The International Cricket Council (ICC) sent out a media release today proclaiming the availability and accessibility of scores, news, and information for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup through a revamped website and across a wide range of social media. So it is time to announce that initial versions of video from two of the talks about cricket development given at the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) Sports Forum on December 5, 2014 are now available on YouTube.
The first of these videos is about “The ICC’s Role in Cricket Development”. This video is the talk given by ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Ben Kavenagh during the morning session. It outlines the ICC’s global role in developing cricket in ICC Affiliate and ICC Associate countries but has a focus on the ICC Americas Region, and Canada in particular. Although the fact that the USA has the second largest TV cricket market in the world gains significant mention.
The second video recounts what Ingleton Liburd, General Manager of Cricket Canada, said about “Cricket Development in Canada”. He was drafted onto the cricket panel at short notice as a result of Cricket Canada’s President not being able to attend the ICCC Sports Forum.
This talk includes a very brief history of cricket in Canada, based on September 1884 when Canada played and beat the USA in the first international cricket match, and 1979 when Canada qualified along with then ICC Associate country Sri Lanka from the ICC Trophy to play in the 1979 ICC World Cup. The gap in international cricketing progress between Sri Lanka and Canada since 1979 is addressed by Ingleton Liburd, some of whose thoughts about cricket development follow a similar path to Ben Kavenagh’s overall thoughts on the broader picture of moving cricket forward in developing countries with significant cricket potential.
The current versions of these videos do not include any fancy graphics, and drop back to the golden age of the silent movie for some of the titles and identification of the cricket panel’s moderator – Mukesh Narula, Canada’s current National Coach – and the specific cricket panel speakers in these initial videos, Ben Kavenagh and Ingleton Liburd. The two other panelists were Monali Patel (Canadian women’s international and a qualified cricket coach) and Binoy Thomas (Editor of “The Weekly Voice”).
Videos of other presentations during the morning session of the ICCC Sports Forum will be released in due course. An expanded version of Ingleton Liburd’s talk may emerge to include photos, and possibly action video, of some of the Canadian players and officials he mentions. In the short term it would not become “Cricket and the Meaning of Life” ten years after the original version was released by the National Film Board of Canada. But potential exists for a “fancy” version of cricket’s recent history in Canada and on the international stage.
A TV news camera, possibly two, were present for the opening minutes of the ICCC Sports Forum. I had taken a small video camera to the event as a standby without any great intent of producing what will become the main record of what was said during the morning session.
Unfortunately, I was not able to stay for the afternoon session.
But for now, the video of the two talks about cricket development becomes accessible for a broader audience than attended December’s event in Brampton. Thanks should be given to the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for hosting this Sports Forum and giving Canadian cricket the chance to “own the podium” for a couple of hours.
“The ICC Role in Cricket Development” can be found at …… “Cricket Development in Canada can be found at…..
Eddie Norfolk, Toronto, Ontario, Canada February 12, 2015