BOV launches new rankings

Regular readers of my main site will have noticed that my rankings have not been updated for a while.

Well this is due to me working on an all new updated ranking system, designed to be more accurate.

It now takes in to account all internationals, including Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals, as well as matches played by the non-test teams. I’ll be updating it at about the beginning of every month. This is less often than previously, but this is due to the calculation method being so cumbersome. At the time I update it, I will also post some commentary on this very blog.

The full table can be found at this link and at any time in future in the link on the right hand side, the top 20 follows, along with some brief commentary.

1: Australia
2: India
3: South Africa
4: Pakistan
5: New Zealand
6: Sri Lanka
7: England
8: Kenya
9: West Indies
10: Bangladesh
11: Scotland
12: Ireland
13: Zimbabwe
14: Netherlands
15: Canada
16: UAE
17: Cayman Islands
18: Nepal
19: Fiji
20: Namibia

No surpises to see Australia at number one there. Kenya are the highest ranked non-test nation in 8th place. At least one regular reader of this blog will be pleased with that!

Zimbabwe’s poor performances of late see them down in 13th place as the lowest ranked test team. ODI status team Bermuda are missing from the top 20, they’re currently down in 38th place due to their mauling at the hands of the UAE earlier this year. The highest ranked affiliate is Mozambique in 24th place after their recent triumph in the African affiliates championship.

Test status for Canada

Cricinfo are reporting that Canada aim to gain Test status within the next ten years.

Ben Sennik, the president of the Canadian Cricket Association laid out his vision on an interview with the Bermudian newspaper, the Mid-Ocean News. He pointed out that the players would need to go professional before this can even begin to happen.

More things than that need to happen. By many accounts, the organisation of Canadian cricket leaves a lot to be desired. Facilities are a problem too. Canada does have one ICC-approved ground, but it is at a private club, and the CCA have to pay to use it.

There is also the problem that cricket is based primarily in Toronto, and that is also where baseball is the most popular in Canada. The CCA need to prioritise the development of cricket elsewhere in Canada, leading eventually to an inter-provincial competition.

This, along with developing more international standard cricket grounds, needs to happen before they can even think about test status.

Of course, this could all have been very different if the CCA had actually accepted test status when it was offered to them back in the 1950s.

Bangladesh screwed in FTP

Cricinfo are reporting that Bangladesh have been treated rather poorly by the ICCs new Future Tours Program.

Ignoring the World Cup, in the next 12 months they will play no tests, and just twelve ODIs. Ten of those ODIs are against Zimbabwe, one is against Bermuda, and the other is against Canada. An ODI series against Kenya is also in the pipeline.

Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar has made his feelings clear:

“A lot of star players are complaining against too much cricket right at the moment but we are not in a position to join the party,” he told the Daily Star. “Rather the long break in Test cricket is a real concern for us. I think it is always good for an improving side like Bangladesh to play as much Test cricket as possible.

“It is really a frustrating situation for us because we have just gone around to showing our gradual improvement in this level. We were just grasping over the finer points of Test cricket which will definitely be hampered when we resume the campaign after a year.”

This really is ridiculous. Just when Bangladesh are starting to show some promise, they’re being thrown into a severly reduced program, and that too against the lower ranked nations in international cricket. As Habibul Bashar said, they will be hampered when they return.

The CEO of the Bangladesh Cricket Board has said they are trying to arrange at least one test series in the gap. I hope they do. Perhaps even a first class game or two against the Kenyans prior to their Zimbabwean tour would be beneficial.

The article also points out that Bangladesh will not be touring India over the next six years. Indeed, they are yet to tour India at all.

Zimbabwe no good, even when they score 300

In a tour match yesterday against a team with the catchy name of University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI, Zimbabwe scored a huge 324/5. Should be an easy win for them. But their oppenents reached their target with four overs to spare!

If Zimbabwe can’t defend a total that big against a team that is basically the West Indies third XI, then what hope would they have defending a total of say 250 against the senior West Indies side, or any other international side for that matter? What hope do they have of defending similar totals against Bermuda and Canada in the tri-series that concludes this tour?

It’s amazing to think that in a tri-series involving an ICC full member and two associates, we could well see the two associates contest the final.

Scorecard Link

First Twenty20 World Cup

The ICC have announced that the first Twenty20 world cup will take place next year in South Africa. The tournament will last 9 days, and will feature 12 teams.

Two questions are unanswered, and that is with regards to the exact format, and how the 12 teams will be decided.

Firstly, the format, for which I’d use the much-maligned format of the 2002 and 2004 ICC Champions Trophies, with 4 groups of 3 teams, followed by semi finals and a final. This is no problem getting things over and done with, all though it remains to be seen how many games will be played on one ground on each day. Even if only two grounds are used, 4, or even six games a day would be no problem. Having both semi finals and the final on the same day, as in the English domestic competition is an absolute must, as combined with the entertainment used in the break between matches, it makes for an exciting spectacle.

Which leaves the question of how to decide the 12 teams. The ICC has said that all the test nations will take part, so that leaves room for 2 associates. I doubt they’ll have another qualification tournament in addition to the myriad of qualifying tournaments for the ODI World Cup, so they’ll probably just use the top 12 teams in the ODI rankings, which is currently the 10 test playing nations plus Kenya and Scotland.

Another alternative is to use the ODI World Cup itself as a qualifying tournament, where top 3 teams in each of the first round groups will play in the Twenty20 World Cup. A team such as Bermuda may have little hope of progressing to the second stage of the 2007 World Cup, but knowing that an upset over one of the big boys could possbily give them a spot in the Twenty20 World Cup, where they would probably have more chance of an upset over a full member, may just give them an extra little incentive.

ICC announce hosts for World Cups and more

The ICC have announced hosts for a whole range of events going up to the 2019 World Cup, to be held in England (probably in Wales, Scotland and Ireland too).

The 2011 World Cup has gone to Asia, with the 2015 event being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The 2009 ICC Trophy will be played in the UAE, and the 2013 event in Scotland. The Netherlands also get a look in, and will host the 2010 World Cricket League Division One tournament.

Surprisingly, the ICC have decided to move the Under 19 World Cup to the associate countries. Malaysia will host the 2008 event, followed by Kenya in 2010, Canada in 2012, and the UAE in 2014.

I was quite surprised by this, as I thought the Twenty20 tournaments would have more of a chance of going to associate countries. Whatever your opinion of Twenty20, one can’t deny that it is probably the most marketable form of the game, and holding it in a country where cricket is not popular could do wonders for the sports popularity in that country. Instead, the first two tournaments will go to South Africa in 2007, and England in 2009, which I suppose is fair enough with those countries being early adopters of the format.