JOHN HOWARDS APPOINTMENT AS ICC CHIEF REJECTED

The ICC has demanded another vice-presidency candidate after John Howard's nomination was rejected by its executive board in Singapore. A move which began with members from six countries signalling their intention to block the appointment on Tuesday turned into an official rejection of Australia's former prime minister today.




The ICC confirmed the decision this afternoon following an executive meeting that was supposed to formalise Howard's election. No vote was taken and Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket were asked to re-nominate a candidate by August 31.



The ICC said in a statement: "Following lengthy consideration it was recognised that the nomination put forward by Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket did not have sufficient support within the ICC board."



Cricket Australia's chairman Jack Clarke and his New Zealand Cricket counterpart Alan Isaac said in a joint statement they were "deeply disappointed" after supplying "the best possible candidate". "We jointly nominated Mr Howard as he possesses significant leadership and administrative skills," they said. "We believe cricket needs to continue to seek excellence and dispassionate independence in the game's global governance.



"We were delighted that the most senior world figure ever considered for this role agreed to accept the nomination. We remain convinced it is reasonable for his nomination to be supported by the ICC executive board and we are deeply disappointed by the position taken."



Initial rumblings from Zimbabwe and South Africa in April became an all-conquering alliance when India signed up along with their subcontinent neighbours this week. It leaves the ICC without a deputy to be paraded alongside India's Sharad Pawar when he takes over the presidency from David Morgan this week.



The position taken by the six board members on Tuesday night was believed to be an attempt to force Howard to withdraw his nomination before the meeting. Howard remained in the race but lost the one-man raffle at the Raffles convention centre, ending the 70-year-old's cricket administration career before it was allowed to begin.



Seven votes were required to seal the deal but Australia, New Zealand and England were the only supporters of Howard before the meeting among the game's 10 major countries. The six members signed a letter on Tuesday effectively stopping the appointment, but Zimbabwe, the most strident back-room protestor of Howard's nomination, was not one of them.



During Howard's 11-year term as prime minister he was critical of Robert Mugabe's regime and was responsible for banning the team from touring the country in 2007. Howard visited Zimbabwe cricket officials last week in an unsuccessful effort to smooth relations with the board. Once India turned from Howard there was no chance of him gaining enough support, with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh believed to have sided with their all-powerful neighbour.



Howard was the joint nomination of Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket for the role as part of the rotational system employed by the ICC. Under the regulations, Howard would have assumed the presidency in 2012 after Pawar's two-year term.



While the two countries have remained committed to Howard, his selection was complicated by New Zealand's wish to choose Sir John Anderson, its long-term respected administrator. An independent committee was charged with breaking the deadlock and once Howard emerged as the winner the boards were publicly united. However, the delay provided fuel for the opponents to question whether New Zealand had been out-muscled by Australia.



Confirmation of Howard's role - he was nominated in March - was expected in April, but Zimbabwe raised their concerns through South African officials outside an ICC meeting in Dubai. The issue dragged on and Clarke and his chief executive James Sutherland were still lobbying for support over the past couple of days.

CRICKET NEW: Did AMIR used cell phone during the match?

PAKISTAN cricket team without controversy is like snake without venom :). the first match of Asia cup has put one more pakistani cricket player under cnontroversy when the TV showed M. Amir which looked like he was talking on a cell phone with his helmet on and waiting for his turn to bat. It seemed like he was using cell phone and was talking to someone with his helmet on. At that moment, he was the next man to bat. All this issue brought up the controversy.

Anyhow the ICC and PCB has clarified over this issue and denied that Amir was using cell phone rather they said he was talking to his team-mates.

Pakistani TV channels picked up on footage from the game which showed Mohammad Aamer sitting in the dressing room balcony with a helmet on, with one hand to his right ear, speaking to someone while waiting to bat. The channels implied that he was talking on a cell phone, an act in contravention of existing ICC anti-corruption rules which don't allow players to take phones into the dressing room.



The PCB emphatically denied this was the case, saying that Aamer was talking generally to the team about the situation of the match. In a statement, the board said that the manager Yawar Saeed "has confirmed to us that the rumors...are totally false and unfounded. Cell phones are not allowed under ICC & PCB rules, and as such are always collected by the security manager from every member of the squad except the manager.



"Aamer was next to go in for batting and he was sitting next to team manager along with the other members of the team in the viewing area. They were all talking about the match situation and Aamer had his hand on his helmet which has been interpreted out of context."



The ICC confirmed that the ACSU had investigated the incident and come to a similar conclusion. "The ACSU has thoroughly investigated the alleged breach...including speaking to the relevant people involved, and is satisfied that there is no evidence of Mohammad Aamer making use of a mobile phone while sitting in the dressing room yesterday (June 15) during the match against Sri Lanka at Dambulla," the ICC said.



"Although the very short video clips that are publicly available could mislead viewers into thinking he was holding on to a cell phone and speaking to someone, upon closer scrutiny the fact emerges that Mohammad was actually holding on to the front grill of his helmet, adjusting it, and at the same time making a comment to his team manager, Yawar Saeed, seated to his immediate left."



The ACSU, as a practice, collect the mobile phones of all the players and officials before a game starts. Only the team's manager is allowed to have a phone inside the area

well what actually happened we dont know. Being rational, i think it is near to impossible that Amir would have been talking on cell phone. This will bre compeetely new thing for Amir ,as he has never faced this before. It will be a test of his character how he will handle these new challenges.

This is cricket new for you, where everything new thing in cricket is possible !

CRICKET NEW:ASIA CUP PREVIEW

Cricket fanatics will be witnessing another layout of competition between the Asian teams as Asia cup will get under way tomorrow! Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh and India will be competing to get the honour of Asian champion!

Cricket new will talk about each team,

PAKISTAN

Pakistan is the team which will be under most pressure because they are under their new captain Shahid Afridi, and salman butt as a new vice captain! Pakistan team is full of controversies because the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar and Shoaib malik gave an air to this controversy. Anyhow Pakistan is a balanced ODI side where we will see some new faces. New faces include umar amin and asad shafiq. With shoaib akhtar back in the team, Pakistan’s bowling will be their strength. The team is under new captain and it will be a new experience for youngsters to play with players like shoaib akhtar.

India

India is also a balanced OCI side; INDIA has to prove so much, especially the likes of dhoni. India also has some new faces like tiwary who will be making his debut (if played). Ashok dinda and R. Ashiwn are the other two new faces though they have made their debuts in Zimbabwe. It will be interesting to see how India goes.

Srilanka

Srilanka is the most balanced side of the tournament. Surprisingly they have dropped mendia for tactical reasons and jayasuria for his poor form. Don’t forget they were the two heroes of the previous Asia cup in 2008. Srilanka has the right mix of bowling and with the likes of sangakara, dilshan and sangakara, their batting strength adds up. Srilanka will be playing their first match against Pakistan, and I reckon srilanka will be the favourites for this match.

Bangladesh

You can’t call Bangladesh as minnows any more. They have a very talented and new side which can upset any team in the world on their day. Bangladesh will mostly be relying on their start opening batsman tamim iqbal. If tamim can give them a fiery start and GOD knows, may be Bangladesh can put the opposition under pressure.



This is cricket new for you where every new thing in cricket is possible!

CRICKET NEW:MATHEW HAYDEN JOINS CRICKET AUSTRALIA AS AN ADMINISTRATOR

Matthew Hayden will draw upon his IPL experiences to help navigate Cricket Australia through the uncharted waters of Twenty20 cricket as part of his newly-acquired role as board director. Hayden, who will replace the departing Allan Border on CA's board, insists he will bring a contemporary voice to the decision-making process as cricket's administrators attempt to strike a balance between the Twenty20 phenomenon and the more traditional forms of the game.




Hayden was a foundation member of the Chennai Super Kings, and has been a staunch advocate of both the IPL and the 20-over game in general. He will become the only member of the board with first-hand experience of the Twenty20 game as a player.



"The game is definitely at the coalface of anticipated change," Hayden told to the media. "What I can bring to the table is a real currency and a slightly more contemporary style of looking at the way cricket and the business of cricket is managed and maintained. Strategically it's really important to recognise that iconic series such as the Ashes can never be removed, and in fact need to be protected and maintained, throughout the cricketing landscape. At a time when the market is looking to find new ways to engage our sport I think it's also really important to go on a journey and go on a debate and recognise that we have got something very special in the creation of franchise cricket and the globalisation of those brands."



Jack Clarke, CA's chairman, was hopeful Hayden would make a significant contribution to the board. "He brings a combination of contemporary, elite playing experience in all major cricketing nations; additional understanding of player issues through his work on the board of the Australian Cricketer's Association, experience in the new Twenty20 phenomena as an IPL player, and a passion for development of Indigenous cricket," Clarke said.



"I congratulate Queensland Cricket on having the foresight and vision to appoint Matthew Hayden to the Cricket Australia Board so soon after his retirement from wearing the Baggy Green."



The move could improve relations between Cricket Australia and the players due to Hayden's recent involvement in the game and his role as an executive member of the Australian Cricketers' Association.



Besides the retiring Border, Mark Taylor and Wally Edwards are the other two former Test cricketers who are now Cricket Australia directors.

well this is cricket new for you, where everything in cricket is possible !

CRICKET NEW: ODI CRICKET IN NEW VERSION

CRICKET AUSTRALIA has decided enough is enough of long and boring 50 over matches. It's time to say good bye to ODIs.Cricket Australia board gave the green light to a trial of split-innings state games next summer. If the new format is successful, Cricket Australia will take the idea to the ICC as a plan to keep ODIs alive, meaning the 2015 World Cup could feature a split-innings format.




Although there has been no decision on how many overs each innings would be - four innings of either 20 or 25 overs are the most likely - CA will finalise their concept in the coming weeks. The first four rounds of the FR Cup will be played under the existing rules before the new format is introduced for the remaining six rounds, which will start in February.



By then, Australia's World Cup squad will have departed, so their preparations will not be affected. James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, said the innovation was intended as a way to retain all three formats of the game, with the middle portion of 50-over innings having become largely predictable.



"It provides a mechanism by which in the eyes of the consumer we can distinguish the one-day game a little bit more from the Twenty20 format of the game," Sutherland said. "There's no doubt that there's some feedback there that suggests that parts of the one-day game are a little bit predictable. That's certainly something that we are looking to address.



"One of the things that's come back as the feedback from fans and also from a television audience perspective is that by having a split innings, after the dinner break, no matter, you will get to see both teams bat in the evening. That is something that people who might be going to the game after work or coming home after work see as being a very significant plus for this format."



The popularity of Twenty20 cricket has left ODIs in a difficult position, somewhere between the dynamic shortest format and the traditional Test matches. England and South Africa have already reduced their one-day domestic competitions to 40 overs a side, in an effort to eliminate some of the less exciting middle overs.



The ICC has been searching for ways to keep 50-over cricket relevant, and next year's World Cup on the subcontinent could feasibly be the last one played in the existing format. Sutherland said it was hard to predict how one-day cricket would look by the time of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.



"If you're suggesting that the current playing conditions that one-day international cricket is being played under today is going to be the same in 2015, then I would suggest that it's probably not the case," Sutherland said. "There's a question there about how radically the playing conditions may have developed or changed. I honestly don't know the answer to that but what we at Cricket Australia are looking to do is to find a landing spot with a new format.



"We have also been encouraged to innovate through the ICC cricket committee, who met not long ago. They were very, very encouraging of full members looking to explore innovations within the playing conditions and certainly that's been raised at chief executive committee level in recent times."



Cricket Australia will now move to finalise the details, although it seems certain that teams will resume their second innings from the point where their first innings concluded. Sutherland said feedback from fans had played a major role in the split-innings concept, which has also been trialled this year in England's county 2nd XI competition.



Now what will be the future of cricket in this new modern world? new and new formats are coming or atleast new and new ideas are coming to make this sport more entertainin. we will wait and see how does thise new ideas will work for the betterment of the cricket !

This is cricket new for you where every new thing is possible in cricket

CRICKET NEW:MCC VS PAKISTAN

MCC has announced that MCC team will play pakistan cricket team on 27th june, 2010 at lords

Sourav Ganguly will captain MCC team that includes Brian Lara against Pakistan .The match marks the start of Pakistan's tour of England, and is part of the MCC's sponsorship of the neutral series against Australia under the Spirit of Cricket banner.




It will be the first time the MCC will playa Twenty20 match at Lord's and the team also includes Chaminda Vass, who is currently playing for Northamptonshire, Ian Harvey and Victoria batsman Aiden Blizzard. Glenn Querl, an MCC Young Cricketer, who has played for the Unicorns in the CB40 this season is also included.



"MCC is delighted to welcome to Lord's a Pakistani side who have a proven track record in Twenty20 cricket," John Stephenson, MCC's head of cricket, said. "Shahid Afridi's men will face an exciting MCC team comprising world class performers and up-and-coming talent.



"Brian Lara is one of the finest batsmen to have ever played the game and Sourav Ganguly is a world-leading Twenty20 cricketer. The match will provide spectators with a fantastic opportunity to see wonderful cricket and great cricketers."



Pakistan's tour includes two Twenty20 internationals and two Tests against Australia before they face England in four Tests, two Twenty20s and five ODIs

This is cricket new for you where everything is possible in cricket !

NEW BLOOD NEEDED in the team -WAQAR

Waqar Younis said during a press conference along with Captain Shahid Afridi in Qadaffi stadium today that the time is right for the new blood to come into the team. We have selected some new faces for the Asia cup and these new comers are immensely talented and I expect them to perform well in the Asia cup.

He further said that his job is just related to the coaching, he is not concerned with the management issues but the damage caused to the Pakistan cricket due to the recent incidents that took place which were post Australian tour is incredible and nothing more has damaged our country’s cricket then the recent issues have. The issues could have been dealt better but unfortunately they were miss handled.





For me, the first thing is to maintain discipline in the team, it is important for me to maintain discipline. You must have seen the team work in the West Indies, but this is not the end, we need to work hard on this issue. Team unity is a key to success.



Waqar further said about Shoaib Akhtar, that we don’t want him to rush back, i know how difficult is it to make a comeback after 2,3 years, you need to start from the beginnings, i hope he performs well in Srilanka, but yeah we will not be putting pressure on him. He further said, every tour is important for me.



Shahid Afridi accompanied Waqar Younis in the press conference, he said the team is balanced, I am satisfied with team combination and there is one thing that is in our hands and that is the effort, we are making effort to make a mark.

He said, he has talked to shoaib akhtar that this is a new team, so you need to maintain discipline in the team, and he was very keen to behave good.

This is cricket new for you, where every new thing in cricket is possible !

what you need to have to be a fast bowler

I was listening to Allan Donald during the mid innings break during the micro max mobile tournament in Zimbabwe yesterday. Mike haysman asked him different questions regarding how to be a fast bowler. It was really interesting to hear some really helpful comments.

During his interview, he talked about different fast bowlers like dale steyn, brett lee and Mitchell Johnson. He said the most common thing among all the fast bowlers is this that they all are natural athletes; have flexible muscles, they are physically strong and have a very good rhythmic run up.

He first talked about dale steyn, look how fit he is. He bowls around 150kph at regular interval. He is the South African spearhead for some time now. He is the fittest player in the team. He is a natural athlete with good body shape. He further said he works extremely hard on his fitness, he is a stretching maniac, even in his hotel room, he does stretching of his muscles and he also Trains hard in gym.

He then talked about brett lee. The most beautiful thing about brett lee is his smooth and attractive run up. He has injuries problems from the last 3 years or so, works extremely hard on his fitness. He is a gym fanatic. If you look at the picture attached with the blog, you can see the flexibility in his body, the front foot landing, the power in his hand, everything is just perfect.

Any new bowler who is trying to become a fast bowler can learn from what allan Donald said. Allright, let’s have a revirew and summarize what allan Donald said what you need to have to be a fast bowler,
• You must be a natural athlete
• Flexibility is the key, u must stretch your muscles as much as you can
• You must be physically very strong
• Gone are those days when you just had to do running, now you must work hard in gym to gain physical strength
• Nice, easy and smooth run up is important
• How you land your front foot is very important to generate pace
• Foot wear is a key for every bowler, sort out what suits you best
• Must do training, even if you are not playing, do it in gym or wherever you like, continuous and consistent training is important.
• To remain down to earth is also an important element to be a fast bowler.
Well if any new bowler follows these points, then he can become a great fast bowler.

This is cricket new for you, where every new thing is possible in cricket.
This is all from my side, would love your comments.

BYE BYE YUVRAJ FOR ASIA CUP

The BCCI has announced their 15 men squad for the upcoming asia cup in srilanka, surprise surprise, yuvraj singh has been left out. BCCI has selected some new faces including saurabh tiwary, the hero of Mumbai Indians in IPL. He is raw, new and talented player, we all have seen it in IPL.

Another interesting omission is of yusuf pathan, as he is also been left out, whereas ashok dinda and R ashwin has retained their place. BCCI accepted the request of sachin tendulkar of rest, as they have not selected him for the asia cup.

MS Dhoni comes back to captain a team that is bolstered by the return of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra

Saurabh tiwary is only the new face as he will be playing for the time for india. Tiwary, 20, was one of the finds for Mumbai Indians during the IPL this year, where he struck three fifties in their run to the final. That was preceded by a successful domestic season, where, playing for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy Plate League, he scored three centuries in five games at an average of 98.83.

Yuvraj has been struggling with a wrist injury and fitness problems in the recent past. He was recently issued a show cause notice by the BCCI for being involved in a pub brawl in St Lucia on the day India were knocked out of the World Twenty20. Yusuf hasn't been able to replicate his IPL success in international cricket. He has two half-centuries in 37 ODIs, and averaged just 10.50 in the World Twenty20.

Kris Srikkanth, the BCCI's chairman of selectors, said fielding and fitness were two important factors considered when picking the squad. "A lot of stress was given on the fitness of the players. Fitness and fielding are very important. We have gone through the record of last one year and put lot of stress on it. In recent past, we lost some matches or struggled in some matches because of poor fielding," he told reporters. "We also put stress on consistent performances. Lot of players have done consistently well and apart from the seniors, we have blooded some youngsters as well so that they know what international cricket is all about."

The BCCI, in its media release, stated that Tendulkar wanted to spend time with his children, in view of the hectic schedule ahead.

Squad announced for asia cup is as follows,

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary.

this is cricket new for you, where every new thing is possible in cricket !

YOUNIS FREE TO PLAY

Welll well well as everyone expected, PCB came out with another predictable decision regarding their players. Guess what, now YOUNIS KHAN is free to play. Isn’t this funny? PCB imposed life ban on him but now they have over turned their decision. At first hand, i don’t understand why the ban was imposed? Ok , fie, if the ban was imposed then why did they over turned it?

Well this thing shows that PCB is not serious, they make decisions under pressure. They try to make players obedient, but in fact, reality is this, certain players exhibit powers.

This is not enough, fine of rs 3M on captain has been finished entirely, whereas the fines on akmal brothers have been reduced to half. Don’t forgert, shahid afridi was fined due to ball tempering issue.

Ever since Shoaib Malik's one-year ban was last week, the PCB had indicated that the punishments for other players would also be lifted. At a press conference to announce Pakistan's Asia Cup squad two days ago, board chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that he had already recommended these measures to the independent arbitrator overlooking the appeals of the players. Butt staunchly defended the overturning; it wasn't a u-turn, just the following of "a constitutional process."

The decisions were announced by retired judge Irfan Qadir after the latest set of hearings on Saturday morning. Afridi, he explained, had already been punished by the ICC, which had banned him for two Twenty20 internationals, so the question of a second punishment was not on. "The ICC has written a letter to the PCB indicating that the second punishment is wrong," Qadir told reporters after the hearings in Lahore. "I must appreciate that Afridi accepted his wrongdoing. He accepted that he should not have done it but since he realised it himself I thought that was good and so removed the order on him."

Much the same reasoning was applied to the Akmal brothers, whose fines have been reduced to Rs1 million. The brothers accepted their mistakes. "They were candid in accepting their disciplinary issues. The PCB wanted to halve the fines [Kamran was fined Rs3 million] but I felt all players should now be treated on a par and so brought it down to Rs1 million."

The orders leave undecided for now the fate of only two from the seven originally punished. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is likely to get the same relief at his next hearing on June 19, while it is still a mystery that whether M. Yousuf would make a come back or not as he had already annouved his retirement and even afridi insisted him to play in engalnd tour, he didn’t take his retirement back.

Ijaz butt said, we just followed our constitution, which allows palyers to appeal again st such bans. However, he admitted that other factors came into play. "There were many appeals from many quarters which asked us to reconsider the punishments. For example the national assembly committee on sports met and the chairman asked me, after detailed discussions with a number of people, to review the decisions. I said there is an appeals process already in place and it is on and we are looking at it as we should and that we will review them. The independent arbitrator was appointed and he took into account many things before coming to this. A process has been followed."

Butt further said that we will certainly not tolerate any indiscipline in the team, if any player mis behaves during asia cup or England tour, i have given the authority to captain and team manager to send the player back without any delay.

We will wait and see how the players will behave after PCB’s attitude. It is just a matter of time that some of our’s questions will be answered. We hope Pakistan do well in asia cup and engalnd tour, but honestly saying with this attitude of PCB, only players are getting stronger and stronger.

This is cricket new for you, where everything is possible in cricket.

This is all from our side, we will welcome your comments.

CRICKET NEW: PONTING NOT WORRIED FROM AFRIDI

Ricky Ponting said he is confident that Australia can get the better of Shahid Afridi, the new Pakistan captain, during their two Test matches in England in July. Surprisingly Afridi has not played a Test since 2006 and in 44 games against Australia across all formats, he has only ever scored one half-century.

Interestingly Afridi will be the third man to captain Pakistan in Tests since the start of 2009 and Ponting is not worried about him as he is not one of Pakistan's best 11 Test players. Ponting said he was confident Australia's pace attack would be able to counter Afridi's attacking style in the five-day game.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure we do," Ponting told AAP. "He hasn't played much Test cricket of late, has he? If you read between the lines he's almost in there as that leader and captain, not necessarily one of their best Test players. So we'll test him out.

"Even in the one -dayers in Australia last season with our quicks bowling the way they did to him, I think we can sort him out in Test cricket for sure. I see Shoaib Malik's life ban has been lifted as well, so who knows what happens around their set-up, but we know they're a dangerous team.

"I guess with him being captain of the Twenty20 side it was a natural progression for him to be the Test captain with all the rest of the guys they've tried there not having succeeded. But that's all irrelevant stuff to us, it doesn't matter who's captain and it doesn't matter who's playing, we just have to make sure we're focusing on our little things to be the best team we can be when we play them."

Australia will play ashed series after PAKISTAN matches so he added;
"I guess we speak pretty loosely don't we about looking forward to the Ashes and all that, and we are, but it's not with both eyes," he said. "We've got one eye on that and one eye on what we need to get in place to make sure we're the best team we can be for November."

It will be interesting to note that what strategies will be employed by Shahid afridi against Australia as Australia has aleady started the verbal battle and we all know how good Aussies are in their verbal battle and of the field strategies to pressurize the opponents. I m eagerly waiting for Shahidf Afridi's comment about AUSTRALIA

well this is CRICKET NEW for where every NEW thing is possible in CRICKET !

THIS IS all from my side, your comments will be welcomed

Malcolm Speed slams move to block Howard

Malcolm Speed, the former chief executive of the ICC, believes it is "outrageous" that Zimbabwe and South Africa are pushing to block John Howard's nomination as the ICC's president-designate. However, Speed is confident that Howard will gain the support of India and have his nomination confirmed.

"There is some irony in this," Speed told the Australian. "Zimbabwe throughout has said 'you must come and play against us for the sake of our cricket. You can't have politics in cricket, you can't make political considerations', and the ICC has consistently endorsed that position

read the full story on the following link,
Malcolm Speed slams move to block Howard

CRICKET NEW: CRICKET SOON IN USA

The following interview of Lockerbie ( USA cricket CEO) has been taken from CRICINFO's timeout

"In 1994, the soccer World Cup took place, and it generated great interest in the sport and it was followed by the Major League Soccer which started in 1996, two years later," Lockerbie said. "We are looking to do that too. We would love for the ICC to look at the United States in the future for some ICC events.






"We are well under way in a planning situation wherein we are working towards professionalisation of cricket in the US," he said. "We are working towards equalising what some of the other Associate nations like Ireland, Scotland, Holland and Canada have been able to do recently; beginning to put some of their players on professional retainers, and some of these players are now travelling and playing all over the world and getting IPL opportunities. We need to do that in the United States, and along with that will come a professional league."





USA recently hosted a Twenty20 series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and Lockerbie said that was the first step towards getting more fans to the game. "We are looking to bring in the best teams in the world," he said. "Even 14 years after the Major League Soccer started in the United States they are averaging 14,000, 17,000, 18,000 people to a match, which isn't too bad. But when Barcelona comes to play Manchester United in Philadelphia they have 90,000. Why is that? When Mexico plays the United States, they can get 100,000 at the Rose Bowl. So the point is that the soccer has a good history now of being positive. By bringing in 'Destination USA,' events, and what we think was a successful Sri Lanka-New Zealand series, we start that way."





The potential for investing in cricket in the US remained huge, Lockerbie said, given the country's infrastructure and record for hosting sporting events with success. "Well, our little game is the second most popular sport in the world, as I view it, behind football. With the great interest from the rest of the world, in the United States, people want to do business in United States. We believe that we are on our way to corporate sponsorship, investment in US cricket, development of facilities.





"The mayor of Indianapolis is very serious about building a cricket stadium; Indianapolis is often called the sports capital of the United States. The Indianapolis 500 just took place the other day, with 500,000 fans at the event, the world largest one-day sporting event. We know how to put on events, and their attitude is - cricket is the second most popular sport in the world and why wouldn't there be a stadium in Indianapolis.





"The city of New York has said to us that one day they would like to have a cricket venue, and they could see themselves as the capital of cricket in the United States. We could become the capital of cricket in the western hemisphere. This is a very big step, and I am hoping to work with my board of directors, our investors, and sponsors, to make that happen in the next three or five years."





In addition to making the United States, with its large untapped fan base, a prime destination for international cricket, Lockerbie stated two other main goals: ensuring the US national team qualifies for the 2015 World Cup and developing a youth programme by taking cricket to the schools.





While conceding Twenty20 cricket was the spark to draw more support for the game in the US, Lockerbie said that Tests and ODIs too, if played by the right teams, stood the potential to take off. "That's [T20] is the perfect storm for us. We are better organised, and there is growing interest. Even in the last five-six years, the amount of immigrants moving to the United States, who are cricket crazy, has just doubled and tripled. So we are ready to go with that perfect storm, the Twenty20 game.





"In the right city, with the right demographics, with the right two teams playing, I don't see why four-five day cricket is any different than Phil Mickelson teeing off on Thursday and winning a golf tournament on Sunday. You've had 60,000 people walking that golf course. Now if India plays almost anybody in a Test match, say in New York, we will have 40,000-50,000 people there."