They say an ill wind blows no one any good, so when I woke up to see this splashed across the headlines of just several major cricket websites, I could not help but sense more than just a draft of bad vibes coming from the general direction of the ICC towards its associates and affiliates. The official stated reason was that they did not think that the approximately 250,000 dollars of its own money that Cricket Kenya had sunk into the project would suffice to make the tournament work. never mid that the ICC had yet to provide any fiscal assistance to the preparation for the event
For those of you who not keep an eye on youth cricket, the ICC’s next u19 World Cup is an event which the Interenational Cricket Council has traditionally hosted in its smaller members (Malaysia, and Nepal both hosting events) as well as showcasing the best u19 cricketers the world has to offer. The decision to shift the tournament to New Zealand, therefore seems on that level to act against the spirit of the tournament, as a vehicle to spread the cricket gospel far and wide. That the ICC having not previusly mentioned any indications that preparations were bad enough to warrant it, prior to making this decision (merely 8 months before the tournament was due to begin) is something that no cricketing body should have to suffer.
The last time the ICC created a tournament meant to raise money for developing the World Game They started the ICC trophy. But after two editions that mantra was dropped the tournament was renamed non-test teams were exculded and eventually we ended up with the farce now called The Champions Trophy. Here’s hoping logic trumps the lust for ‘bigger revenues’ that made that happen is kept out of the u19 World Cup.
With Canada, listed as hosts for the next u19 World Cup in 2012, starting to get cold feet over meeting the ICC’s shifting requirements the damage tthis decision could do to the confidence of the lesser lights in the ICC is already starting to show.
With all the ICC’s talk about the sheer importance of the Intercontinental cup, the walk (as assen here) is something entirely different. With the tournament onec again being rejigged. A whole new division created for the associates ranked 8-12? in the recent World Cup qualifiers), space being made for Zimbabwe’s attempts to justify a return to test cricket at Namibia’s expense, and the inroduction of that previuously unheard of concept of prize money for the tournament champs, this season you would think would be a new chapter for the tournament.
So when the fixtures scattered on various websites without any real effort by the ICC to even make a press release one wonders. That and that the particpants have been given abouit three weeks’s notice to make whatever preparations they can for the first round of fixtures can not be a good sign
Having scoured all the usual suspects, (and even some of the more unusual ones these are the fixtures that I have been able to dig up.
Intercontinental Cup (2009-2010)
Thu Jul 2 – Sun Jul 5
10:30 local Canada v Scotland
Mannofield Park, Aberdeen
Fri Jul 3 – Mon Jul 6 10:30 local Ireland v Kenya
Venue TBC
Wed Jul 15 – Sat Jul 18. (probably 9:30 am start) Netherlands v Canada
Venue Unkown
Mon Aug 17 – Thu Aug 20 10:30 local Scotland v Ireland
Mannofield Park, Aberdeen
No mention anywhere of where, or against whom Zimbabwe A’s debut fixture in the tournament will be against.
Also still no word on the fixtures for the newly created Intercontinental Shield.
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