Nigeria Benefits From ICC’s New Cricket Dev. Plans

Nigeria is to benefit from the new global cricket development plans announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after its Executive Board meeting in Jakarta.

The ICC said it would establish an expanded global qualification system for its World Twenty20 tournament and announced it would fund specific strategic projects with 2 million dollars

Nigeria became an Associate member of the ICC in 2002 and is currently playing in the Pepsi ICC World Division Six League.

An ICC statement, made available to newsmen in Lagos, said ICC Associate and Affiliate Members would now find it easy to qualify for the Twenty20 competitions.

“A new and expanded global qualification system will be established to give the ICC Associate and Affiliate Members a distinct pathway towards the ICC World Twenty20.

“The qualification tournament, which has previously involved six or eight teams, will be expanded to a 16-team tournament in early 2012.

“This is to give those sides the chance to represent their countries at the prestigious ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka,’’ the statement said.

It said the decisions were reached at the ICC executive meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.

It also said that the ICC Development Committee had designed the new-look tournament to comprise the six which currently enjoyed ODI/T20I status plus 10 qualifiers from regional Twenty20 events.

“The exact details of the regional qualification network will be announced in due course but the intention is to give all 94 Associate and Affiliate Members a clear pathway towards the finals.”

In another development, the committee has pledged 2 million dollars towards major cricket facilities developments for targeted Associates and Affiliates, in partnership with Members and third-parties.

The members eligible to apply, under a system to be finalised soon will include each of the top six-ranked Associates/Affiliates, China and U.S.

Others are a member nominated by each of the Africa, East Asia-Pacific and Europe regions together with any Associate or Affiliate scheduled to host certain ICC events, it said.

The statement issued from ICC headquarters in Dubai, quoted ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat as saying that “cricket development around the world has never been stronger”.

“These are two extremely exciting, strategic and encouraging developments for the future of our great sport.

“They represent a clear sign of our ongoing commitment to growing the game beyond its traditional boundaries and ensuring that each of our members has the opportunity to develop.

“Cricket has never been stronger,” the statement said.

It said that ICC now had three viable formats of the game at international level and cricket had continued to grow in popularity in almost every corner of the globe.

“These initiatives are steps along the path towards continued sustainable growth.