ICC World Cup Qualifier Previews Day 3

After a rest day the action begins again with two teams playing their first games. Both are on a downward slide and here to prove a point while the other two are coming from wins and would like to continue that.

Netherlands had their good moments in World Cups and surely would want to relive them

1. Netherlands vs Namibia
Neth proved in the last game that the losses in warmups are just experimental outages. They are here with a purpose and would not like to see any change in plans
For Nam it is the first encounter and hence would want to start it on winning ways and prove a point. The task is daunting but not impossible and they surely will give their best
Verdict:- Neth should take it without much difficulty

2. Canada vs UAE
UAE had a great start to the tournament and they are a determined lot. On the other hand Can are on down slide and would definitely want to stop that. It will be a good encounter but UAE look much more prepared
Verdict:- UAE have done their homework in a much better way and should take this game

It will be an exciting day which can make the tournament much more exciting. Let's hope to see some good action

2015 ICC World Cup Qualifier Previews- Day 1

This is the first day of a tournament which is expected to be very exciting. There are 4 games on day 1

1. NETHERLANDS vs UGANDA
Netherlands have not been in the best of forms in the warmups having lost both the games comprehensively. They would be worried about their form but this match gives them a perfect opportunity to recoup and gain their momentum.
Uganda on the other hand would be confident after their win over Canada. Incidentally Canada have defeated Netherlands in the Warmups too and this fact would be giving them confidence to prove the critics wrong

Verdict:- Overall Netherlands and very high on experience and have better set of players than Uganda and should take the game easily

2. KENYA vs PNG
Last time these teams met, PNG took the game in the World T20 Qualifiers. PNG would be finding confidence  in this and would be confident to take the game. Kenya on the other hand have a new captain who at junior levels was a successful captain and would be hoping to repeat the magic. PNG are loaded with young talent and know these conditions better than Kenya, while Kenya would be hoping their experience to take them through in the game
Verdict:- It surely will be a closely fought game but I expect PNG to take it away

3. NEPAL vs UAE
These teams know each other very well and they know this game is crucial to set the tone for the tournament. Both the teams are high on confidence based on the recent success in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. UAE have an advantage of having more experience having played the WCL Championship and barely missing on World Cup Qualification. For Nepal this tournament is to prove a point that they are ready to join the big boys. The game will be a test of wits.
Verdict:- It will again a very close game and very hardly fought. I expect in the end Nepal to come out as the better team

4. SCOTLAND vs HONG KONG
Scotland are one of the favorites of the tournament. They have a solid lineup with good batting and bowling which are well adapted for the conditions. HK on the other side are a young and dynamic side raring to go ahead. However HK would have to overcome the loss of key player Munir Dar. Overall Scotland would have a massive advantage but don't be surprised if HK produce a shocker
Verdict:- Scotland are massive favorites and should easily take the game

2015 World Cup Qualifier: Preview Group A

This World Cup qualifier would probably be one of the most interesting and critical for the game of cricket. On one side we have traditional teams like Netherlands, Scotland, Canada and Kenya fighting hard for their spots, a resurgent UAE and Namibia fighting to claim back their glory days and upcoming and emerging nations of Nepal and PNG dedicated and fighting to replace these nations. This will without doubt be a very hard fought tournament with deciding the 2 finalist is a very difficult task. It will not be unlikely that experts can pick two teams and in the end those teams end up in bottom 5.

The fight for the 2 spots will be a tough one. Picking 2 teams is very difficult

In the World Cup Qualifier the teams are divided into 2 groups of 5 teams each. From these groups 3 teams will go into Super Six. In Super Six the 3 teams from each group will carry the points of matches against the 2 teams from the group. Finally from Super Six the top 2 teams will go into finals and reach the World Cup.

GROUP A
Teams:- Canada, Hong Kong, Nepal, Scotland & United Arab Emirates

ICC Seeding
1. UAE
2. Scotland
3. Canada
4. Hong Kong
5. Nepal

PREVIEWS
1. UAE
UAE have been very impressive lately especially in the 2011-13 ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. They just missed out on qualification and came third in the tournament. They also proved themselves again when they qualified for the 2014 World Twenty20. Their batting is top class along with their deadly spinners.
 

Shaiman Anwar will be the key player UAE will be relying upon

However in NZ they would have to overcome many challenges to keep up the performances.The are an aging team and the fast bowlers are not fast enough. This could be their Achilles heal.

Key Player:- Shaiman Anwar

Expected Verdict:- Should make it into the Super Sixes

2. Scotland
They are the hot favorites for the tournament. They would be most equipped to deal with the situation as the conditions in NZ are almost similar to conditions in Scotland. They have a solid batting line up lead by players like Calum MacLeod, Kyle Coetzer. The pace battery is equally impressive with a young line up consisting of Safyaan Sharif, Gourdon Goudie.

No team can ignore Calum MacLeod who is in super form

Key Player:- Calum MacLeod

Expected Verdict:- Winner or Runners Up

3. Canada
Canada are a team which have seen a great downfall. They finished a poor 12th out of 16 teams in World T20 Qualifer. On top of that they had a major loss when their ace captain Ashish Bagai announced his retirement after being troubled by politics going on in Cricket Canada. However even with the reduced line up they are not a team to be ignored. They are known to make a comeback in critical tournament when it is a matter of life or death for them. They still have some good batsman like Gunasekera, Nitish Kumar who can single-handily destroy any bowling lineup on their day. They also have some decent bowlers like Harvir Baidwan. However overall Canada would have to put a super effort and brilliantly lead to make a come back

Gunasekara:- He has a good technique and destroy any lineup on any day

Key Player:- Ruvindu Gunasekera

Expected Verdict:- Not expected to make it to Super Sixes

4. Hong Kong
They have been a surprise package for many especially when they made it into 2014 World Twenty20, but few people know that they are a young team and unlike the names suggest it is a team that has been built from junior levels. They have some technically some very good players in both bowling and batting. The team is a good mixture of youth and experience. 

Irfan Ahmed:- He is both deadly with bat and bowl and is a one man army

Despite all the goodies the team is yet to prove itself in ODI and that too in conditions of NZ. The absence of expierenced player Munir Dar will also hurt them a lot. It will be challenging for the team

 Key Player:- Irfan Ahmed

Expected Verdict:-  Not expected to make it to Super Sixes

5. Nepal
They are a resurgent team filled with the belief that they should be playing with better of the teams. They surprised many with their performance in World T20 Qualifier where they came third. Lead by a tactical coach and cool captain the team is hoping to make history. Paras Khadka is the traditional batting powerhouse of the team but players like Sharad Vekaswar have shown their worth in World T20 Qualifier. Basant Regmi is a brilliant all rounder who has impressed many and the conditions in NZ surely support his spin style. They have a young pace lineup consisting of Avinash Karn and Sompal Kami who can be a real surprise package
Having said all that the batting still suffers against quality fast bowling and to prove themselves they will have to overcome this weakness. The pace department has also been traditionally below par and this time even though they have potential but it is a young and inexperienced lineup.  

Paras Khadka: He is Mr Dependable for the team who can contribute both with Bat and Bowl

 Key Player:- Paras Khadka

Expected Verdict:- Though most critics have rated them lowly but I will give them a chance to make into Super Sixes. Whether they will make into Finals will depend upon two game for them- against Scotland and Netherlands

So overall this will be a keenly contested group and the predictions made now can be easily thrown out of window. That is the level of competition. It will be an interesting tournament and really looking forward to it.  

Will weather favor Nepal, Afghanistan in ACC Twenty20

“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” -Mark Twain


 The Climate for the tournament will surely be electrifying which most of the Associate Players may not be lucky enough to see but the weather in Kathmandu will surely favor a few. The 2 times champion Afghanistan and the hosts Nepal both will definitely will get an Advantage from the weather. If we look at the average maximum and minimum temperature it will say it all

"It surely is cold at a few places only"

As we can see in the coldest month in Asia only 3 capitals i.e. Kathmandu, Kabul and Thimpu are in the temperate zone and rest are in the tropical zone. The max temperature in December is 19.4 C and min is just 3.0 C. This means we will have cold morning and evening.


Weather surely plays a very crucial factor in cricket. The cricket ball is very hard. In cold temperature the hands tends to become numb and effect the holding of the ball. For people of colder places like Nepal, Afghanistan or Bhutan it will not be much of a problem since they are used to it. However imagine a player who comes from Dubai or Malaysia, where it never gets cold through out the year. For such players it will be coming from 36 C to 20 C. It effects the performance specially fielding and bowling. 


Secondly the cold weather means thin air, which means more swing. The Pacer of Afghanistan or local stars will know how to extract the maximum.

Afghanistan are the champions and though this tournament means nothing for qualification but it surely is pride. The Rivalry between Nepal and Afghanistan is not any less than that of India Pakistan

Nepal has a huge home advantage that will boost it's morale. The weather also can be used to maximize its performance. Nepal will never have a better chance to boost it poor track record in T20


All things said and done, the teams are expected to perform in all circumstances. Since it the start of December there is a possibility that it will still not be that chilling. Also many of the players in the Gulf teams are from northern part of sub continent where also it get very cold and would be used to it. Finally to close I have a beautiful anonymous quote


“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not”

Why a 14 Nation ODI WC meant a World T20 of 12 Nations

When the ICC reversed its decision of the 10 nations 2015 WC to 14 nation everybody felt happy. The Associates thought they had won the war. But what they saw next meant that ICC had settled scores. Although they had increased the number of teams in 50 overs format, shocking in T20 they cut the number of teams from 16 to 12.

This meant that over a cycle of 4 years where earlier the associates had 6+6+0=12 chances of playing, now it was reduced to 2+2+4=8 slots. Further if ICC had opened bottom 2 slots in 10 nation world cup then it would have meant 14 slots.

T20 was proclaimed as the driver to drive cricket into new market. Most of the upcoming nations also agree to the same.Then why did ICC cut the number in T20 contradicting itself. According to ICC version this came due to cost factor. According to ICC there is a total cost package and increase in 50 over to 14 teams meant they had to compensate the costs and had to reduce the no of teams in T20

Is this the real reason. Can the ICC not afford both a 14 nation World Cup and 2 16 nations World T20. According to me they can easily do that. The cost of staging a 16 nation or 12 nation T20 cup does not increase the cost significantly.

The real reason is another cost that ICC has to bear. Whenever ICC conducts a tournament it has the right to sponsorship, TV Revenue's, gate collections and all other sources of income. The hosts get a hosting fee. Like for 2011 CWC SL got 23 M$ as hosting fee. Similarly Ind and BD got some amounts. The other Test Nations get a participating fee. The associates participating in the World Cups also get a participating fee but which is significantly very less as compared to Test Nations.

To take to reference in 2010 World T20 every Test nation got 6 M$ (WI Got 6M$+ Hosting fee) and the 2 Associates got around 0.6 M$.

From the 2012 and 2014 World T20, the 10 Test Nations & 6 qualifiers would have got similar amount of money. That would have meant 10X6+6X 0.6= 63.6 M$ as participating cost for each tournament and for the 2015 WC around 10 M$ to each member each of 10 Test Nations playing i.e 10X10= 100 M$. This means that ICC would have the total cost of 227.2 M$.

Each of the test nations would have got 22 M$ over 4 years. That is life line for many boards like SL, WI, Zim.

In the present scenario a 12 nation T20 means that due to cost saving each of the full member get 6.5 M$ each while 2 Qualifiers get 0.65 M$ each a Total Cost of 66.3 M$. The 2015 WC will now give each member 9.0 M$ and qualifiers around 0.9 M$ hence a total cost of 93.6 M$

Now each of the test nations gets again 22 M$. If a 14 Nation 50 Over WC and 16 Nation T20 trophy was there that would have meant that the income of each board reducing to 21 M$, a whopping 1 M$ loss. This would have been a significant loss to at least 5 of the boards where this income is more than 30% of the boards income.

Hence it is ultimately the greed to the member nations that have lead to this decision and not the total cost factor. Hence this also proves ICC should run like a independent body and not like a body with members who will always think of their interests rather than for the overall good of the game.

If anyone had some brains they should have gone of a 12 nation WC or 10 nations with 2 qualifiers and a 16 nation T20. I criticize the decision of ICC and term it as pathetic.

Can Dubai Sharjah host an IPL style league

If a country decides to host an IPL style league then what does it need. First it needs that the local population have interest. Then it needs that it have local infrastructure. An local economy and people willing to invest is so so important. Finally most important the stars in the league required to add glitter and glimmer to league: Both cricketing and other stars.

So what does UAE not have. What did Sharjah not have. In old days it was a front runner on the Glitter and Glimmer. Then the stadiums in Dubai surely are world class. The local population of UAE consists of 75% South Asian population which is cricket crazy. Then finally local economy is one of the key ones in the world and oil money is surplus. Surely it has all the attributes key for a success of an IPL style league (Unless I have missed any point)

So what are the constraints. First of all is the power of BCCI that will not release it stars for such a tournament. Sad but true. To break it we will have have too see the times in FTP when Indian stars and most important local stars(They will be key) will be free. Then the BCCI should be contracted and their objections should be listed and system should be made to overcome this. For all practical reasons this means that business interest of many people in BCCI needs to be addressed. Eg Mr Srinivasan the owner of CSK and BCCI head, if he gets money out of it then BCCI is for it. Such issues not officially spelt out are important for the league.

Then second comes infrastructure. Does UAE have infrastructure. Lets have a look

1. Al-Jazira Stadium, Abu Dhabi
2. Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
3. Dubai Cricket Council Ground No. 1, Dubai
4. Dubai Cricket Council Ground No. 2, Dubai
5. DSC Cricket Stadium, Dubai
6. ICC Cricket Academy Ground No. 1, Dubai
7. ICC Cricket Academy Ground No. 2, Dubai
8. Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah

What do you call this infrastructure. I call it wow. Test Nations of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe cannot match it. And 2 more stadiums are coming up at Ajman and Al Ain. Then surely teams can be formed on Home and Away basis as the infra is already there. And the best part is all the distances in the country are not far. You don't need flights to have Home and Away matches. A simple coach can fulfill the same very comfortably.

Then about the interest in local population. To start with when Indian and Paki teams played at Sharjah the stadiums had house full. If I look at the demographics of UAE then around 55% of the population is from South Asia. South Asia and cricket. What is the relation. Man it is just cricket crazy. So the population there. Yes most of them are laborers but a T20 match is just 3 Hrs. Bollywood and Cricket Stars can easily draw them.

Finally does UAE has a local economy. HQ of major companies. Oil money in the economy. A GDP of 253 B$ shows that money is there.

Hence this place has all the things to start an IPL league. The local board just has to ensure 2 things

1. Enroll the business men running in league for the same
2. Get bollywood stars for all the glitter

These 2 things will ensure will take this league to a stage where it will be a super hit

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.

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