Cricket Special Report: Current affairs of ICC Intercontinental Cup (Part 1)
The Inter-continental Cup was aimed at giving Associate teams a stage to give these cricketing countries first-class exposure in the longer version of the game. The International Cricket Board (ICC) launched the tournament in 2004, which is supposed to be
just like the ICC Trophy. The ongoing 2009-10 edition of the tournament includes 7 associate teams which include lights of Afghanistan, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748.
The ongoing ICC Inter-continental Cup 2009-10 has reached its crucial stages, as Zimbabwe XI forfeits from the final stages of the tournament as the Scottish cricket team is waiting for the ICC to review the decision taken by the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC). If
the Zimbabwe XI proposal is approved, the Scottish team will qualify for the final against the Afghanistan team.
Zimbabwe XI at the moment is second best side in the tournament with 72 points, while Scotland is third with 69 points. According to the tournament regulations if Zimbabwe is allowed to forfeit the tournament, Scotland will have a shot in the finals against
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 who are well placed at the top with 77 points, and at present are residing in Dubai for the final match of the tournament which is due on the 25-29th of November, 2010.
ZC offered to back out on the basis of the recent steps taken by the Scottish government. The match was initially scheduled to be played at a neutral venue in Africa, before the Scottish agreed to play in Zimbabwe. Later, the change in the British government’s
policy led to the Scottish authorities to advice its cricket team to reverse its decision to play at Zimbabwe home ground. However, the ZC has refused to shift their home match, as they rightly have pointed out that the ICC came up with venue and they have
nothing to do with it.
ZC’s managing director, Ozias Bvute says, “While Scotland’s decision not to tour has been attributed to political considerations, we as Zimbabwe Cricket are not qualified to comment on the matters political of any country, now would we want to base the
future of the game of cricket on political directives,” also adding to this he said,
“as such Zimbabwe has no dispute with either Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 or the ICC. Instead, we seek only a solution that will ultimately allow for fair by all.”
The director also threw light on the benefits of this tournament for the Associate members, saying,
“The Associate Member countries use this and other competitions to benchmark and track their progress, which is important to them, and to this end we feel that the Intercontinental Cup is a significant competition is Scotland’s development and therefore
important that it gets the full benefits associated with playing in it.”
One might argue the decision taken by the ZC is a bit vague or un-called for, but like Bvute said, that the game of cricket shouldn’t get mingled with inter-governments politics as it ruins the integrity and spirit of the game itself. Even in the recent
controversial http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 tour of England, one might have felt the non-interference of governments, as the game and politics are two separate issues to be taken into account. The ZC has reported their decision to the ICC’s Events Technical Committee, which will
review the ZC verdict on the matter and the decision will be finalised by the 27th of September 2010.
On the contrary, the Scottish cricket team in the first winner of the Intercontinental Cup 2004, and haven’t made a prominent impact in the following tournaments. Scotland will surely be looking forward to pocket this easy or not deserving opportunity, as
some might view it to be to raise the morale of their players. Not to forget, Afghanistan, the other finalist has a strong position in the tournament with 77 points and has scored a massive of 3007 runs at the loss of 75 wickets in their 5 first-class (FC)
test matches. With only one draw to their name among the 5 matches, they have appeared in the tour so far. On the other hand, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 XI has scored 2930 for the loss of 69 wickets and Scotland stands 3rd with 2003 for 82, in the 5 each FC matches,
they have played.
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