Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori reported for suspect bowling action

…Netherlands’ Ahsan Malik cleared to resume bowling

Zimbabwe’s left-arm fast bowler Brian Vitori has been reported with a suspect bowling action during the third Twenty20 International (T20I) against Bangladesh, which his side won by 31 runs in Khulna on Wednesday.

The match officials’ report, which was handed over to the Zimbabwe team management after the match, cited concerns about the legality of the 25-year-old’s deliveries.

Vitori’s bowling action will now be scrutinised further under the ICC process relating to suspected illegal bowling actions reported in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He is required to undergo testing within 14 days, and, during this period, Vitori is permitted to continue bowling in international cricket until the results of the testing are known.

Meanwhile, the ICC has also confirmed that, following remedial work and a re-test, the bowling action of Netherlands’ fast bowler Ahsan Malik is legal and he can now resume bowling in international cricket.

Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori
photo credit icc-cricket.com

Since being reported in July during last year’s ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, Ahsan had remodeled his bowling action prior to applying to have his action re-tested. The result shows that the level of elbow extension measured for all deliveries bowled was now within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations.

The umpires are still at liberty to report Malik in the future if they believe the bowler is displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal action that was analysed during the re-test.

To assist in comparing the action used in the lab to the action used in upcoming matches, umpires have been provided with images and video footage of the remodeled legal action of the bowler.

ICC’s Digital Initiatives Continue To Scale New Heights

ICC announces ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier digital statistics with record numbers for an ICC qualifying event and global interest expanding to millions around the world

Giles Clarke: “The continued growth of the ICC’s digital properties is part of an ongoing effort to expand the reach of the sport around the world”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced strong growth in digital consumption following the successful ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 held in July across Ireland and Scotland.

There was unparalleled coverage for the event on ICC digital and social media channels, with overall traffic numbers making it the second largest ICC digital event in recent years, surpassing both the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. The dedicated event website attracted 3.75 million unique users, more than double that figure for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh. These visitors created nearly 20 million page views, which is more than treble the figure of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014.

Sharad Vesawkar, Nepal, in action against Ed Farley, Jersey. ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, Nepal v Jersey. Malahide, Dublin. Picture credit: Sam Barnes / ICC / SPORTSFILE

The digital coverage was particularly well received in many of the competing nations with fans from Afghanistan, Kenya, Nepal, Netherlands and USA combining to make up over 20 per cent of all website traffic.

For the first time at an ICC qualifying event, 20 matches were broadcast globally and short form match clips were hugely popular right across the world on ICC’s digital channels. The video content reached fans in over 200 countries, with over 13 million video views and over 12 million minutes of online video content consumed.

Another first was the launch of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 App, which aimed to build on the success of the record-breaking ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 App. The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 App was available for free on both Android and iOS, it had over 2.2 million users from more than 200 countries. The App was very well picked up in the participating countries, and it topped the charts as the Number 1 downloaded sports App in 6 countries whilst reaching the Top 10 list in the same category in 22 other countries.

On ICC social media channels, there was also huge interest in the tournament as fans were given their opportunity to get involved with the global broadcast and interact with the players and commentators in Ireland and Scotland. The reach of ICC’s posts on Facebook topped over 129 million people in July, whilst there was 35 million impressions of ICC tweets during the tournament.

Fans also got their chance to vote for both the Play of the Day video and the Play of the Tournament video, which attracted over two million votes. One video alone attracted over 750,000 views. The eventual winner of the inaugural Play of the Tournament at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 was Nepal’s Siddhant Lohani for his remarkable helicopter shot.

Ben Kynman, Jersey, bowls. ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, Hong Kong v Jersey, Bready, Co. Tyrone. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / ICC / SPORTSFILE
Saturday 11

The Chairman of the ICC’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee, Mr Giles Clarke, said: “The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 digital statistics show the ever-growing interest in Associate cricket across the globe. The acceleration in growth is such that the numbers of fans engaged from the Associate sides competing in the event this July matched the number of fans engaged from Full Member nations at the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, 2014. I was hugely impressed with the quality of the cricket from all the competing nations I saw in Ireland and Scotland, and cricket fans worldwide have made their voices heard with the sheer scale of numbers that interacted with the tournament online.

“The continued growth of the ICC’s digital properties is part of an ongoing effort to expand the reach of the sport around the world and the ICC intend to be at the forefront of innovation as we enter a new ICC Digital Strategy from 2016 onwards. The ICC will continue to try and grow the game into new markets by using the ICC’s substantial digital presence at both of the important upcoming ICC events, the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2016, and the ICC World Twenty20 2016.”

Netherlands And Scotland Square-Off In ICC Intercontinental Cup and World Cricket League Championship

Netherlands and Scotland go head to head next week in the longer formats of the game in pursuit of their dreams for a Test status as well as a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 when they lock horns in the four-day first-class ICC Intercontinental Cup and the ICC World Cricket League Championship.

The European rivals, who shared the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier trophy a couple of months ago in Malahide to qualify for next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in India, square-off against each other in a second round ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture in Voorburg from 8 October, which will be followed by two 50-over matches in the ICC World Cricket League Championship to be played in Amstelveen on 14 and 16 September.

In the Intercontinental Cup, Netherlands with seven points sits in sixth place, while 2004 winner Scotland is fourth on 13 points. This means the side that collects 20 maximum points will jump to the top of the table. This outcome will surely inject fresh impetus to their ambitions of winning the ICC Intercontinental Cup and qualify for the ICC Test Challenge, which will be played against the 10th-ranked Test side on a home and away basis in 2018. If the ICC Intercontinental Cup winner wins the ICC Test Challenge, then it will secure Test status until the next ICC Test Challenge, which will take place in 2022.

In the ICC World Cricket League Championship, a sole possession of top spot will be up for grabs as both sides share number-one position with four points each. The top sides from this tournament will progress to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be held in Bangladesh in 2018.

Rival captains Peter Borren of Netherlands and Scotland’s Preston Mommsen agreed that July’s tournament will have no bearing in the forthcoming matches and both sides will have to start from scratch.

“I don’t think us sharing the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 title has any relevance at all to the ICC Intercontinental Cup match. That was a different format. Both teams had a fantastic tournament, but this is a new series, and that is where our focus is now,” said the 32-year-old Borren, who will be playing his 22nd first-class match.

He continued: “Our four-day cricket has been a disappointment to me for some time. Our white ball cricket has been great, but we haven’t cracked the longer version. Four-day cricket is difficult, I would love to see an improvement in the mental application that the format requires. Other than the 20 points, I would really love to see our batters spend entire sessions at the crease and to see our bowlers come back hard in their third spells of the day.”

Mommsen, the 27-year-old top-order batsman, said: “We played some good cricket during the Twenty20 qualifier, so did the Dutch. Of course, it was a shame we couldn’t complete that final. However, that was a different format while different skills will be tested over the next few days, especially in the four-day format. Whenever we play the Dutch, we know we have to be at our best and the next few games will be no different.

“Indeed, this competition (ICC Intercontinental Cup) now creates a pathway to Test cricket, so every game we play, every point we can take, will be crucial to us moving closer to Test cricket. We have to remain focused on playing solid and consistent cricket. There’s no point looking too far ahead, but, of course, that remains a bigger goal for this team.”

Mommsen said his side had the ability to succeed in the longer versions of the game. “We have some special talent coming through, especially with the ball, so we’re looking forward to seeing how our younger players develop over the next few years as they start to get more and more opportunities.

“This is a team that definitely has the skills and ability to play a winning brand of cricket in the longer version of the game. It’s been very positive, and we’ve shown a lot of intent. There’s no reason why certain aspects of our white ball game cannot be transferred into our four-day cricket. We have an exciting squad and we will continue to adopt that style of cricket.”

Squads

Netherlands (from) – Peter Borren (captain), Rahil Ahmed, Wesley Barresi, Mudassar Bukhari, Ben Cooper, Quirijn Gunning, Vivian Kingma, Paul van Meerkeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Stephan Myburgh, Max O’Dowd, Michael Rippon, Pieter Seelaar and Matthijs van Schelven.

Scotland (from): Preston Mommsen (captain), Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer, Matthew Cross, Joshua Davey, Alasdair Evans, Hamish Gardiner, Michael Leask, Con de Lange, Matthew Machan, Calum MacLeod, Gavin Main, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Robert Taylor, Craig Wallace and Mark Watt.

Umpires – Peter Nero and Chettihody Shamshuddin

Match Referee – David Jukes

Intercontinental Cup Table

Team Played Won Lost Draw Points
Ireland 1 1 – – 20
Namibia 1 1 – – 20
PNG 1 1 – – 14
Scotland 1 – – 1 13
Afghanistan 1 – – 1 7
Netherlands 1 – 1 – 6
Hong Kong 1 – 1 – 0
UAE 1 – 1 – 0

ICC World Cricket League Table

Team Played Won Lost Points
Netherlands 2 2 0 4
Scotland 2 2 0 4
Hong Kong 2 1 1 2
Kenya 2 1 1 2
UAE 2 1 1 2
Namibia 2 1 1 2
Nepal 2 0 2 0
PNG 2 0 2 0

World T20 Qualifier is another boost for cricket’s global development #wt20q

Six places up for grabs for ICC World Twenty20 2016 in India

$300m to be invested in development of the game between 2016-23

1.4 million male and female participants across emerging nations

On the eve of another exciting opportunity for the best Associate and Affiliate Members (AMs) to qualify for a major ICC event, the success of the ICC Development Programme is illustrated by the fact that there are now more people playing cricket outside the 10 Full Members than ever before.

7 July 2015; Sultan Ahmed, Oman. ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, Warm-up Match, Ireland v Oman. Stormont, Belfast. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / ICC / SPORTSFILE

Indeed, the number of cricketers has increased in those countries three-fold in just the past six years to the point where there are now 1.4 million male and female participants currently involved in formal cricket programmes beyond the traditional boundaries.

As the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, hosted by Ireland and Scotland, is set to start tomorrow, the truth is the Associate game has never been so buoyant as it is today. This is due, in no small part, to the phenomenal financial investment that flows from ICC into its Members, both in terms of direct funding and also opportunities afforded through high-performance programmes and tournaments.

The ICC’s Development Programme was launched in 1997. Then, there were 26 Associate and 10 Affiliate Members. Seventeen years later, the ICC has 95 Members (below the 10 Full Members), including 57 Affiliate and 38 Associate Members.

There has been a substantial increase to the funding of the ICC Development Programme. Between 1998-2007, USD $65million was invested in the ICC Development Programme. In the recently concluded rights cycle, this was increased to USD $250million and in the next cycle approximately USD $300million will be invested.

The results of this investment are evident. There were approximately 277,637 participants in countries below the Full Members in 2005. This number climbed to 410,248 at the end of 2008. At the end of 2014, the number of participants in countries below Full Members stood at 1.4million.

7 July 2015; The Nepal team gather in a huddle before the game. ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, Warm-up Match, Nepal v United Arab Emirates. Stormont, Belfast. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / ICC / SPORTSFILE

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “Cricket around the world is in rude health with more people playing the game outside the Full Members than ever before. This is a tribute to the hard work, passion and dedication of people within the Associate and Affiliate Members as well as the significant financial and other resources passed on from the ICC.

“As the final preparations are put in place for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, this is another special opportunity for those Associates to claim a place at a major ICC event. The ICC World Twenty20 2016 in India will no doubt be a spectacular tournament. No fewer than six places are available for the best sides outside of the Full Members and I know that competition will be fierce over the next three weeks or so as we determine exactly which teams will be traveling to India next year.”

The ICC Development Programme is tasked with building a bigger, better global game by assisting the 95 AMs grow and improve the standard of cricket within their territories. This is done through direct funding, the funding and management of qualification pathways to major events and the provision of guidance and advice in the crucial areas of administration, domestic participation, high performance, education, fund-raising and promotion. This includes senior men’s and women’s cricket as well as the youth game.

David Richardson, photo credit icc.cricket.com

Mr Richardson added: “The ICC is committed to growing the game beyond the historical heartlands and our Development Programme is reaping the rewards of its investment. All over the world, people are taking up cricket for the first time and, through the game’s unique spirit, lives are being changed for the better.

“While this qualifying tournament is all about Twenty20, the ICC is also working to improve the quality and depth of ODI cricket and Test cricket. Indeed, the ICC Intercontinental Cup is the clear pathway to Test cricket for the Associates and the decision to include the top Associates in the One-Day FTP with the Full Members provides a great opportunity for the best AMs to break into the hierarchy of the ODI game.”