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 B

Like the Group A, Group B is a equally hard fought group. Uganda had been written off till now but their performance against Canada in the warmup game has now forced them to rethink their position .The group contains ODI status nations like Netherlands and Kenya and upcoming countries like PNG, Uganda & Namibia. Netherlands, Kenya will be playing to save their ODI status and PNG, Namibia and Uganda will be eager to replace them.

Group B is equally competitive as Group A and picking the top 3 teams in difficult

Before going with the review of each team let us check some facts on the group B

GROUP B
Teams:- Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, PNG & Uganda

ICC Seeding
1. Netherlands
2. Kenya
3. Namibia
4. PNG
5.Uganda

PREVIEWS
1. Netherlands 
They are the favorites to win the tournament along with Scotland however they would be disappointed with their 2 out of 2 loses in the Warmup games against Canada and UAE. They have a good mixture in the team of experience and youth and would be very comfortable with the European like conditions present in NZ. Their experience of playing across the globe along with county experience will be really handy. They have a good pace line up as well as batting line up.

The young and dynamic Ahsan Malik will be player to watch

However Netherlands should avoid being overconfident and taking other teams lightly. These are not old times where they had to fight few teams while other were walkovers. Here each and every team will be a challenge to overcome

Key Player:- Ahsan Malik

Expected Verdict:- Should easily make it to Super Six and strong contender for the trophy

2. Kenya
Kenya are a team which can realistically fall from grace. From the high period of 2003 of reaching the Semi Finals of World Cup to now where they are under serious threat to lose ODI status. To save them from such situation they have called back their old guard like Odoyo and are really hoping they will carry them through. The strength of the team is the loads of experience it had and which come handy like the case in the warm up against Nepal. 

The young Irfan Karim is a real class in the team who has been underutilized

 However the team does not have best of the equations in the dressing room and not the best 15 are alleged to be picked for the tournament. The oldies in the team also bring down the standards of fielding and the youngsters may be too inexperienced

Key Player:- Irfan Karim

Expected Verdict:- Should make it to Super Sixes but do not expect them to retain the ODI status

3. Namibia
Like their African partners they would be hoping to get back to their high days of 2003 when they reached the World Cup. The team has been suffering from many events off field- The controversy of Black Players, Some key players missing tournaments, sponsors pulling off. These events can have a major impact. As they play in South African Domestic setup hence they will not be short of experience. 

Christi Viljoen would be a key batsman who can contribute with ball also

They have a good batting lineup however the balling needs to buck up if they have to make a major impact.

Key Player:- Christi Viljoen

Expected Verdict:- Do not think they have the muscle power to make it to Super Sixes

4. PNG
PNG were impressive in the start of World T20 Qualifiers and many were expecting them to qualify. They defeated Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya in the tournament. However towards the end of the tournament they lost the momentum and missed out on qualification. NZ is like their second home as both NZ and PNG belong to EAP region and PNG will leave no stone unturned to qualify from their second home.

On his day Tony Ura can destroy any bowling lineup single handily

PNG have a explosive batting lineup with some good bowlers in the team. The experience of Geraint Jones will also come very handy to the team. The team however would have to keep their mental strength and not lose it like they did in World T20 Qualifier

Key Player:- Tony Ura

Expected Verdict:- Should make it to Super Sixes. Whether they will play the World Cup or not depends upon their group game against Netherlands

5. Uganda
Many critics have given this team no chance to make it to next round especially after their performance in World T20 Qualifier but little do they realize that Uganda are a much better ODI team than in T20. They in no way can be taken lightly. They have a strong bowling lineup who on their day can blow away any batting lineup. 

Captain Davis Karashani will be key for the team

The batting is a concern for the team but the form showed by the team in warm up game against Canada has shown that lot of hard work has been put in the area. Uganda is one of the favorite team of many Associate Cricket lovers and they would love to see this team good

Key Player:- Davis Karashani

Expected Verdict:- Very unlikely to make it into Super Six

The tournament starts in a day and it surely will be a very good and exciting one. Let's wait for it to see some shocks, some new exciting teams and a load full of action

Interview:- Ugandan Captain & Local Star Davis. A. Karashani

I welcome captain of one of the most promising team of Africa. Presently winner of Africa Twenty20 Championship and it's club are leading in East African Premier League and East African Trophy. The country we are talking about is Uganda and it vibrant captain Davis.

Davis thanks for the time
 Thanks for the opportunity

Ugandan Captain: Davis playing a shot

  
For the interest of Wider world, I would like to ask you what is the status of cricket in your country?

Well first and foremost cricket in Uganda plays second fiddle to soccer and maybe athletics but otherwise game is only going one way n that is being played a lot more not just in Kampala but in over 12 other districts and has recently picked up media recognition and national attention after recently winning the Africa T20 championship on home soil.
What is required for taking cricket to next level in your country?Cricket in Uganda is undergoing various re-structural developments right from the administrators, age group cricket to national men and women teams.
Awareness is being passed onto administrators about the requirements needed to transform a basic national team player into a consistent match winner in national colors down to local cricket, association has to find a way of keeping players interested in the game and playing for the nation with pride, to avoid any other exodus of more players to other nations, efficient player followup programs to continue regular quality player availability,sending players to better facilitated ODI playing nations for further detailed training are major factors that could make a difference in seeing Uganda in a World cup sooner than later.

What are the challenges in playing for a Associate Nation?
Lack of proper training facilities, quality player turnover and lack of continued frequent playing exposure are the major challenges. Because cricket plays second fiddle to other sports in Uganda, sponsorship has been hard to come by that could have eased up on solving the above challenges. That said steps like playing in the E.A Premier League and Cup are expected to better players skills and abilities and expected to make a huge difference.

What should ICC do to make the game global in true sense?First and foremost, make a World Cup a WORLD CUP and not a 10 nation mini series. The difference Uganda's participation in previous U-19 World cups made down here was soooooo huge that the game had started taking an unexpected sudden rise in public awareness and created a huge urge in so many youngsters from various sports to take participation in cricket very seriously as this game had started being looked at as a revenue to brand Uganda as the next big cricketing nation in Africa so just imagine if either the National men or women's teams made it to the global event. Also think the present WCL format is so wide due to the small number of teams per division making the wait between tournaments too huge to make a big difference. I think of 10 teams per div with fewer divisions with shorter waiting time between divisions.

How does it feel to be a star in your country at such a young age?Hmmmm, wouldn't really regard at as stardom but rather public service with an immense opportunity to serve our country with pride with a burning desire to make a difference and leave a lasting mark. Otherwise great being looked at as a role model to youngsters but comes with the responsibility of making a remarkable memorable difference.

what are the steps that need to be taken to make cricket self sufficient financially in  Uganda?
Uganda cricket needs to urgently find a sponsor for national teams, better the facilities such as somehow getting flood lights hand in hand with a working marketing strategy to tap into all potential sponsors and fans to attract fans to cricket matches as a form of entertainment at a decent entrance fee.


We thank Davis for taking out time and hope Uganda qualifies for the World Twenty20 in 2012 and he leads his side Nile Knights to title's of East Africa Cup and Premier League. All the very best from Associate and Affiliate world cricket

East Africa's brilliant cricket Experiment

This world cup was a disaster for Kenya. From the highs of reaching the World Cup semi finals in 2003 to losing all matches "Badly" in the 2011 world cup was a real shake up. Over that came the news that team had many internal divisions. The World Cup in 2011 could simply be called a disaster for Kenya.

The problems were many. Cricket in Kenya was limited to few elite clubs in Nairobi and may be to some extent in the Rift Valley. The extent of Elitism was that Kenyan National team had no national ground it could practice on. They had to rent it from the Gymkhana Club. The game never actually reached the common man and this made an issue of a limited pool. This lead to Kenya being dependent on same set of players who started demanding salaries beyond their capability levels. This lead to player strikes, group-ism and all sort of problem. This was a dangerous cycle

Then the head of Cricket Kenya as part of complete shake up of besides other measures has initiated a process which I hope will bring many positive results. Cricket Kenya immediately after the world cup announced a 6 team franchise league both for OD and T20 format. Initially criticized for 6 teams as too many was silenced when it was announced that 4 teams are from Kenya and rest 2 from Uganda. This meant that the pool of players will be playing highly competitive domestic cricket besides the very few matches they get as international exposure. 6 teams across 2 countries meant that the pool of players is also optimally utilized.

The best thing of the league is that it involves 2 countries. This means that cricket Kenya have a better proposition to take in front of the Sponsors. This also means that this will bring in much wider interest in the league. It is also a replication of a similar successful effort in Rugby in which teams from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania play in one league. This also means that a chance to bring in more foreign players and more exposure.The results have been encouraging. Super Sport has agreed to telecast the final live besides providing regular updates for matches. One of the team already has a sponsor and hopefully many will follow

Over time I feel that this league should be extended beyond these 2 countries. Tanzania, Rwanda should be definitely added. If possible then Burundi and Zambia should also be added. Lets us give this league 2 years to stabilize and after that the final composition may look like Kenya- 4 teams, Uganda- 3 Teams, Tanzania 2 Teams, Rwanda, Zambia and Burundi:- 1 team each. If resources allow then Home and Away for all 12 teams else 2 pools of 6 is the next best option.

Again if successful similar experiments should be replicated in Ire+Scot, Neth+Belg+France, USA+Canada, UAE+Oman, Malaysia+Singapore and many more places. Lets hope this series comes out as a huge success and can be replicated around.

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