The Press Box

[World Cricket Conference]

Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy unanimously appointed first-ever WCC President
Details emerge as the World of Cricket gains a FIFA-like global organization called the World Cricket Conference​

© Associated Press, August 18, 1998​

Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy has been unanimously elected the inaugural President of the newly-formed World Cricket Conference for a one-year term by the Executive Board. He will take into the new job an aggressive approach of spreading the game beyond the bounds of the current cricket-playing nations of the world.

In 1998, Hoodbhoy, arguably the most influential man in Indian cricket, had written a letter to Marylebone Cricket Club's [MCC, England] secretary, Robert Knight, suggesting the formation of a global body to formulate a set of rules and regulations and govern international matches involving all cricket playing nations.

In his letter to Knight, Hoodbhoy had also expressed a willingness to promote a World Championship of Cricket among the top cricket playing nations of the world.

In March, the chairmen and presidents of cricket associations from all major cricket playing nations in the world converge to meet at Lord's under the chairmanship of the MCC secretary Robert Knight, paving the way for the formation of a FIFA-like global governing body for cricket called the World Cricket Conference.

However, in that meeting it was firmly established by the MCC that though this newly-formed global governing body would be in-charge of setting the rules of play and sanctioning official matches among member nations, the very laws of cricket will remain under the governance of Marylebone Cricket Club, as they have since 1788.

Only a month later, on April 26th, a second meeting was held at Lord's where Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy was unanimously appointed the inaugural President of the World Cricket Conference by an Executive Board comprising of all cricket association presidents, for a one-year term, starting in June of 1999 and ending in June of 2000.

In that meeting, it was also agreed upon by all nations that a World Championship of Cricket called the "Cricket World Cup" would be played in the summer of 2003.

 

[World Cricket Conference]

Nations League gets shock go-ahead at World Cricket Conference
World Cricket Conference confirm the details of a 12-team Test tournament to be played in May and June called the Nations League​

© Associated Press, April 26, 1999​

World Cricket Conference gives shocking go-ahead to a twelve-team invitational Test tournament called the Nations League. Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy being appointed the inaugural World Cricket Conference President did not appear to be the only major news coming out of the Lord's meeting among the "World of Cricket".

Following the formation of the World Cricket Conference, it has been agreed upon by the Executive Board that an invitational tournament would be held to determine the best Test-playing nation in the world. Hence, a twelve-team invitational Test tournament has been instituted on only a month's notice, starting in May.

Tentatively scheduled to be two months long, the Nations League will be played in five different countries with the finals taking place in Berlin. The decision to award Berlin the finals was made after German bureaucrat and Executive Board Member Müller Schwanstegger lobbied for it to be held in a 'tax-haven' Germany.

The Nations League will feature the 12-best Test-playing nations of the world in a rather simplistic tournament format. Nations invited to participate in the tournament are Brazil, Canada, Guernsey, India, Ireland, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States. Unequivocally considered to be the best Test-playing nations in the world, the inaugural edition of the Nations League shapes up to actually be the "Test of the Best", as commercially billed.

The twelve aforementioned nations will be split into four groups of three, playing the other two teams in their group in a single round-robin format. Winners from each of the four groups will advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of both semi-finals will meet in the Nations League final at The Maifeld in Berlin.

Group A will consist of Canada, New Zealand and Niue, with all matches being played in Canada. Group B will comprise of Ireland, Guernsey and Brazil, with the games taking place in Guernsey. Group C will consist of India and Pakistan, as well as Nepal, the hosts of the group. Group D will include the United States, Mozambique and North Korea, with the USA playing hosts to the group. Winners from each group will converge in Berlin for the Nations League finals in June.

 

[Pinch hitter]

Breaking News (India): Business tycoons Vijay Mallya, Subhash Chandra Goenka and former Indian cricketer (BCCI) Kapil Dev, today jointly announced new 'Cricket body of India' simply called as CBI.
CBI will represents India in newly announced World Cricket Conference (WCC).

 

[Pinch hitter]

NEWS INDIA: Subhash Chandra Goenka announced Kapil Dev will take Presidential position in newly formed Cricket body of India (CBI).
"Corruption in BCCI is spoiling cricket game in India, so with a help of Mr.Vijay Mallya, we decided to create clean and better cricket representative from India. WCC had a great vision regarding the game, there aim is to speard cricket all over the globe, which ICC failing to do. Great cricketer and the man who truly love and care about the game, Mr. Kapil Dev will surely bring golden age of cricket in India".

 

[Pinch hitter]

Breaking News (India): Vijay Kambli will be a first current age cricketer to join hands with CBI.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

USA Announce Plans To Continue With Major League Cricket - On A Smaller Level!

4 teams will face off each other in First Class and List A cricket by playing Round Robin. The tournaments will be breeding ground for upcoming players and help USA reach heights they have never seen before in cricket. Newly appointed CEO Parth quoted Vince Lombardi's quote saying "Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. Our goal is to setup the foundation right and play competitive cricket. We have all the money, we now need to invest it in and Make America Great".

Teams



Northern Tigers




Southern Owls




Western Dragons




Eastern Bulls​

 

[ahmedleo414]

Cricket Canada Press Conference

​

President of Cricket Canada announced after months of holding trials and going through local clubs scores and talking to local coaches, they have finally released the names of 72 prospects that will take part in the domestic league.

Included are the names of 15 players that were already a part of the previously announced national team including:

• Martin Terry of Lindsay, Ontario. He will also be the first captain of the national cricket team
• Shawnte McCullock of Saint John, New Brunswick
• Frederic Baron of Montreal, Quebec
• Azad Mukherjee of Edmonton, Alberta

They have not ruled out adding additional domestic teams in the future.

Cricket Canada's president also announced that structure of the First Class and List-A tournaments, both will be a double round-robin tournaments. Each team will have a home and away match against another and the top two teams will meet in a finals, along with the teams that placed third and fourth who will face each other in a 3rd place contest.

To see the full list of players announced, please visit www.cricketcanada.ca

 

[TSPrathik]

CRICKET NEW ZEALAND



Cricket New Zealand have announced their International Squad and Domestic Tournament Set-up, Teams and their Squads

All 7 Kits Reveal along with Sponsors - Soon
Domestic Schedules - will be out depending on the International Schedule

 

[Aislabie]

Cricket Ireland announces 15-man squad for Test championship

Following the surprise announcement of the WCC Nations League - seen by some as a de facto World Championship for Test cricket, Cricket Ireland confirmed that it would send a full-strength squad to the tournament. The national selectors then convened an extraordinary meeting that lasted well into the night before announcing their squad:

Tom Coughlin (Fingal)

Angus Baranoski (Fingal)

Tim Byrne (Limerick)

Lachlan Carey (Cork)

Tadgh Coleman (Cork)

Allen Heath (Fingal)

Ajay Kumar (Dublin)

Seamus McCoy (Dublin)

Dermot McDermott (Cork)

Colin Morgan (Wicklow)

Declan Murphy (Meath)

Padraig Murphy (Meath)

Mickey Nicol (Galway)

Fergal O'Doherty (Dublin)

Kelby Rogerson (Meath)

This squad includes three Irish debutants: Tadgh Coleman becomes the latest run machine to have honed his skills on the flat tracks and tiny boundaries of Cork, while a duo of Meath debutants also raised eyebrows: 21-year-old Kelby Rogerson will be being capped for the first time at any level by Ireland, which may reflect the desperation in their ranks for a good wrist-spinner. Opener Padraig Murphy becomes the second out of the four Murphy brothers to be called up for Ireland, despite some reservations about his modest domestic record.

"We are confident that this is the absolute best squad to take on the World this summer," said CI Chairman Seamus O'Shea. "We have complete confidence in every player chosen, and also in those players like Jimmy [Schultz, the Fingal all-rounder] who have missed out. Our only concern is the impact that this tournament could end up having on our domestic season, with fifteen of the best players possibly missing two months of Championship cricket in the height of the season."

Of course, this just an occupational hazard of cricket - a sport which, unlike football and rugby, does not have an established practice of creating international breaks in the season.

 

[Neptune]

Guernsey Cricket - International Squad and Domestic Competition Details

The international team will be led by Harry Wroetoshaw, who with brothers Tom and Dom Nightingale form the core of the batting unit. There are 4 pacers in the squad, and Harrison Willis is likely to be the only specialist spinner that starts in the 11.

Four Domestic Teams have also been added, with 3-4 national players in each of them. Tom Nightingale, Alistair Davis, Harrison Willis and Harry Wroteoshaw have been chosen as the captain of their respective domestic teams and every side has a deputy that has not been called up for national duty in case the international schedule overlaps with the domestic season.

The Guernsey 4 Day League and The Guernsey One Day League will serve as the official FC and List A competitions, with identical formats for both : a double round robin followed by an Eliminator between 3rd and 4th place, a Qualifier between the winner of the Eliminator and 2nd place, and the Final is set to be played between the Group Stage winner and the winner of the Qualifier. There will also be a match between the champions and Rest Of Guernsey (ROG) at the end of the season. This format has been introduced so that the domestic players get experience playing knockout matches.

All squads can be found here

 

[World Cricket Conference]

Controversy Erupts: Brazil suspended mere weeks before Nations League
Brazil Cricket Association has been suspended from the World Cricket Conference with immediate effect.​

Emiliano da Silva pictured during a press conference last year © Brazil Cricket Association, November 8, 1998​

Brazil have been suspended with immediate effect. WCC funding to Brazil Cricket Association has been frozen, and teams representing Brazil will not be allowed to participate in any WCC events while under suspension, making Brazil's participation in the Nations League scheduled to begin mere weeks from today unlikely.

After multiple rounds of meetings in Berlin earlier this week, the World Cricket Conference unilaterally decided that Brazil Cricket Association was in breach of Article 2.4 (c) and (d) of the WCC Constitution, and that the actions of the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in suspending the Board of Governance following the formation of the World Cricket Conference mere weeks from today constituted government interference in Brazil Cricket Associations' affairs.

"We do not take the decision to suspend any member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from all political interferences," WCC President Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy said. "What has happened in Brazil is a serious breach of the WCC Constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked," he further added.

Brazil's sanctioning marks the very first time a member nation, associate or Test-playing, has been suspended by the World Cricket Conference.

The WCC has directed that the BCA board originally elected in mid-April be reinstated to office within three months, and progress in this respect will be considered again at the next board meeting in December. "The WCC wants cricket to continue in Brazil in accordance with the WCC Constitution," Hoodbhoy added.

Since the suspension, Brazilian cricket has been in lockdown - and meltdown. Chairman of BCA, Emiliano da Silva and incumbent Managing Director Ricardo Carvalho, and the Entire Board were suspended by the SRC and Brazil Cricket Associations' offices were literally locked, with a police detail dispatched to guard the property, "to ensure that no assets or other documents, especially of a financial nature, left the premises," according to an official spokesperson.

WCC immediately froze Brazil's funding upon the suspension of the Board of Governance, with representative teams from Brazil not being allowed to participate in any WCC events while under suspension, rendering Brazil's participation in the upcoming Nations League tournament incredibly unlikely.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

조선민주주의인민공화국 크리켓위원회
Democratic Korea Cricket Conference

It is time to bring the light to the world that Koreans are the most fierce and rigorous athletes out there and now they are here to conquer the 22 yards of Cricket. We have formed the Democratic Korea Cricket Conference which will be the sole body looking after the whole and sole of the cricket operations in Korea.

An letter of approval was signed by the supreme one sanctioning the setup to govern and maintain the cricket operations in the entirety of Korea.​

 

[World Cricket Conference]

Mozambique withdraw from the Nations League due to 'internal disciplinary reasons'
Cricket Mozambique suspends 11 of their 18 centrally contracted players under bizarre circumstances​

Mozambique captain Kennedy Tataw is among the 11 players suspended by Cricket Mozambique © Cricket Mozambique, April 23, 1999​

Mozambique have withdrawn from the upcoming WCC Nations League, with Cricket Mozambique announcing the suspension of 11 of their 18 centrally contracted players, including their captain Kennedy Tataw - under bizarre circumstances. The majority of Mozambique's international roster has been suspended for "disciplinary reasons" and "failing to adhere to our strict Codes of Conduct", which as a result, has forced Mozambique to effectively withdraw from the upcoming event.

Mozambique's withdrawal from the Nations League is yet another roadblock for WCC's first major international event, following Brazil's suspension from the World Cricket Conference a week ago. Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy, the President of WCC has announced to name replacements for Mozambique and Brazil mere weeks before the tournament begins with both replacements being asked to travel with their preliminary squads to Guernsey and the United States on short notice (respectively).

 

[Paranoid Kendroid]

Danish Cricket domestic structure revealed for season 1999 & beyond

Nicknamed "Erik Bloodaxe", Ole took more than 650 wickets in all formats over a dozen seasons for Derbyshire from 1983 to 1994.​

The Dansk Cricket-Union have decided that 5 teams based on administrative regions will participate in the domestic league. The tournaments will be named as Ole Mortensen Cup (for first-class) and Danish One-Day Cup (for List-A). The teams are as following:

Hovedstaden



Midtjylland



Nordjylland



Sjælland



Syddanmark.​

 

[World Cricket Conference]

Egypt and South Africa announced as replacements for Brazil and Mozambique
They will travel to Guernsey and the United States to take part in the Nations League​

Egypt and South Africa officially become member nations of the World Cricket Conference​

In a press briefing, Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy confirmed replacements for Brazil and Mozambique following their bizarre departures from the upcoming event.

Brazil were suspended from WCC with all funding to Brazil Cricket Association being frozen with immediate effect. This also resulted in a ban for all representative teams from Brazil in WCC events, rendering their participation in the Nations League unlikely. After several rounds of meetings in Berlin, the WCC decided that the actions of the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in suspending the Board of Governance constituted government interference in Brazil Cricket Associations' affairs.

"We do not take the decision to suspend any member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from all political interferences," WCC President Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy said. "What has happened in Brazil is a serious breach of the WCC Constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked," he further added.

Mozambique withdrew from the tournament after banning 11 of their 18 centrally contracted players for "disciplinary reasons" and "failing to adhere to our strict Codes of Conduct". Mozambique's withdrawal from the Nations League was yet another roadblock for WCC's first major international event.

In today's press briefing, WCC President Arjun Prasad Hoodbhoy announced Egypt and South Africa as respective replacements for Brazil and Mozambique. Egypt will take Brazil's place in Group B and compete against Guernsey and Ireland. They are expected to fly out to Guernsey, the host nation for the group, within days from this announcement. South Africa will replace Mozambique in Group D and are expected to depart for the United States soon too. South Africa is scheduled to play the United States and North Korea in the group, with their match against the group hosts being the tournament opener.

Both nations were requested to announce their preliminary squads within 7 days for the tournament. South Africa submitted their squad on time, while Egypt asked for an extension which was provided to them by the World Cricket Conference, given the extraordinary circumstances they were working under.