From the Dec 5, 2014 ICCC Sport Forum
\nBen Kavenagh (ICC Americas Regional Development Manager) provided useful insight into the International Cricket Council\u2019s (ICC\u2019s) role in the development around the globe and in the ICC Americas Region at the recent Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce Sports Forum (December 5, 2014).\tKavenagh was the opening speaker of the morning forum about \u201ccricket as an emerging sport in Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ICC Americas Region extends from the north pole to the south pole from Alaska and the Great White North down to the tip of South America where Argentina and Chile share a border that has some disputed lines drawn on different versions of the map.
\nCricket Canada\u2019s General Manager, Ingleton Liburd, became the second speaker as Cricket Canada President, Vimal Hardat had dropped out of the panel on the eve of the forum. Liburd\u2019s perspective on cricket\u2019s development in Canada in recent years was built around what Ben Kavenagh had said about developing cricket on a global basis.
\nIngelton Liburd\u2019s talk began with a very brief outline of the history of Canada in international cricket and moved to the themes of the development, administration and operation of cricket in recent years in Canada. An outline of Ingleton Liburd\u2019s opening address at the cricket forum has been included, but a more detailed account is likely to appear at a later date.
\nEfforts are being made to create and publish video of the main talks, and some passages from the question and answer passages. Initial verions have been created, which may provide some optimism that they may become accessible via the internet in the not too distant future. Possibly some will be accessible in time to welcome 2015, proclaimed as the Year of Sport in Canada by the Governor General.
\nA Contrast: West Indies and Canada Development: April 2007 and December 2014
\nThe international cricket family came together recently in the tradition of following the true spirit of cricket as a result of the death of Australia\u2019s Philip Hughes. Ingleton Liburd spoke about cricket development in Canada in the last six years. But let us brielly look back to April 2007, and see where some then Under-15 players now stand in global cricket in December 2014. .
\nTwo of five young Canadian cricketers currently in Barbados with potential to be picked for a Caribbean Premier League team have been selected to play for Canada in ICC World Cricket League Division Two in January 2015. These two players had been selected in 2007 for the ICC Americas Under-15 team that played in the CLICO International Under-15 championships.
\nThese Canadian two players are Nitesh Kumar and Nikhil Dutta. Both played in ICC Americas opening game of the 2007 CLICO tournament against Kenya Under-15s in Barbados. ICC Americas won that game on April 20, 2007. The ICC Americas team\u2019s last game of the tournament was played at the ground in Scarborough, Tobago, where the Canadian women\u2019s team had played a couple of weeks earlier when on a tour of Trinidad and Tobago.
\nThe CLICO tournament began with Kraigg Brathwaite, currently playing for the West Indies in the first test against South Africa, hitting a century for the West Indies U15’s that helped his team to victory against Malaysia U15 at the Kensington Oval. A game played one day before ICC Americas met Kenya.
\nWest Indies current test match is being played on the ground in Centurion, South Africa where John Davison hit a quick World Cup century for Canada in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. South Africa scored quite a few runs on the opening day, but when West Indies bat, the two openers are due to be Brathwaite and Devon Smith, a Grenadian who played for Limers Lords in the Elite Division of the Toronto and District Cricket Association during 2014.<\/p>\n
A potted history of cricket history and development in Canada
\nCricket Canada\u2019s General Manager, Ingleton Liburd, became the second speaker as Cricket Canada President, Vimal Hardat had dropped out of the panel on the eve of the forum. Liburd\u2019s perspective on cricket\u2019s development in Canada in recet years was built around what Ben Kavenagh had said about developing cricket on a global basis. But it began with a very brief outline of the history of Canada in international cricket. .
\n\u201cA few years ago\u201d Canada played and won the first international cricket match against the USA. (In modern sportsfan thinking \u201cwe were number 1″ back in September 1844). Canada played in the first qualifying competition for a Cricket World Cup in 1979. The Canadian team won one of two available qualifying spots in the actual world cup competition, did Sri Lanka. Canada and Sri Lanka were both ICC Associate countries at the time.
\nIngelton Liburd\u2019s moved on to note Sri Lanka\u2019s place among the leading cricket nations in the modern era, and contrasted it with Canada\u2019s current status.\tCanada had failed to quality for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, after playing in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 tournaments.
\nCanada\u2019s recent failings on the international field since the last World Cup has seen the national team drop down the international rankings with the related loss of a place in the ICC\u2019s High Performance rankings and the loss of access to the higher funding that High Performance countries receive.
\nThis has happened despite significant growth in the number of players, particularly juniors, and some development programs that have began to take shape in Canada during the last six years or so. Some of the development programs had been created by Cricket Canada working with the ICC and ICC Americas Regional Office.
\nIngleton Liburd spoke of a need for those involved in the administration and operation of Canadian domestic cricket to work together. While guests, speakers, members of the Indo- Canadian Chamber of Commerce and some from the media been gathering before the forum
\nbegan, some of the cricket panel had talked about not knowing how the various leagues are structured and operate in this country.
\nICC\u2019s Global and Regional Roles
\nMukesh Narula, moderator of the panel discussions about\u201ccricket as an emerging sport in Canada\u201d , asked Ben Kavengh what wass the ICC\u2019s thinking in developing cricket around the globe and his ideas on why the game was growing so fast around the world. He also asked about the ICC Development group\u2019s role in developing cricket in countries such as Canada.
\n\u201cI think everybody knows here the move to twenty over cricket ten, twenty years ago or whenever it actually started, has been an absolutely critical thing for cricket to actually grow,\u201d said Ben Kavenagh. \u201cThe traditional form of this game as, again, most people in this country are well aware of, is a fantastic thing. But it wasn\u2019t thriving and it wasn\u2019t necessarily a sport that was fantastic in attracting new people. You\u2019ve got to spend days in an outfield and you\u2019ve got to have significant equipment.and all this sort of thing.\u201d
\nKavenagh concluded \u201cSo, in fact, the move to T20 cricket, I think, has made the game much more accessible to new audiences particularly young people, particularly women. and the colours that go with it, and the excitement is bringing new audiences. So what\u2019s happened is that the IPL (Indian Premier League) in India and the various T20 competitions happening around the world brought colour and glamour to the sport. It\u2019s really attracting new audiences. So that\u2019s massively exciting.\u201d
\nICC\u2019s Development Ambitions for Cricket
\n\u201cWhat the ICC is trying to do, in my particular area is working with developing cricket countries. So we know there\u2019s the test playing nations (the ten ICC Full Members). That\u2019s separate to the program I\u2019m involved in\u201d said Kavenagh. \u201c I\u2019m involved in a program that basically involves about 90 other members (the ICC Affiliate and ICC Associate members) From there, I\u2019ve go approximately one fifth of that, which is the Americas Region.\u201d
\nJust an interesting stat. I think there\u2019s sixteen countries (in the ICC Americas Region). Between Canada and the US eightysix per cent (86%) of the players in the sixteen countries come from those two countries. So clearly our focus is in Canada and the US.\u201d
\n\u201cTo be blunt, there\u2019s also massive commercial interest in these two countries as well. Commercial opportunities, One statistic that most people do not know is that the second biggest TV rights in the world comes out of the USA, which is not even, I suppose, a known cricket country. So there\u2019s massive interest in cricket continuing better here. There\u2019s a lot of benefits to everybody if that happens.\u201d
\n.\u201d So we\u2019re here (ICC is here) to work with the (national) bodies, but, again, the bodies run cricket in these countries and we (ICC), basically, are a support mechanism to them We like to see the countries set out their plans, set out your budgets, set out your goals, and we can say in what areas can we (ICC) help out in those particular areas. But you guys need to run it (cricket in your country) and you guys have to dictate (where you are going) and we will complement that in areas we think can help you grow the game.\u201d
\nKavenagh emphasized, \u201cFrom my office\u2019s point of view, I\u2019ve got to see grass roots and stuff, We want to see cricket bats with kids who are playing on the streets that the Minister spoke about. We\u2019ve go to see people teaching cricket and administering cricket that are really well educated running good programs so the kids want to keep flowing through that. Obviously there are opportunities for growing TV rights and internet. Potentially touring sides, you mentioned about how top-down exposure flows and could complement this interest that is generated in the game.\u201d
\nSo, attacking it at lots of different angles, which we need to,\u201d concluded Ben Kavenagh, \u201cwith Cricket Canada\u2019s guidance this method does work.\u201d
\nPanel moderator Mukesh Narula thanked Ben Kavenagh for providing this overview on the ICC\u2019s role in helping countries develop cricket. Out of ninety countries, Ben controls about one- fifth of them. Narula then mentioned that \u201cany game could do with a bit of funding and support.\u201d
\nEarlier, in his the keynote address to the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) Sports Forum, Canada\u2019s Federal Minister of State for Sports. Mr. Bal Gosal, had told the audience that Sport Canada currently has recognized 56 national sports governing bodies Each of these bodies has the potential to file a request for support each year. Sport Canada has managed to retain an annual budget of $200 million in each of the last three years, despite cutbacks in other areas.
\nEddie Norfolk (Based on reviewing video of the event) .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the Dec 5, 2014 ICCC Sport Forum Ben Kavenagh (ICC Americas Regional Development Manager) provided useful insight into the International Cricket Council\u2019s (ICC\u2019s) role in the development around the globe and in the ICC Americas Region at the recent Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce Sports Forum (December 5, 2014). Kavenagh was the opening speaker of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6875,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/6875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}