OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

Status without profile - a quiet start for new T20I countries

by Bertus de Jong • Published on

Nepal are unique amongst associates in needing little help to build a profile © Getty

Just over 9 months ago it was announced, with some fanfare and to general acclaim, that T20 International status would be extended to all 104 (now 105) of the ICC's members. For the women's game the change was rolled out on July 1st last year, for the men's it took effect on January 1st. At Oman's new Al-Amarat facility this week, the first matches to be affected by the change are underway, as Saudi Arabia, the Maldives, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain contest the ACC Western Regional T20, with all matches accorded T20I status. As with the first such women's matches last year, they have attracted no fanfare and little attention, even from the ICC itself.

The blanket extension of status was rightly welcomed at the time, insofar as it will go some way toward normalising the sport and legitimising lower ranked sides, especially in the view of national sports bodies, and hopefully open avenues to securing non-ICC funding for Associate sides. Nonetheless, those hoping it would substantially raise the profile of the Associates within the game will be disappointed, especially with the ICC media department's own apparent indifference.

The governing body's media channels have long shown a regrettable tendency to excitedly promote Full Member bilaterals and domestic T20 leagues around the world while paying scant attention to Associate cricket, or even to their own events - an 2018 retrospective video put together by the ICC tellingly made not a single mention of Associate teams or tournaments - and the extension of blanket status to Associate T20s does not seem to have changed things. Women's tournaments in Colombia and Botswana last summer flew under the radar, even as records fell.

Botswana's Botsogo Mpedi's figures of 6-4 against Lesotho in August were the best ever in Women's T20s, until her record was broken five months later by Malaysia's Mas Zulkifli taking 6-3 against China in Bangkok last week. The record for largest margin of victory by runs has been broken four times since June; when India and then Pakistan took the record at the Asia Cup it warranted a press release, when it later passed first to Namibia and then to the UAE it went entirely unremarked upon, at least by the ICC.

The lack of profile afforded to the ongoing tournament in Oman suggests such oversights will not be restricted to the women's game. As veteran Associate journalist Andrew Nixon remarked on twitter "after three days of the ACC Western Region men's T20I tournament, the answer is that it's not women's cricket, it's associate cricket [the ICC] don't care about." Though the ACC are providing live scores from Muscat, the ICC's site lacks even full scorecards days after the games are completed. Whilst there were concerns raised at the time over the impact that universal status would have on the integrity and credibility of records in T20 internationals, a better question might have been "if records fall, will anyone even notice?"

As it happens the ACC WRT20 has not produced the same sort of record-breaking performances and eyebrow-raising scorelines that the women's game has seen in recent months, with the Gulf Coast Countries looking fairly evenly matched, though the Maldives has struggled somewhat. The islanders are yet to register a win at the tournament, though they were just two wickets away from a win in their match against table-toppers Bahrain. Second-placed Qatar trail their neighbours across the water only on net run rate, also undefeated after edging out Kuwait in a Super Over following their tied opening game. With four of the five sides still in with a shot at making Thursday's final the tournament looks set for a tense denouement, but few will see it.

With the onus on Associate boards to build their own profile, it's welcome news that the upcoming limited overs series between the United Arab Emirates and Nepal will be streamed live by the Emirates board, albeit likely only with a single camera set-up. The series will kick off on Friday with the first of three ODIs at the ICC Academy Ground at Dubai, followed by three T20Is at the same venue, starting from the 31st.

The series will be the Emiratis' first under stand-in skipper Mohammad Naveed, as regular captain Rohan Mustafa sits out along with Ahmed Raza and Rameez Shahzad. The three are currently serving suspension on disciplinary grounds, after they publicly criticised the facilities at the Southend Club ground in Karachi during the ACC Emerging Teams Cup, making their frustrations known on social media after rain and leaking covers put an end to their semi-final hopes.

The absence of three senior players inevitably weakens the UAE side, with Mustafa and Shahzad having been the Emirates' stand-out performers over the past year, but perhaps not so much as it might have a few years ago. The UAE bench-strength has improved markedly of late, in part aided by the relaxing of ICC eligibility criteria but also owing to a youth system that's beginning to bear fruit. The experienced Tahir Mughal and CP Rizwan come into the squad together with under 19s skipper Fahad Nawaz.

There's some new faces in the Nepal touring party too, with four more youngsters called up to join a squad in which the places of the old guard look increasingly insecure. Batting prospects Sundeep Jora and Bhim Sharki, right arm seamer Avinash Bohora and all-rounder Pawan Sarraf are the latest youth graduates pressing for a place in the senior side.

With legions of fans back home and a habit of providing nail-biting finishes on the field, Nepal are unique amongst associates in needing little help to build a profile. It can be safely assumed that millions will be glued to the mono-camera feed streamed out of Dubai next week, but though the recent and rightly-praised reforms of the competition structures mean there will be more Associate cricket on offer than ever this year, the ICC still seem regrettably reluctant to draw attention to it.

© Cricbuzz

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