ICC to invest $300 million for non-Full Member countries

[TheMightyPies]

The ICC has announced that it will invest US$300 million over the next seven years for the development of the game outside the ten Full Member countries, terming it as the "biggest investment in global development by any sport outside football."
"We want to see results that challenge world cricket's existing order," Haroon Lorgat, the new ICC chief execuitive, said. "And we want to develop better players and better structures on and off the field, giving everyone the chance to be the best they can be."
Lorgat said the initiative was made possible due to a number of commercial agreements. "Thanks to agreements with our commercial partners, foremost among them the one we signed in December 2006 with ESPN Star Sports [reported to be worth $1.1 billion], the game is financially secure."
The funding package, which begins next year, is expected to benefit the 94 Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC, and the annual amount, approx. $40 million, is significantly higher than the $18 million put forward this year. "This fresh cash injection highlights we are a not-for-profit organisation. All the revenue we generate from our events, broadcast and commercial agreements is ploughed back into the game," he said. "It is also an indication of how strong this great game is at present.
"Participation is at an all-time high in all our members at all levels. Thanks to the World Cricket League, all Associate and Affiliate Members now have a clear pathway through to one of the crown jewels of the game, the World Cup."

© Cricinfo


Will only do good for the game

[Freo Big Fella]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/ICC-cricket-member-nations.png/800px-ICC-cricket-member-nations.png

There's the current members map if anyone is interested.

Outside of the nations that tend to qualify fairly regularly for major tournaments and are even remotely viable (Scotland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Canada, The UAE) I reckon there's a few more worth looking at closely.

Argentina: They already play Rugby Union so there's an established "commonwealth tie", fairly high population, and from memory their women's team hasn't performed terribly.

The US: A no brainer really, huge potential market for Twenty20 at least.

Nepal: They've performed well at a junior level, could be a Bangladesh case but the subcontinent bloc will no doubt be all for it.

China: Controversial, but they supposedly have a rudimentary program going already, and like the US there is massive money potential.

Uganda: One of the few affiliate sides with no expats, won their division of the World Cricket League recently.

Malaysia: Established infrastructure, junior teams and ties to the commonwealth.

[Cap]

about time - but the money should be spend in countries like Kenya, Netherlands and even Bangladesh to get these countries up to test level quicker

a fund should be set aside to pay players to stay and avoid them moving to England, Australia, India or South Africa

[SBI]

I'd prefer the money being invested in the West Indies and Sri Lanka ahead of some of these places. You can;t but help thinking that increased investment in the US is a bit of a waste and considering the WI and SL are struggling, surely you'd try and make them sustainable financially before trying to expand into other markets. The worst thing that could happen would be for the Windies to crumble and leave us with seven test quality sides and a whole lot of associates who are a generation off even being considered.

[crudbucket]

We need to get at least two and preferably three non Asian countries up to Test level asap, so we can break the current stranglehold that puts $ ahead of a stable game base.

[ViperV10]

China: Controversial, but they supposedly have a rudimentary program going already, and like the US there is massive money potential.

The big issue with China is the corruption rife amongst the administration of cricket over there. The money would just line the pockets of people with no interest in growing the sport and only interested in growing their bank accounts.

Money is all well and good, but you need the right people for any real growth or improvement to occur.