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RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - Bada - 06-28-2016
ICC could dust off Woolf Report
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1030053.html
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - Bada - 06-29-2016
Two more teams are likely to be added to the main draw of the reinstated World T20 in 2018. Discussions at the Associates meeting of the ongoing ICC annual conference in Edinburgh also indicated that representatives of the Associate nations on the ICC board may get full voting rights as well.
"What I have heard described is that two teams will go through from [each] first group to create a Super 12," Tim Cutler, the Hong Kong Cricket Association chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. "That seems to be the agreed format at the moment. Hopefully that means with two [more] going through, potentially two more could come into the qualifiers to make 18 but the sound of it at the moment is it's going to be 16 into 12. It's a move in the right direction."
Had such a format been in place for the tournament, Netherlands, who were knocked out after a washout, and Zimbabwe, who lost only one of their three matches, could have moved into the second round. Now though, there is opportunity for two guaranteed spots for the Associates in the main draw, with a possibility of that number increasing to four.
On the topic of applying for an Olympic T20 tournament in 2024, representatives from Italy and France informed the ICC that they had been in contact with their respective Olympic Associations to gather support for cricket's inclusion should Rome or Paris win the hosting rights.
Such campaigning became necessary after it was learnt that the IOC was planning to shelve the direct entry path - which the ICC was banking on - to register a sport in the Olympics. Should that happen, cricket's inclusion in all future Games will depend on the host nation's nod.
The proposal that was discussed on Tuesday accounted for only eight teams in each division - men and women - partly due to the number of athletes the Olympics can accommodate. This could mean the Associates may not get to participate, putting a dent in the argument that an Olympic T20 tournament would provide more opportunities for them.
In better news for the Associates, there is a motion to give their three representatives on the ICC full voting privileges and therefore a voice when it comes to decision making. According to sources present, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar made the announcement and it could be ratified later in the week.
"Everything we're hearing from the ICC chairman really does point towards a new era in ICC governance and the structures behind that," Cutler said. "We talk about one man, one vote, are we going to have a 105-member federation with votes? Highly unlikely in the short term but if we do get to a point where the three Associate directors have a vote each, that really does shift the paradigm that was the ICC board and really moving things in the right direction where emerging nations really do have a true voice at the top table."
According to multiple sources, there has also been a change in Associate representation on the ICC board with Cricket Ireland's Ross McCollum winning a vote to replace Bermuda's Neil Speight. The other two incumbents - Singapore's Imran Khawaja and Namibia's Francois Erasmus - maintain their places on the board.
McCollum's promotion is timely from Ireland's standpoint, with a 12-team Test structure and 13-team ODI league set to gain approval later in the week. He was favoured, sources indicate, because of a need to have one of the top six Associates to be on the board. Being from Europe helped his case as well, with the continent comprising three of the top eight ranked Associates - Ireland followed by Scotland and the Netherlands.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1030661.html
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - mugatiya - 06-29-2016
All good news.
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - Bada - 07-01-2016
Cricket will be included in the 2024 Olympics if Rome wins their bid to host the games, the president of the Italian board has said.
Rome is one of the cities bidding to host the Olympics in 2024 - alongside Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest - and, under new regulations, will have the opportunity to add five sports to the games as they see fit. France Cricket is attempting to win a similar commitment with the Paris organising committee.
"If Rome hosts the Olympics, cricket will be included," Simone Gambino, president of the Federazione Cricket Italiana (FCI) told ESPNcricinfo. "We have had a firm commitment from the organising committee."
It is likely that, if Rome does host the games, cricket would be held in Bologna. The city hosted World Cricket League Division Four matches in 2010 and though the availability of turf pitches may be an issue, there would be time to overcome that should the bid be successful.
Which nations would be involved remains open to debate. There would probably be a maximum of 16 teams invited to take part, though there is a possibility of just 12, with Olympic regulations suggesting they will be spread across the globe.
So, if only 12 teams were included, three might come from Europe, three from Asia, two from Africa, two or three from America and the Caribbean and two or three from the South Pacific area. It could well be that some well-known cricket nations - notably England, who are part of the UK in Olympic terms - miss out.
The news emerged as the ICC continued its annual conference in Edinburgh. Having started the week with high hopes of winning agreement on a number of fairly radical proposals - the introduction of promotion and relegation in Test and ODI cricket, the return of a World T20 every two years and a change in the manner in which revenues are pooled and distributed among other things - it now appears it will take longer than anticipated for all the strands to come together.
As a result, the press conference planned for Saturday (at which the ICC hoped to unveil their agreements) has been cancelled and an extra meeting has been arranged for late August in Dubai. The next ICC board meeting takes place in South Africa in October.
While tangible progress has been limited, the mood of the conference has been notably more optimistic than in previous years. After years of being "bullied" (in the words of one Associate delegate) by a couple of dominant Full Member nations, the talk now is of "family" and "consensus." Plans have not been derailed as much as given a more realistic timeframe for completion.
One intriguing suggestion from the meeting concerns qualification for future World Cups. While Associate members will likely be disappointed by the proposal that the tournament remains a 10-team event, some discussion has taken place around the possibility of only the top six teams in the ICC rankings qualifying automatically with the other four gaining qualification through a play-off tournament. Such criteria, even if accepted, is unlikely to be introduced until the 2023 tournament.
Other matters dealt with the unanimous election of Saudi Arabia as the 39th Associate member, and the unanimous ratification of the suspensions of the USA Cricket Association (USACA) and the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). They were suspended in June 2015 and April 2016, respectively. An ICC delegation, including board members, will visit both suspended nations shortly.
"Both Nepal and the US are important Members of the ICC as they have tremendous talent and potential," ICC chairman Shashank Monohar said. "The ICC, as part of its game and market development strategy, will continue to provide the countries with as much support as possible so that they can put in place good governance and cricket structures."
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1031283.html
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - pj57 - 07-02-2016
Matters discussed at the ICC annual conference just concluded in Edinburgh.
http://www.srilankacricket.lk/news/icc-annual-conference-concludes-in-edinburgh
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - mugatiya - 07-03-2016
Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka against 2-Div
Dave Richardson, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, remains hopeful of pushing through the creation of league structures for Test, one-day international and Twenty20 cricket later this year following opposition to the plan during the governing body’s recent annual conference.
The ICC announced on Saturday, after a week of meetings in Edinburgh, that proposals for a two-division Test championship, as well new competitions for the two limited-overs formats, are still being worked on and that further discussions will now take place at a workshop in Dubai this September.
Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among those to have publicly voiced their concerns about the idea of splitting Test cricket into two tiers during the past week but Richardson is optimistic that his model, which is slated to run from 2019 and is aimed at reviving interest in the sport, will be adopted.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/02/icc-cricket-league
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - mugatiya - 07-04-2016
Only Bangladesh opposed two-tier Test structure - BCB head
http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/story/1032037.html
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - Bada - 07-04-2016
I haven't read any of the reports in full. Are you safe if you're #7 or do you get relegated if you stay there for a while?
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - mugatiya - 07-04-2016
(07-04-2016, 03:43 AM)Bada Wrote: I haven't read any of the reports in full. Are you safe if you're #7 or do you get relegated if you stay there for a while?
What do you mean ?
The structure isn't finalised but the idea is a 7/5 split to start the first 2 year cycle.
Then at the end of the 2 year cycle, 7th placed is relegated to tier 2.
RE: ICC/MCC News Thread - mugatiya - 07-04-2016
What is Two-Division Test cricket?
Two-Division Test cricket is a radical proposal put forward by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to restructure the way countries play Test cricket. At the time of writing, it is still an idea that the ICC are discussing as part of an overall strategy to give meaning and context to international matches.
Currently, all cricket matches that are outside of ICC world events such the World Cup or the World T20 or Champions Trophy are played as part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP). The FTP is scheduled in 5 yearly cycles. For example, the current cycle runs from 2014 to 2019.
When Sri Lanka visits England or when Australia tour Sri Lanka they are bi-laterally agreed tours between Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the other cricket boards. And these tours form the FTP. The matches in a tour, the TV Broadcast rights sold for a tour, the revenue earned from a tour are all settled between those two boards. The ICC has no direct involvement in organising Bi-Lateral tours.
What’s wrong with the Future Tours Programme (FTP)?
The main issue with these tours is that they are haphazardly organised and lack any real meaning or context. They are not played as part of a league or with any real structure and caused ambiguity regarding who the best Test side in the world is. The ICC do have a Test Rankings System. But it is often confusing and complicated as to how the points and rating system work. And because of that crowning the Number One Test side in the world has no real significance for fans or the players.
What is the ICC changing?
What the ICC hopes to do is re-calibrate Test cricket such that each tour and each match counts towards a simple points system as part of a larger league. They hope to do this by introducing Two-Divisions of teams.
A seven and five team split between Division One and Two is what is currently being discussed. As there are currently only 10 Full Member teams that play Test cricket, Two-Division Test cricket would mean that cricket would welcome 2 additional teams into the Test cricket family.
The leading candidates for these two positions at the moment are Afghanistan and Ireland.
How do the Two-Divisions work?
Division One, comprising of seven teams, will see each team play one another in what is likely to be 3-match series. The matches would be played on a home or away basis. This would mean that each team in Division One would be guaranteed a total of 18 Tests in the 2-year cycle the league is to run for.
Sri Lanka cricketDivision Two teams will possibly play 2-match series, again on a home and away basis for a total of 8 Tests in the 2-year cycle.
Points will be awarded for wins and draws. A series like the Ashes where 5-matches are traditionally contested could have a weighted points system that would be the equivalent of a 3-test series. This is another topic that is currently open for discussion at the ICC Annual Conference.
How long is the league?
The league would run for a period of 2-years. And if voted through by the ICC, the league could begin as soon as 2019, just after the World Cup in England.
In the last week of June 2016, the ICC will discuss this proposal at the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh. A total of seven Full member votes will be required to pass this at a vote. The details of when it might be voted on are not yet apparent.
How are teams promoted and relegated?
At the end of the 2-year cycle, the team with the most points in Division One would be crowned the winner of the competition. It is unclear if there will be a final contested or not. The team ranked 7th in Division One will be automatically relegated to Division Two.
The winner of Division Two will be automatically promoted to Division One.
There are also talks of the 6th ranked team in Division One and 2nd ranked in Division Two having a playoff match to decide who will end up in each division before the start of the second 2-year cycle.
The team ranked at the bottom of Division Two will be required to play a playoff against the top team in the I-Cup, the 6-team first class competition that Associate Cricket nations play below the international Test structure.
What does this mean for Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka team departure to England 2016Sri Lanka is currently ranked 7th in the ICC Test Rankings. Should they remain in the same position or move further up the ladder, they will initially be included in Division One. Should they drop further in the rankings they would end up in Division Two when the competition begins.
Assuming Sri Lanka end up in Division One, it would guarantee them 9 Tests each year against the top six Test nations in the world for two years.
Sri Lanka has played an average of 7 Tests a year against the top teams, excluding West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe between 2000-2015. But there is wild fluctuation between the number of Tests played each year. For example, in 2013 Sri Lanka only played 4 Tests, but a year before in 2012 they played 10. 2008 had 6, 2009 had 11
Of course, the danger is that should they finish at the bottom of Division One then they will be relegated to Division Two.
How does this benefit Sri Lanka?
Apart from getting more opportunities to play more competitive Test cricket, Sri Lanka also stands to gain from a financial perspective as well.
The ICC is considering funding the cost of matches that are played as part of this league, which would lift a huge burden from the SLC. For example, last year’s West Indies tour resulted in a Rs(Sri Lankan) 88 million loss for the SLC. And the expenditure for each of the tours last year with Pakistan, West Indies and India cost the SLC well over Rs 100 million each. Should the ICC fund this expenditure, in full or in part, the SLC could be on better footing financially.
Savings made on the cost of hosting matches could be redirected to funding infrastructure development and better conditions being provided for domestic players and investment in age group levels. All of which are desperately needed for the sustainability of Sri Lanka’s cricketing future.
A more innovative idea being discussed by the ICC is the potential to sell TV Broadcast rights for the Two-Divisions as a whole, thus getting a better deal than had tours been sold individually. The idea is that such a prospect will be attractive to broadcasters due to the higher interest it would generate in viewership with the introduction of context to Test tours. A battle for promotion or avoiding relegation is far more enticing than just another meaningless Test. However, the details of how the broadcasting revenue monies will be distributed amongst the teams is still unclear. Particularly unclear is how it will be split between teams in Division One and Division Two.
What happens if Sri Lanka is relegated to Division Two?
There is a fear that any Full Member team that gets relegated to Division Two could face the prospect of Test cricket dying in those countries with the lack of opportunities to play the top teams. Players could be turned off Test cricket due to lack of challenging cricket. Fans could follow a similar path. Domestic players could feel as if they have nothing to aspire to if the Test team does not get to play the bigger nations. The attraction of the riches of T20 leagues such as the IPL and BBL, which already pose a challenge for smaller countries like Sri Lanka and West Indies in retaining their top talent for their Test side, could begin to play even a bigger role.
Financially, not being able to play Australia, England and India would spell disaster as it would mean losing the Broadcast revenue that these tours would generate. Particularly in the case of an Indian tour which offsets several smaller market team tours that the SLC traditionally make losses in such as the West Indies tour in 2015.
The ICC are trying to mitigate these issues with the idea of wholesale broadcast rights sales and funding the cost of matches within the league. In addition, as of now, the matches in the Two-Divisions are only meant to take up five months in a year. Leaving the rest of the year for teams to organise tours outside of the league. Of course, the scheduling of these tours and the sale of TV rights would be left solely to the discretion of those individual boards with no ICC involvement.
The Big Picture
In the grand scheme of things, though, this is a much-needed step forward for Test cricket. Crowds at Test matches outside of England are dwindling with even Australian Test crowds reducing each summer. Outside of the purists and traditionalist fans, interest even watching Test matches is at an all-time low in the smaller Full Member nations. Many supporters find it difficult to justify the time investment needed to follow Tests.
Adding context to matches where each match and tour will count towards a larger outcome could attract more interest in viewership and at the ground. Neutral fans would have a reason to watch matches that their country is not participating in simply because there is something at stake. And because of the relevance of each tour, there is a relative impact on their team’s standing in the league as well. A Test champion would be easier to identify and appreciate. However, whether these global changes would result in a positive outcome for Sri Lanka is a much more difficult question to answer.
http://www.thepapare.com/what-is-two-division-test-cricket/