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First-class cricket will arrive in Bermuda and Holland on Wednesday, as the two countries play host to the latest matches in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. The visitors will be USA, who have already played one match against Canada in the Americas qualifying group, and Ireland, who have been keeping themselves busy with some notable one-day successes this season.”The Irish team is looking forward to our first match in the ICC Intercontinental Cup,” said Kyle McCallan, Ireland’s allrounder, who has already played a starring role in a successful season to date, which has included improbable victories over Surrey and West Indies. “Those wins have put the team in high spirit and ready for the next few days. It will be a test for us as we have not played a lot of three-day cricket over the past few seasons, but the chance to compete against High Performance countries like Holland and Scotland will ensure that we rise to the challenge.”Bermuda, meanwhile, were disappointed to miss out as a venue for the 2007 World Cup, but they are concentrating their efforts on the arrival of USA, who lost out to Canada in their opening fixture last month, but will be playing in the ICC Champions Trophy in September. Bermuda’s captain, Clay Smith, said his team had prepared well for the match.”We are very excited to be a part of the ICC Intercontinental Cup,” said Smith. “This competition will give our players experience in a first-class match for the first time in their careers, and we are looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves.”The awarding of first-class status to the Intercontinental Cup was frowned upon in some quarters, and even Canada’s John Davison admitted he was grateful to the rulemakers after taking 17 wickets against USA. But, with an innovative points system designed to maximise the learning experience for the participating teams, the tournament can only help the game to develop.To encourage teams to play for a result, the first innings of each side is restricted to 90 overs, and a minimum of 105 overs must be bowled on the opening two days of the match. The top-ranked team from the matches played in the four regions – Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas – will progress to the semi-finals and finals in the United Arab Emirates in November. Nepal (42 points), Uganda (32), Scotland (17.5) and Canada (30.5) currently lead their respective regions.

At first, Jagmohan Dalmiya’s salvo at the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), and its marketing arm in India, Nimbus, appears to be a classic red herring. Dalmiya is in troubled waters regarding the GCC’s reparation claim to the International Cricket Council (ICC). The ICC had promised the GCC, which represents the sponsors of the event, something it did not own and could not deliver – the players’ commercial rights. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had taken the onus for this on itself by signing the Participating Nations Agreement (PNA). Naturally, they could not deliver, and the GCC, quite rightly, wants reparation.Now that Dalmiya’s friend and former lieutenant, Ehsan Mani, has taken over at the ICC, he may not wish to take issue with them. Attacking the GCC – or, in this case, Nimbus – is the obvious thing to do if Dalmiya is trying to deflect blame for the contracts fiasco. So is his assault on Nimbus just a cheap attempt to muddy the waters?Perhaps it is; but maybe it’s not. The GCC had won the marketing rights to the ICC events in question, despite bidding over US$100 million less than the highest bidder, Zee, because they stressed on the quality of their marketing. They would not merely sell TV rights, they said, but market the game of cricket itself and expand its reach. If their promises of marketing the event well were the clincher in the deal, then the value given by the ICC to their marketing ability must be presumed to be worth a significant amount – if not the amount by which they fell short of Zee’s bid.Had the GCC then not marketed the event as well as they had promised, the ICC – and its constituents – would have a valid bone to pick, similar to the one the GCC is picking with the contracts issue. And if the BCCI were to choose to take action on this, where would they announce this intention? Obviously, at the ongoing BCCI working committee meeting. Thus there is nothing suspicious about the timing of Dalmiya’s statements – if he has a valid case.Dalmiya has spoken with pride in the past of how the BCCI’s workings are transparent, and it is incumbent upon him now to back up his claims against the GCC and Nimbus with some details. What does he mean by the “poor marketing” that he refers to? What was the GCC supposed to do, in marketing terms, which they did not do? What commercial value does the BCCI ascribe to this failing of the GCC? Having fired a salvo, Dalmiya must back it up – or risk his red herring being taken with a pinch of salt.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden CricInfo in India.

Warren Dugmore from Rand Afrikaans University will captain the South African Students XI against Kenya at the University of the Western Cape on October 20.The full team is: Warren Dugmore (capt, RAU), Andrew Cyster (Stellenbocsh),Lazola Dipha (UPE), Bruce Fredericks (UPE), Graham Grace (PE Technikon), Darren Helwick (Wits), Francois Herbst (RAU), Mathew Holmes (Potch Uni), William Motaung (Wits Technikon), Pieter van Niekerk (Potch), Mario Wilson (UPE), Eric Wyma (UPE).Manager: Mike Gardiner (Cape Tech; Coach: Riaan Osman (PE Technikon)

ICC chief executive David Richardson has said that profitability of fixtures for broadcasters has been a stumbling block for getting top Associates Ireland and Afghanistan fixtures since their inclusion in the ICC ODI rankings table earlier this year. However, he said that the possible creation of an ODI facilitation fund could help alleviate these obstacles.”It’s a fact that even matches between the lower-ranked Full Members, like Zimbabwe versus Sri Lanka for example, don’t make revenues so that the series are making a profit or if it does it’s making a very small profit,” Richardson said at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Malahide. “You can imagine series between Afghanistan and the West Indies also cost a lot and the revenues might not necessarily be enough to cover those costs.”One of the talking points or suggestions that is being considered, and in October we’re having a joint meeting between our chief executives committee and the board on which there will be six representatives from the Associate members taking part in that discussion, will be trying to make sure that Full Members take some responsibility in scheduling fixtures against Associate members and if finances are a problem that we think of introducing an ODI fund similar to the Test fund that was introduced to help subsidise the costs of those series.”Richardson also said it is possible for Full Member countries to be forced to participate in future World Twenty20 Qualifiers. If Bangladesh or Zimbabwe finish outside the top eight spots on the ODI rankings table by September 2017, they will have to compete in the 50-over World Cup Qualifier with Associates for the final two spots in the 10-team event for 2019. That could be the case in the future for the ICC’s flagship T20 tournament as well.”When we put the package together for this next eight-year cycle, it was envisaged that we raise the profile of these qualifying tournaments, number one by making it crucial for qualification but also involving the Full Members, not excluding them from having to participate in these qualifying tournaments going forward. The objective to that is not only to make them self-sufficient and generate some more revenues for everybody for the development of the game but also just to raise the profile of these countries.”Before, for Holland, if they got to the World Cup they got a bit of profile.  If they just missed out, they lost out on that.  If we can raise the profile of these tournaments, and you’ve seen evenly matched teams provides for good entertainment, it will raise that profile. It is good for cricket in those countries as well, even if they don’t end up going to the tournament itself.”As for the ODI rankings table, if Zimbabwe were to dip below Afghanistan or Ireland, they may still be protected due to their Full Member status while the lower-ranked Associate would have a play-off with the top team in the WCL Championship for promotion into the ODI rankings table. Richardson conceded that this wasn’t meritocratic but that Zimbabwe had earned their status through historical performances, which needed to be taken into consideration.”At this stage the board, all they’ve agreed to do is say that it’s the lowest ranked Associate member who would play-off,” Richardson said. “At this stage we have got this distinction between Full Members and Associate members. I think long term, that distinction will eventually vanish but its really long term and not in the foreseeable future. A proper promotion and relegation would mean that the bottom ranked team would have to play off but that’s not the situation we’ve got. I think it’s a process and we’re working towards something.”Explaining the decision to move the World Twenty20 from a two- to a four-year cycle, Richardson argued it was done so as not to “kill the golden goose”. The increasing popularity of other domestic T20 tournaments such as the IPL, Big Bash and Caribbean Premier League were also factors.”I think the World T20 is valuable and if you play it too often it will become less valuable,” Richardson said. “We also have to recognise that around the world we have these domestic Twenty20 leagues which are high profile, are very attractive to broadcasters and it’s a case of there’s premium content out there and probably less is more.”A reduced tournament cycle means Associate nations will have fewer competitive and funding opportunities in a quadrennial World T20 cycle than the biennial tournament structure that was previously in place. However, Richardson claimed Associates will be better funded in other ways to make up for the loss in playing opportunities.”When it comes to funding for Associate members, it needs to be looked at not only in respect of participation fees,” Richardson said. “The bottom line is that a country like Ireland, with the projected revenues that the ICC is hoping to achieve over the next eight-year cycle, a doubling of the participation fee will be dwarfed by the increased funding Ireland will receive as one of the top Associate members.”Richardson commended the two host countries Ireland and Scotland for the job they have been doing in hosting the World Twenty20 Qualifier over the past two weeks. When asked what it would take to assign the World Twenty20 itself to an emerging market, similar to what World Rugby has done in awarding the 2019 Rugby World Cup to Japan, Richardson said that profitability would be the most important factor both from a gate revenue and television rights standpoint.”I don’t think it’s impossible to imagine. What we have to consider when awarding events is number one, will it at least optimise the revenues. So is it in the correct time zone, will sponsors want to get involved knowing that there’s an event in these particular places in the next four or five years? So that’s a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. At the moment we are too reliant on revenues generated out of India. It’s a problem for the game. Everybody says it.”If we can open up new markets, be it the USA, Europe or whatever, then there’s no reason we can’t take major global events to those regions. The other aspect of course is facilities. Cricket is difficult. We’ve got to have great facilities. We’ve tried Malaysia before for Under-19 events and yes everyone did their best and it wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t really good enough. So when we’re deciding whether to go to Kenya or Ireland, Ireland could probably manage it. But a major global event needs 40,000 to 50,000 seat stadiums. Those factors have to be taken into account.”

The recently elected Sri Lanka Cricket board has suspended work on indoor nets at the Khettarama, Pallekele and Dambulla stadiums, citing the previous board’s failure to obtain government approval for the projects.That claim has since been strongly disputed, however, by former SLC head Sidath Wettimuny, under whose leadership construction had begun.The new board, headed by Thilanga Sumathipala, said in a release that it had decided to “re-assess the projects based on the high cost in construction (Rs.248 million or approx. USD $1.72 million) and the space allocation at the respective venues”. It also said SLC would get “the proper approvals from the relevant authorities” and would request a new proposal from the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, before deciding on a course of action “which should not be too much of a strain for the finances of SLC”.The suspension drew the ire of Wettimuny, whose interim committee had made the indoor nets a priority of their nine-month tenure. He said space had been made in the board budget for the construction of the nets, and that permission had been sought – and in most cases – received.”I am totally disappointed that such a project has been stopped,” he told . “These are projects which the cricket committee came up with, because we felt it was vital for the overall plan in developing our cricket, and to bring in the youth to train and develop in these areas. It is a huge blow for cricket.”Wettimuny conceded SLC had not received Colombo Municipal Council permission for the Khettarama nets, despite having applied for it. But neither was SLC’s application rejected – the Council, he said, simply did not respond. Applications to previous renovations to the stadium had similarly been ignored by the council, but those projects had gone ahead anyway, in 2010 and 2006, he said.According to Wettimuny, work at Pallekele and Dambulla had received full approval, however. “Pallekele belongs to the Board of Investment (BOI) and we have got BOI approval. It was on a BOI project that the stadium was built – even the BOI board guys came to the foundation ceremony.”Dambulla we had to get permission from the chief monk who owns the land. We obtained permission from him and he was even invited for the opening ceremony. He gave a speech saying that after so many years some good has been done for this area where thousands of children will benefit because they don’t have any place to go and hire and practice.”The sports minister himself came for both opening ceremonies at Pallekele and Dambulla and said virtually the same thing.”Several cricketers have advocated for the development of indoor facilities at the Khettarama ground in particular. Sri Lanka’s major cricket academies are run at that venue, but teams – including touring international sides – must travel to indoor nets at Nondescripts Cricket Club, when the weather is bad.

RP Singh, India’s left-arm swing bowler, spent less than a month at Leicestershire earlier this season but that was the period he fine-tuned the delivery jagging back into the right-handers, says Tim Boon, the senior coach at the county.With a memorable five-wicket haul at Lord’s and a couple of fine bursts at Trent Bridge, RP Singh has been a revelation on India’s tour to England. Considering that he has never played three Tests in a series before, his haul of 10 wickets from two Tests has been quite a special effort. Not only did he grab important wickets – including Michael Vaughan’s at Lord’s and Kevin Pietersen’s at Nottingham – he also consistently clocked more than 80mph, swinging the ball either way and extracting disconcerting bounce.”The first thing we did once he got off the plane was muscle screening,” said Boon, who worked as a video analyst-cum-coach with England’s Ashes-winning side of 2005 and has been linked to the Indian coaching job recently. “It was clear there were some deficiencies with regard to leg strength. My praise goes to the physio for identifying something that can affect his action. He was given specific strength work to do which created more stability.”Susie Woolmer, the county’s strength and conditioning coach, explained the regimen RP Singh had been put through. “We devised a programme that would improve his core strength but specifically focused on his right hip, the right buttock and upper part of the leg to give more strength. We had seen muscle tightness and it was felt the weakness in this area was causing him to fall away. Strengthening those would give him a more powerful landing foot and a much higher release point.”Boon noticed an immediate improvement, especially with regard to the ball that came into the right-hander. “Once he increased his leg strength, there was more stability in his run through the crease, which in turn gave him a better wrist position. He could get off the back foot quicker. And look at the end result. He can swing the ball back into the right-hander and away from the left.”Boon also credited Singh’s work ethic. “His commitment and desire to want to change – get an extra half-yard, swing the ball into the right-hander – was there. He came off the plane and played the next day. He said he felt as if he was bowling with deep-sea diving boots on.”Zaheer Khan, who bowled India to victory at Trent Bridge, has spoken about the importance of his stint with Worcestershire. If India go on to win the series, they may have the English county game to thank for some of the success.

Andrew Symonds has returned to full fitness after off-season wrist surgery and hopes to use the two upcoming one-day tournaments to press his claims for an Ashes Test spot. Australia’s selectors trialled Symonds for most of last season as they searched for an all-round answer to Andrew Flintoff, but despite a couple of bright bursts he was dropped for both matches in Bangladesh.He will start the mini-tour to Malaysia and the Champions Trophy trying to move up a ladder that also includes the well-placed quartet of Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn, Phil Jaques and Shane Watson. “I’m a couple off the pace at the moment, but I’ve got some time,” he said when asked if he was confident of playing an Ashes Test. “There’s a bit of cricket before then and I’ve just got to score heavily.”Five wickets in the MCG Test against South Africa and two half-centuries were the highlights of his eight-game streak last summer, but despite being involved in no losses he failed to generate any consistency. The pressure of not performing restricted his usual free-spirited play, which he exhibited with success only during the second innings at Melbourne, when he blasted a ground-record six sixes in his 72, and at Cape Town with 55 from 47 balls.”I was very nervous and I felt like every game was my last,” he said. “I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself. I wasn’t relaxing into the game and enjoying it, like I usually would. That led to some average performances.”Symonds said he had learned from the experience and would return to his natural ways if given another opportunity. “If I get another chance,” he said, “I’ll just go out there and enjoy myself and not put any pressure on myself.”Surgery on his left wrist in May has left him with an l-shaped scar, but he said it was healing well and would not restrict his batting. “They took a bit of bone out,” he said. “I have strengthened it up and been batting a lot with it.”Symonds’s other main job in the off-season was producing a ghosted autobiography that is due for release before the Ashes series. “It’s going really well,” he said. “I was a bit apprehensive about it at the start, thinking how am I going to go writing a book? But it’s coming together well.”

Mark Robinson, the former Sussex seamer, will take on a new role as the professional cricket manager at Hove, following the appointment of Peter Moores as the ECB Academy director. The new position will involve Robinson being the senior coach of the first XI and he will also work closely with the youth system.Keith Greenfield has been offered the role of cricket performance manager, which will incorporate his current position as the Sussex academy director. Greenfield will oversee all the cricket at Sussex outside of the professional staff. This will include the academy and youth squads, while also managing and developing a group of staff to promote cricket at all levels throughout the county.Both these new roles will come into effect from October 1, and the role of a club coach, with direct responsibility over the Second XI is now being advertised.

Shane Warne’s pursuit of Muttiah Muralitharan’s world record for the most Test wickets is certain to grab the limelight as Australia take on Sri Lanka at the Marrara Oval in Darwin tomorrow, the first Test in the two-match Top End tour. Sri Lanka have never won a Test match on Australian soil – they’ve suffered five defeats in six attempts – but the fact that they’re playing in conditions that are just as alien to the average Australian cricketer might just even out the contest.This is only the second year in which cricket has been played in the Australian winter – both Darwin and Cairns hosted their first Tests against Bangladesh last year. Tony Ware, the curator at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, has prepared Darwin’s drop-in pitch, and it’s expected to be a good one for batting.Warne has 517 wickets, ten behind Muralitharan, who opted out of the tour for personal reasons. Though he recently broke a bone in his left hand while playing county cricket for Hampshire, Warne has been passed fit to play. The surface, however, is unlikely to afford him the same joy as the pitches in Sri Lanka three months ago, when he made such a memorable return to Test cricket after his 12-month ban, with 26 wickets in three games.With a family bereavement having forced Ricky Ponting to drop out, Adam Gilchrist leads the side for only the third time in Tests. He has promised that the ballyhoo as Warne goes for the record won’t distract his team from its main focus – winning the series and maintaining Australia’s lead atop the ICC Test Championship table.Sri Lanka will take little comfort from Ponting’s absence, given that his replacement, Matthew Elliott, was the most prolific batsman in the Pura Cup for Victoria last season, and is also a proven Test performer. A year ago, Elliott’s international career was thought to be over, but grit and sheer weight of runs have hauled him back into contention after five years out of the side. He will take Ponting’s spot at No. 3 in the order.Australian cricket aficionados will also be keeping a close watch on Glenn McGrath, who has been below his best since his return from last year’s ankle surgery. With South Australia’s Shaun Tait offering a younger and quicker alternative, McGrath will have to be on his game to retain his place, given the unsentimental nature of the Australian selection panel. It also remains to be seen whether he will share the new ball with Jason Gillespie, after Michael Kasprowicz performed well on the tour of Sri Lanka.For Sri Lanka, much will depend on the bowling of Chaminda Vaas, who will shoulder a considerable burden in Murali’s absence. Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene will also need to make plenty of runs if they are to avoid a repeat of the humiliating 3-0 whitewash they suffered at home. Sangakkara, at least, is in fine form: he cuffed 203 as Sri Lanka won their one and only warm-up game, against the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI in Darwin last week.Sri Lanka’s overall record against Australia makes for dismal reading, with one win and ten losses in their 16 Tests. Recent encounters between the sides have been heated affairs, largely as a result of the Sri Lankans’ anger over what they perceived as Australian cricket’s unjust victimisation of Muralitharan. In conditions more redolent of Colombo than Melbourne, that sense of injustice could be just the spur they need to make a match of what appears to be a formality.Teams
Australia (probable): 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Matthew Elliott, 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Darren Lehmann, 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (capt and wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Glenn McGrath.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Central Districts have decided to change the nature of their administrative structure to that of the board model suggested for New Zealand Cricket and its associations in the Hood Report of 1996.Applications are being sought for a seven-member board. The applications will be assessed by a selection panel comprising, the president of CD Jon Cunliffe, CD life member Graeme Young and New Zealand Cricket nominee Barry Dineen.The selected seven members will then appoint their own chairperson. The board will also decide the order of retirement rotation as two will be required to retire at the end of year one, two in year two and three in year three. Retiring members will be eligible for reappointment should they wish.Applications close on July 25 and the panel recommendations will be announced on August 22 in time for the board to be confirmed at CD’s annual meeting on September 7.Applications and a CV should be sent to: Chief Executive Officer, CDCA, PO Box 309, Napier.