations. This factor over time lead to less teams touring or inviting Fiji. Meanwhile Rugby started to gain in Fiji and Fiji had a good international standing in the same. Cricket's loss was Rugby's gain in Fiji.
Also the game of cricket was surprisingly played the indigenous community while the Indians preferred Soccer. Over time the locals realized they have built more suitable for Rugby and much easier for them to perform and while the Indian community continued with Soccer itself.
Over time the game of cricket has picked up very well in Pacific with PNG, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands improving every year while Fiji has seen a downfall. They have now lost the spot of number 4 (Behind Aus, NZ and PNG) to number with Vanuatu replacing them. Lets see if the game of cricket which has a resurgance in Pacific also has one in Fiji too.



Burma

Surprised to hear this name. Do people know that the Burma team had defeated the Ceylon team once in 1927 IIRC. Though both teams were made of Britishers but so was the case in every country at that time. The game was started and played by Britishers and then taken over by the higher class of local and then eventually going to the locals.
But in Burma the elite of locals were Indians. Indians formed a majority in capital Rangoon. The local Burmese really resented them. The Indians had taken the game, however over time the political situation changed. First the Japanese captured Burma in 1941. They started to discriminate against the Indians. The Indians started to leave. Then when British drove out the Japanese then it was almost certain that they will grant independence to Burma.
The Burma independence was not like the one in South Asia where the subsequent government maintained good relations. The British and Indians both were hated hence cricket also became a victim. Burma chose not to join the Commonwealth and hence ICC got out of question. Burma then further went into isolation and socialism and game of cricket, its clubs all started to lose out. Hence over time the game of cricket was killed
If Burma somehow had managed to go on the lines of South East Asia then surely the large impact of Indian Diaspora and its neighbours India and Bangladesh would have made sure that the game of cricket is alive and kicking and Burma would have been a different cricket power
Over time with globalization and Burmese who have studies abroad and in India, the game of Cricket has started to come back. A movie on lines of famous Indian movie "Lagaan" name "Bo Ba" was also made and was hugely popular. Presently probably Burma is the weakest of all cricket teams but cricket surely is making a comeback. Lets hope over time they come out as a strong contendor.

Some more nations where Cricket got a head start but could not capitalize were
1. Argentina
2. Netherlands
3. Denmark
4. Italy

If the game of cricket would have been alive and kicking in these nations then globally the scene could have been different. The hard work ICC has to do now is because 80 years was lost as cricket was kept in a cocoon. To cover these 80 years would take at least 20 to 30 more years to make cricket a truly global sport. Lets hope it happens in the best and most sustainable way.

How to Spread Cricket

We all recently saw news of the bold decision of FIFA to take up the bold decision of giving 2018 World Cup to Russia and 2022 World Cup to Qatar!! IRB, the International Rugby Board is also in such a league. They have been trying very hard to expand Rugby. The 2015 WC was awarded to a Emerging Nation Japan. They are also promoting Rugby 7's and it certain to be included in next Olympics.

All these things also brought a thought in my mind, what can we do to expand Cricket. Surely ICC has been undertaking development program. But my thought something is missing. Then I have come out with few thoughts. On many of them ICC may be working or plans to do that.

The Biggest Step would be to use the powerful and fast form cricket as the vehicle to spread cricket the 20-20. We have a 20-20 World Cup every 2 years. The 2012 is in SL and 14 is in BD. Both these nations are co hosting 2011 50-50 World Cup. Hence instead of these countries hosting it again, the 20-20 cup should have been given to emerging nations. The list of emerging countries are Ireland, Holland, Scotland, UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malaysia, Canada, China (When their team achieve some performance level), USA, Argentina, Hong Kong (Along with China maybe), Singapore, Afghanistan (When the Security Situation is right), Namibia, Oman, Nepal, Bahrain, Botswana.

Similar to FIFA, ICC should have an open bid from the bodies. The thing behind it is to make it Bid. Market it as the World Cup of a very popular game's most popular format or anything. For such bids the boards take the alignment of their government. So that brings in some extra funding.
Have some basic rule's
1. Give the hosting rights 5 years in advance
2. The Host nation or nations will have a guaranteed spot to play
3. Some basic expectation of Cricketing Infrastructure
4. ICC should have a plan to ensure that the host will be expected to earn out of the whole investment made.

Once the host has been decided, (lets assume Malaysia is Chosen as the Host 2016 World Cup). We begin with our Objective 2016 Malaysia. The priorities are
1. Have at least 6 decent cricket stadiums for World Cup
2. Have a good competitive cricket team ready for World Cup
3. Have a good level of local interest in the tournament and game
4. Establish a local cricket league with a robust way to attain talent for future

For Malaysia 2016 we will proceed as follows:-

Firstly ICC, Malaysian Cricket Board, Malaysian Olympic Council and Malaysian Government set up 2016 Fund with contribution from each side and a committee to handle all funds. The committee will have members from each of the 4 organization as per the bid submitted. Also ICC will provide the money to have share of the profits. The contribution from other organization can be for in any form- Loan, Aid, Profit Sharing or Partnership all as per the bid.

Then the next step would be choosing a pool of 30 players who will be offered Central Contract. The value for first year would be based on a rough norm of 15 times per capita income. For next 4 years it will be min as per the same thumb rule. if commercials allow then no upper limits. The contracts will be of 4 Grade A, B, C & D as per player capability.

ICC will also draw up a complete 5 year plan for Malaysia where they will have a busy schedule playing games against Test nations, their A teams, junior teams and in all 3 forms of cricket. 3 Coaches (Main, Bowling & Batting) will also be appointed.

Parallel to this the process of Developing 7 stadiums starts. 2 of these are in the capital Kuala Lumpur. The other 5 stadiums will be based at Johor Bahru,Kota Kinabalu, Shah Alam, Ipoh, Subang Jaya. The stadiums should be ready in 2 years.

Also Parallel to the above 2 steps, we establish 6 Clubs based out of the 6 cities which will have stadiums. These Clubs will be provided with Funds and a geographical catchment area. The purpose is to effectively cover the whole nation. Their funds will be for 4 purposes. First they can offer contract upto 45 players as per the talent they will encounter.They surely will have a team of 16 contracted players who will playing the first season. The Central players will play in the clubs as per their geographical locale. However if any Club does not get any central contract players they will be provided with 2 players from Grade A or B and one from Grade C or D
Besides this the clubs start the process of introducing the game in schools. The target is to cover atleast 80% of the schools in the Catchment. The Club will provide cricket kits. cricket knowledge, establish coaches to train students. The Club will conduct school tournaments every 6 months. The best of the talent will be offered scholarship till bachelor studies. The only condition would be training or playing cricket for certain no of years. The best of the student can be directly offered Club Contract or even Central Contract as per the talent.
The Clubs will conduct tournament for local sides and general trial camps where the purpose will be to tap talent.

Then we will get into an agreement with a local channel. Some of the parts of the agreement would be
1. The Channel will cover all the Club Matches Live
2. The channel will cover all matches of Malaysia live
3. When no live match is going on then at that time the channel will show the selected good matches of the established teams. The purpose will be to show high quality matches
4. It will also have program on how to play cricket and some other interesting aspects of the Game
5. It will have the exclusive rights to cover 2016 WC live in Malaysia
6. If the channel has objection of covering cricket from 2011 then as a part of agreement ICC will cover the costs and guarantee some level of profit in return to have share in the profits of the WC. The purpose of ICC is to recover costs and have profits in local markets too from telecast rights
7. If in the above period any commercial agreements come ICC gets all the money since ICC is already covering a basic expected profit level.
7. For all the other markets except Malaysia the channel will have no rights. The ICC will have the exclusive rights to sell them


The above steps will cover the objectives 1,2 & 4 and 3 partially in Project Malaysia 2016. To cover point 3 some additional steps will be taken
1. Take a known celebrity as the brand ambassador for the Tournament and promotion
2. Have regular add, campaigns to make the point that Malaysia has got the 2016 WC
3. Have big screens installed in all these cities which will have our TV channel regularly to cover cricket.
4. Have political and other important personalities related with cricket. This will bring notice to the game.
5. Bring the school children to watch the club matches.

And then we have the 2015 WC. The 2014 Club championship was highly successful. It gave profits for the first time. The ticket sales were very good. The channel also got great adds and ICC had mega profits. These were used to provide money to the clubs. The Channel then immediately switched to profit sharing seeing the response. The Malaysian team also got sponsors lined up and the team had various successes. They just one a ODI series against Bangladesh and then won a triangular versus WI and Ireland. They also managed to win the first 20-20 against Australia. It had the street screen filled with crowds cheering for Malaysia with high TRP's.

Finally then came the big tournament. the World Cup. The excitement was huge. To see top teams, top stars like Dhoni, Lee or Shoaib Akhtar. We had many people from other parts of world coming in. All the matches went houseful. The final had TRP rating not matched by any channel. The tournament was a financial success with ICC, Malay Cricket Association making profits. They easily paid the soft loans of Olympic Council and Government.

Malaysia now has got a good cricketing culture re established after British left. Malay CA sets a goal as 2019 to achieve Test Status.

ICC also take a sigh of relieve because of the high investments made here and also allocating the 2018 in 2013. However by 2015 ICC was in a much comfortable position seeing the results and boldly went ahead for the 3rd time to allocate the tournament of 2020. Hence a complete 20-20 line was drawn for next 5 WC after Malaysia

2007:-SA
2009:-Eng
2010:-WI
2012:-SL
2014:-BD
2016:-Malay
2018:-Ken,Tan & Uganda (Yes all 3 play and tournament is made 18 nation)
2020:-Neth & Den
2022:-China
2024:-UAE & Oman
2026:-Ire & Scot

At 2027 the test nations are 35 namely Aus, NZ, PNG, Ind, Pak, SL, BD, Afg, Nep, UAE, Oman, Malaysia, China,Singapore, HK, Eng, Neth, Ire, Scot, Den, SA, Zim, Ken, Tan, Uganda, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, WI, USA, Can, Argentina, Caribbean (Combined nations of Caribbean besides nation in WI), Pacific (Countries of Oceania), East Indies (Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comorros, Reunion & other Indian ocean islands)

Amen for Jashan Plan 35 by 25