ACC T20 is over but what about Asia Cup

The Afghan's won the ACC T20 for a record 3rd time. The tournament has been held just 3 times and each time the Afghans have emerged winners (Though the first time joint winners). The Afghan's have been doing everything right in cricket but does it really matter. First they started with the dream run of qualifying to the World Cricket League Division 5 and from there qualifying to the World Cup Qualifiers barely just missing the world cup spot though gaining the ODI status. Then they grabbed just 2 spots for ICC World Twenty 20 becoming the first associate so do so. Then they won the Inter Continental Trophy as well as Asian Games silver. This couldn't be anything better than this. Adding to this the Afghan's have proved that they are cut above the rest by winning all ACC Tournaments they have been playing.

The ACC Champions:Afghanistan (c)Asian Cricket Council

Now we ask shouldn't this team be playing in the Asia Cup. Surprisingly the big four of Asia say no. The Asia Cup has been known to give a chance to the Asian Associate irrelevant to their standing at World Level. Even when Bangladesh was not a top Associate Globally they still got to play in the Asia Cup several times. They were pathetic but still the teams never had any problems. Then the Asia Cup became more considerate with it including the top 2 Associates. Both times UAE and HK got a chance. But come 2010 this has suddenly changed.

The 2007 WC Expierence has brought in hell for Associates. With India and Pakistan both losing Associates rather than Complacency was being blamed for that. in 2010 the Asia Cup was reduced back to 4 from 6 a huge step backwards. Time has being given as a reason. Due to this fact the 2012 Asia Cup is again a 4 nation tournament.

The Asia Cup is a revenue earner for ACC besides the huge 50% Allocation they get out of ICC Development fund. The big 4 nations just get a participating fee. With BCCI becoming more and more arrogant over time this meant the small participating fee seemed too small. Adjusting to a 6 nation tournament was simply impossible and ACC needed money. Hence they had to agree.

The Associate nations have been asking for a few set of matches. The only difference between Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland or Afghanistan is that the first 2 get 7.5% Share of Funding which is about 7 to 8 times more than the latter 2. The First 2 also get a chance to earn through the tours of various countries like India, Australia or England while the latter 2 simply do not get it. This has made even Bangladesh arrogant not to play against team like Ireland or Afghanistan very well knowing that a defeat would bring questions on their test status. So it rather prefers not to play rather than playing a Afghanistan or Zimbabwe

So in such a condition what should ACC do. The answer is very simple. The ACC wants the Asia Cup for money and if possible for exposure to new countries. So what is the format that brings most money and also is recognized globally as a tool for expansion. Yes my friends you are right the answer is T20.

The ACC should consider making the Asia Cup a T20 tournament. This solves many of their problems
1. It is much more easy to adjust in busy schedules of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka since T20 takes less times
2. T20 gives possibility of higher incomes
3. More teams can be adjusted in the tournament
4. The tournament gives ACC a chance to expand the game into more nations hence widening the possible income stream
5. Less wear and tear for the players

Hence the answer is clear. It is high time Asia Cup cup for 20 overs now. It should be a 8 team tournament with top 4 Associates joining the 4 test nations. T20 games can be more competitive with more chances of upset which makes the whole thing interesting. The tournament should have 2 pools of 4 each followed by semi's and finals.

After the present tournament the line would have been

Pool A:- India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal
Pool B:- Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Oman

This would mean both Afghanistan and Nepal have a chance to prove a point against Bangladesh and the Bangla's cannot take it easy. Similarly a resurgent Hong Kong and Oman will have a expeirence they will never want to forget.

It is said life goes in circles. The ICC was a closed house then they expanded by adding 3 test nation to present 3 then closed door outside commonwealth then opened to new nations as Associates then kept the test nation guarded as 6 then expanded the cricket to increase membership to 105 and 16 nations world cup before closing. Now it is time for expansion. I hope it comes soon and cricket goes with the market and not as a communist system.

What can the coaches expect from SAARC Twenty20

The SAARC Twenty20 is on in full steam. We have seen some good contests but mostly one sided contests. In this tournaments where Bangladesh did not even send a team and India send a team that is not even a Ranji team. So from this tournament what should coaches of different countries expect

1. Afghanistan
Afghanistan is placed in a very easy group. The coach should not expect any tough competition in the league stage and has happened that way. It is here the coach should have used the bench strength and tried various new players and youngsters. Then in the Semi Finals and Finals the Afghan should put in the best team as it would be against the stronger teams of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Afghan should definitely aim to win this tournament

2. Bhutan
Bhutan is one of the weakest teams in the group. The coach here should put his best team and try to get the best performance. They had a chance to qualify to next stage by defeating Maldives (Though they did not do it) and then perhaps more exposure against the strong teams of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The coach should have relished the cricket team is playing after a long time

3. India
India has send not even a A or B or C but rather a Z team. It is not even one of the 24 Domestic Ranji teams. The players here perhaps would never get a chance of representing India and same maybe the case for the Coach. The coach should have got the best out of the players and perhaps got some recognition for himself.

4. Maldives
The coach will be coaching the hosts. He has big responsibility. He has perhaps the toughest task of taking his team beyond expectations. On a positive side, the team will never get a greater exposure than this and should relish this

Dassanayake: He perhaps has the toughest job in the tournament

5. Nepal
This tournament is perhaps most critical for Nepalese Coach. He is a new coach and the team is new to him. The team has a critical tournament of ACC Twenty20 coming up ahead which they are hosting. The team was always short of exposure and this tournament could not have come at the right time. The coach should be happy they got the tough group and will get all the exposure. Nepal should have aimed to perform and excel. They have not been able to do so. They have lost to Sri Lanka and just managed to go past the non existent KIC so called Indian team. The match against Pakistan is crucial and the Nepalese should not be happy with the win against KIC.

6. Pakistan
The coach is commanding perhaps the strongest team in the tournament. The coach has set of boys who would to prove themselves and perhaps break into the national squad. he should get exceptional performances and lead them to the title

7. Sri Lanka
The teams can be seeded second behind Pakistan. The coach would have similar condition as that of Pakistan. Ambitious boys and aim for the title

The tournament is now moving into the second stage. Let's hope to see some great matches and all the best to all the coaches

SAARC Twenty20 Schedule

As we all know SAARC TwentyT20 cricket tournament is being held in Maldives from October 31 to November 7. All the 8 members of SAARC are supposed to be participating in the tournament.

BCCI due to other commitments was not able to send it's U-25 teams as the senior team, U-19 team and A team will be busy, besides domestic tournament going.  As the tournament is being held on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, Maldives government wanted all the team to take part in it, hence  BCCI will be represented by Karnataka Institute of Cricket.

Similar problem are also there for Bangladesh who have their both national and A teams busy, hence will be represented by a representative team to be declared soon.

We will soon be seeing some action like Ind V Pak rivalry, Afghanistan proving a point against Bangladesh, Nepal getting good exposure against likes of India, Sri Lanka & Pakistan



Group A
Afghanistan
Bangladesh Representative Side (Bangladesh)
Bhutan
Maldives

Group B
KIC (India)
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Pakistan

Tentative Schedule
31 Oct
Maldives vs Bhutan
Sri Lanka vs Nepal
1 Nov
Afghanistan vs BRS (Bangladesh)
KIC(India) vs Pakistan
2 Nov
Sri Lanka vs KIC(India)
Maldives vs Afghanistan
3 Nov
Nepal vs Pakistan
Bhutan vs BRS (Bangladesh)
4 Nov
Maldives vs BRS (Bangladesh)
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan
5 Nov
Bhutan vs Afghanistan
Nepal vs KIC(India)
6 Nov
1st SF:-Group 1 winners vs Group 2 Runners-up
2nd SF:-Group 2 winners vs Group 1 Runners-up
7 Nov
FINAL 

Scatchy details on SAARC U-25 Tournament Groups and Schedule

Presently the details of the groups though have not been declared and we are still waiting for them but there are few details that can be shared

SAARC Twenty20 Cup, 2011

FORMAT:- T20

Schedule:- 31st Oct to 7 Nov. Teams arrive on 29th Oct and leave on 8th Oct.

Number of teams:- 8, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives(Hosts), Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka U-25 teams

Wicket:- Synthetic wicket (Astro turf).

Groups:- 2 Groups of 4 teams(Group A & Group B) each based on Ranking (Ranking yet to be declared and awaited)
2 Semi Finals:- Winner A Vs Runner Up B, Winner B Vs Runner Up A
Finals


SQUADS:-
3 teams have declared their squad
Afghanistan:- Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi(captain), M. Shahzad, Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Asghar Stanikzai, Nasir Jamal, Najibullah Zadran, Amir Mangal, Fazel Zazai and Nawab Khan (TENTATIVE AS PER afgcric.com)

Bhutan:- Jigme Singye, Kencho Norbu, Susil Sharma Luitel, Thinley Tenzin, Thinley Jamtsho, Sonam Darjey, Nar Bahadur Burathoki Mongar, Sisir Raj Gurung, Nima Gurung, Tandin Wangchuk, Tandin Wangchuk, Manoj Adhikari, Sonam Tobgay, Tashi Yoedzer Tshering, Damber Singh Gurung (Coach), Sonam (Manager)

Nepal:- Paras Khadka (Captain) and Gyanendra Malla (Vice Captain), Sarad Veskwarker, Mahesh Chettri, Anil Mandal, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK, Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budhayer, Binod Bhandari, Krishna Karki, Bhuwan Karki and Avinash Karna.

Pakistan:-     Nasir Jamshaid, Awais Zia, Umer Amin (cap), Rameez Aziz, Zain Abbass, Shazeb Hassan, Jamal Anwar, Raza Hasan, Muhammad Tallha, Anwar Ali, Mohamed Rameez, Asad Ali, Usman Qadir, Bismillah Khan. Officials: Sabih Azhar (Coach/Manager), Dr. Riaz Ahmed (Physio), Yasir malik (Trainer)

We are awaiting for more details of the tournament. As soon as we get them we would post them for you.

SAARC U-25 Cricket Tourney: More similar tournaments needed

The government of Maldives is inaugurating its first cricket stadium in a brilliant way. Along with the SAARC conference it is organizing the first SAARC U-25 Cricket tournament in which all the 8 members will be participating. Initially as part of SAARC games, cricket was included but one or the other team like India or minor countries like Bhutan did not send teams.

Cricket in South Asia is really popular, a religion. It is infact the place which cricket is popular that no other games stands a chance to come near it. India, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh are well known cricket crazy nations but very few know that it is also the most popular game in Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan, and surprisingly the hosts are the only nation where cricket in no 2 in South Asia.

This tournament after a long time will give youngsters from Nepal, Afghanistan rightful experience against big boys of South Asia. It also gives them a chance to showcase their teams and perhaps defeat the traditional teams and give them the needful attention. Who knows we will see the likes of Mehboob Alam or Hamid Hassan blowing away wickets of Pakistani's or Indians or Paras Khadka or Mohammad Nabi steadying the innings and taking their teams home

Will Paras Khadka take Nepal home like so many times he has done before

The tournament has the started at the place where it should but perhaps a little late. Lets go by the saying "Better Late than Never". Similar to this tournament, ICC can take the help of government to start similar tournament across the globe where the youngster of lesser and bigger tournament meet. The lesser teams play very less cricket and less cricket means less development of teams. It is a vicious cycle and with ICC so much in control of money minded boards of 10 Test Nations, government support is definitely break the cycle

Can we see a repeat of Asian Games

Besides South Asia, perhaps UK Government can fund a similar tournament for all the Home Nations and we see a annual tournament between teams from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, N Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man. Cricket is decently popular in all the nations and England can send England Lions or a junior team, but will be worth the experience for the other nations and surely will bring attention in many nations like a Ireland V Wales game.

The other place can be South East Asia with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Myanmar and Brunei can join in for the tournament. Many government in the area can support such move. The move to make Cricket a demo sport in South East Asian games is perhaps a first baby step in such direction. Also Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong have been involved in a tournament before. Also like Copa America SEA can invite any of the Test nation or their junior team as per the availability

East Africa has been a place where such a annual tournament took place. It is also a place that has got many decent teams in form of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. These 3 nations along with Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and perhaps Zimbabwe, Namibia can join the tournament along with South Africa can take part.

The South America has already started a continental tournament. ICC needs to work in these nations and develop cricket in these nations. Argentina, Brazil, Chile can be great potential nations can start the tournament along with inviting Suriname and Guyana for a interesting tournament.

All these tournaments appear great on paper but besides South Asia there is not much motivation for government to go for such tournament. The biggest motivation and driver can be OLYMPICS.  If ICC has to break the shackles of BCCI, then it needs to get cricket at any cost into Olympics and T20 is the perfect way to do it. Doing that it will start to get government support and many such tournaments will become a reality.

Cricket is at a make or break stage. Lets us see in which direction it goes, meanwhile best of luck to SAARC U-25 tournament and may it become an annual affair.

Time to have a Test Championship

A Test Championship has been talked about for years. ICC wants to have one so that they can use it to revive the dwindling interest in the Purest form of cricket. If Test Cricket dies it is no doubt cricket will be poorer in quality. The Batting Temperament and bowlers ability to take 20 Wickets would be lost. A Team which would win the Test Championship will be no doubt the best cricket team of the time. T20 and ODI matches can be lost to 1 bad hour but that chance is highly unlikely in Test Cricket. Hence a Test Championship is really essential for cricket.

Having said that having the test championship has various challenges. A Test Match may take 5 days to finish. It may result in a draw. Also there are 10 Test Teams and it may take ages for such a tournament to finish. Then if Test Championship is held in 1 country then neutral test matches will have no crowds. Then to sponsor such tournament will be a challenge. Already there is a busy international schedule and fitting such a long tournament will be virtually impossible.

A 10 team Test Championship as seen would be very difficult to conduct and not sustainable. To make the Test Championship the no of slots should be such that the teams need to fight it out. As we have seen some teams clearly are behind the others the number is clearly less than 10.
The Test Cricket should have no compromise on quality and if I try to classify the present teams then Good Teams would be:- Ind, Aus, SA, Eng and Maybe SL. Average Teams would be Pak, NZ and NZ and BD and Zim as the bad teams. The no of Teams can vary between 4 to 8 and I would like to have just 4 slots so that no team is just guaranteed to qualify unless a shock happens. 4 teams also would mean that scheduling of the tournament would be easy and tournament is not extended.

Also presently there are various Test Series played by various Test nations. Over 6 year cycle each country is supposed to play a Test with all other 9 test nations. This has resulted in various meaningless series like BD touring Aus or SA V WI series where BD and WI just got thrashing and crowd interest was minimal.

The Test Championship can be a perfect answer and give a solution to many problems. Over 4 year all the teams should be mandated to play at least 3 test against all test nations. Then Test would contribute to points on the points table and the Top 4 teams would qualify for WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP

Also to add more excitement and meritocracy to the Cricket Setup the team which comes last would be relegated to Tier 2 or present set up of Intercontinental Cup. The team which comes 9th in the pool would play a 3 test match series against the team which comes second in Tier 2 or Intercontinental Cup.

For the knowledge of the readers Intercontinental Cup is a 4 day match, First Class tournament for the top associates. The present IC Cup starts on 29th June, 2011 with Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Afghanistan, UAE, Kenya, Namibia and Canada playing in it.

Like if Zim come 9th and BD 10th in main table and Ireland win IC Cup and Kenya come second then Ireland get promoted as Test Nation for next 4 years and BD loose Test Status and then Zim and Ken play a 3 test match series. The excitement created can also help create excitement for Test Cricket in new nations.

This system would mean that even a Aus V BD can be exciting in some sense. The case may be if that Aus do not win 3-0 they do not come in top 4 and miss on qualification to World Test Championship while BD need to draw a Test i.e worse case of 2-0 to come 9th and avoid direct relegation. Even this test series would create excitement with Aus going all guns to win 3-0 while BD fighting to secure a draw. The draw will be a win for them. This would be better than present scenario where a draw would mean a draw.

But then comes another challenge:- Aus plays Ashes every 2 years with England and that is of 5 Test. We cannot simply change a tradition and then out of 10 tests cannot say we will pick these 3 test and rest 7 are for your series. Also Aus will play SA, Eng more often then a SL or BD.

We should have fixed max no of points that Aus can gain from playing tests against England. Over period of 4 years all Aus V Eng tests will contribute to a max of 20 points. Similarly other 8 test teams also Aus can earn a max of 20 pts whether they play 10 Tests or 3 Tests. This means a team can earn a max of 180 Points (Like in ODI world in a group at team could earn 12 points).

Then dividing the 20 points should be based on each and every test. This would make each test equally important. Here we look to a the point system now used by Test nations rather towards the Associates!!!! We use the point system used in Intercontinental Cup to divide the 20 points.

• Win – 14 points
• Draw if more than 10 hours of play lost – 7 points (otherwise 3 points)
• First Innings leader – 6 points (independent of final result)
• Abandoned without a ball played – 10 points  

To take the example of how points will be divided I take the example of Aus V Eng Ashes (5 Tests) and Aus V Ind Test Series (2 Tests).

ASHES

1st Test
Eng:- 260/10
Aus:-481/10
Eng:-517/1
Aus:-107/1
Match Drawn
Eng:- 3 Pts, Aus:- 9 Pts

2nd Test
Aus:- 245/10
Eng:- 620/5 Dec
Aus:- 304/10
Eng won by Innings and 70 Runs
Eng:- 20 Pts, Aus:- 0 Pts

3rd Test
Aus:- 268/10
Eng:- 187/10
Aus:- 309/10
Eng:- 123/10
Aus won by 267 Runs
Eng:- 0 Pts, Aus:- 20 Pts

4th Test
Aus:- 98/10
Eng:- 513/10
Aus:- 258/10
Eng Won by innings and 157 Runs
Eng:- 20 Pts, Aus:- 0 Pts

5th Test
Aus:- 280/10
Eng:- 644/10
Aus:- 281/10
Eng won by innings and 83 runs
Eng:- 20 Pts, Aus:- 0 Pts

In the end of the series Eng:- 63 Pts, Aus:- 29 Pts. Since the max point any team can gain is 20 points hence these points would be divided in the same ratio. Hence Eng:- 13.70 Pts and Aus:- 6.30 Pts.

If we take the previous tour of Aus to India
1st Test
Aus:- 428/10
Ind:- 405/10
Aus:- 192/10
Ind:- 216/9
India won by 1 wicket
Aus:- 6 Pts, India:- 14 Pts

2nd Test
Aus:- 478/10
Ind:- 495/10
Aus:- 223
Ind;- 207/3
India won by 7 wickets
Aus:- 0 Pts, India:- 20 Pts

At the end of the series Aus:- 6 Pts, Ind:- 34 Pts. To be honest 3 tests rather than 2 would give a more fair result. At the end of the series the main Table points would Aus:- 3 Pts, India 17 Pts. 

In a similar way all the points will be added to the main table. To keep the interest in test a Win fetches much higher points than a lame draw. Also to have a good test match a innings lead also contributes to a point. If Aus V Eng play another 5 tests then the points from all 10 tests will be divided between the 2 teams. Suppose in next ashes Eng again win 4-0 and take 89 Pts while Aus just have 3 pts, then the total points are  Eng (63+89)= 152 Pts, Aus:- (29+3)=32 Pts, then the 20 points would be divided as Eng:- 16.52 Pts, Aus:- 3.48 Pts.

At the end of 4 years the top 4 teams qualify for World Test Championship while 10th placed team is relegated for 4 years and 9th plays a playoff with second associate to fight a Test Spot for next 4 years.

Finally the World Test Champioship
Like any other major sports tournament the WTC should also be arranged to generate cash revenues for ICC.
The tournament will be a simple round robin league followed by 3 test final series. To ensure a fair system the matches for team should have both home and away matches. Since each team plays 3 test matches, it would be either 2 home and 1 away or 1 home and 2 away. Based on Random lots 2 Teams will get 2 Home test matches and 2 teams will just have 1 Home Test Matches.
The final should be 1 home, 1 away and 1 pre decided Neutral Venue. The teams would be allowed to make any number of changes in the squad for each test so that we have a good competition.

For Eg if India, SA, Eng and Aus qualify for the WTC and Eng and Aus get 2 home test while Ind and SA get 1 test. Hence based on random lots say the schedule comes like this
Aus V Eng (Lords)
Aus V Ind (Perth)
Aus V SA (Sydney)
Eng V India (Mumbai)
Eng V SA (Oval)
Ind V SA (Cape Town)

Then at the end of the series say Ind and SA top the table, then the finals would be
1st Final:- Ind V SA (Lords)
2nd Final:- Ind V SA (Eden Garden)
3rd Final:- Ind V SA (Durban), if required

This way all 4 nations get a part of the Test Matches and we can expect full houses at all the places. The finals are also so placed that all 3 places can also expect full houses. This will definitely be a great way of determining the Best Test Team rather Best Cricket Team in a fair way and very appealing to the broadcasters along with spectators and fans. The league of the tournament can be finished in around 25 days with 2 parallel or partial overlap test and finals in another 25 days, hence a total of 50 days to fun.