Cricket Round the World has reached a century in its 14th year. The inclusion here of Indonesia, Lesotho, Mongolia, Myanmar, Niue and Sudan takes the total of countries, regions and territories included, since the feature began in Wisden 1993, to 103, girdling the globe from the Arctic (see Canada, below) to Antarctica. Reports of cricket in improbable places are always welcome. Please contact Tony Munro at wcrtw2006@yahoo.com.au.
AFGHANISTAN
The 16-team provincial tournament, organised in Kabul in August 2005,
might have been routine anywhere else. But Afghanistan is not like anywhere
else. The Afghanistan Cricket Federation had organised funding
from several different sources, but still could not afford to pay for the
players' accommodation.
Hotels in Kabul are expensive, the prices pushed up by Western journalists and businessmen. Even a very low-quality room costs $4 in a country where a labourer's daily wages are less than $2. For instance, the two teams from Logar Province - Logar Cricket Association and the Azam Khan Cricket Academy - were put up in a farmhouse belonging to some of Azam's relatives.
As they had more than 30 players and support staff, the farm soon ran out of rooms. So a big tent was erected outside. But Kabul nights are chilly, and there were not enough blankets, let alone beds. Some had to sleep on the bare earth. There were also transport problems, because the farmhouse was a long way from the ground. Other teams had similar difficulties. Even the national team's players cannot afford their own bat, pads or even boots. There is plenty of talent but hardly any infrastructure, cricketing or otherwise. Two turf pitches have been laid in Kabul, but elsewhere things are much tougher.
Azam Khan's home village of Dabar is a case in point. It is about ten miles away from the only paved road in the province. The local cricket ground is two miles away. Some players ride their bikes while others walk; whenever a vehicle passes, it creates a shower of dust all over their faces. One needs to take a shower before every game. ANDREW BANKS
AUSTRIA
Andrew Simpson-Parker stood down from the Austrian Cricket Association
after eight years as chairman; his contribution, on and off the pitch, has
been inestimable, and he signed off with 195 not out, the second-highest
score ever in Austria. Austria CC Wien completed a double of League and ACA Trophy (North), with most of their players aged under 20. Graz CC was founded, and finished runners-up in the ACA Trophy (South), losing to Salzburg in the final. The British Embassy in Vienna also started a team. Against the Embassy in Bratislava, the Ambassador to Austria, John McGregor, was dismissed by the Ambassador to Slovakia, his wife Judith. MIKE BAILEY
BELGIUM
Belgium were promoted from affiliate to associate membership of ICC in
2005. To celebrate, the midsummer rain finally cleared, and Belgium hosted
the European Affiliates Championship in August, but lost the final to Norway.
The Under-15 side lost to the Isle of Man by 11 runs in the European Cricket
Council final in Rome. The Under-17s, meanwhile, were just off to India.
Overall, it was a far cry from the early 1990s, when international cricket
meant a day trip to Eindhoven. At home, there were two new clubs: Arcadians
CC from Flanders, and Seraing CC from Wallonia maintained the regional
balance, and took Belgian cricket to 14 clubs and ten grounds. Royal Brussels
CC won the Championship. They were led by Italian international Benito
Giordano, the head of the West Yorkshire office in Brussels. Who said there
are no real Europeans? COLIN WOLFE
BERMUDA
The euphoria surrounding Bermuda's qualification for the 2007 World Cup
dissipated when the annual Cup Match, described by the Royal Gazette as
"the island's most cherished sporting institution", was disfigured by a punchup.
Cup Match, a two-day game between Bermuda's biggest clubs, Somerset
and St George, was being staged for the 102nd time in July 2005 when St
George's fast bowler, George O'Brien, allegedly punched Somerset batsman
Stephen Outerbridge on the jaw, after Outerbridge had apparently spat at
him. O'Brien took 11 wickets in his team's first Cup win since 2000, watched
each day by 7,000, more than a tenth of Bermuda's population. Both men
were forced to issue public apologies, and St George's skipper, Herbie
Bascome, was sacked as the national Under-19 coach. The Bermuda Cricket
Board did, however, send O'Brien for winter training in Brisbane (as well
as an anger-management course) and named both men in their provisional
World Cup squad, along with David Hemp, the Bermuda-born Glamorgan
batsman.
CANADA
Canada clinched a place in the 2007 World Cup, earning a vital win over
Holland, their first against them in four years, in the ICC Trophy in Ireland.
This will be Canada's third appearance in the finals. But they failed to
qualify for either the Intercontinental Cup semi-finals or the 2006 Under-
19 World Cup. The senior team's stars, John Davison and Ian Billcliff
(responsible for almost two-fifths of the team's runs in Ireland), were
unavailable for the Intercontinental Cup. Australian-based Davison had a finger injury, while Billcliff was unable to get time off from his teaching
post in New Zealand. The Under-19s suffered a shock defeat to the USA.
Centurions, skippered by former Sri Lanka Test player Pubudu Dassanayake,
captured their fourth Toronto & District Cricket Association (TDCA) title
in five years. One club, Yorkshire, were involved in three ties in the
competition, two of them in succession. Indian-born medium-pacer Saurab
Patel took seven for seven from three overs for Tranzac against Brampton
Trinity in a TDCA third division match. RON FANFAIR
British explorers Matt Coates and Matthew Hancock were forced to give up their attempt to walk to the Magnetic North Pole in March 2005 after Hancock suffered frostbite. However, just before being rescued, they did succeed in playing what was claimed to be the most northerly cricket ever, on the Arctic ice close to the Reindeer Peninsula (78°45´N, 104°03´W). "We managed to get an inflatable bat and stumps,'' Coates said. "Unfortunately, it was minus 45°C at the time, and they broke into a thousand pieces. So we turned the ski poles into stumps and used a ski as a bat. We did have a real cricket ball and a snowman for a fielder. Matt Hancock played one really beautiful sweep shot, even with his frostbite.''
CHINA
In partnership with New Zealand Cricket, Shanghai CC trained ten Level
One coaches in 2005, including the first two Chinese coaches, both women.
However, there was no immediate sign of results from the much-publicised
partnership between the Asian Cricket Council and the Ministry of Multi-
Sports, although they did run one course in Beijing and are planning another
for Kunming. Cricket in Shanghai continued to boom: league standards
improved; a Social League was added to encourage Chinese and women
cricketers; and the International Sixes in 2005 had Ian Healy, Omar Henry,
Dean Jones and Derek Underwood as star guests. Healy was named bowler
of the tournament, but the Van Hessen Hot Dogs made history by becoming
the first local club to win it. Many fixtures in Shanghai had to start earlier
in the day because a new apartment complex next to the ground blocked
out the late-afternoon sun. MIKE TSEMELIS
DENMARK
Cricket suffered a setback in 2005 when 20 minor sports were deprived of
their support from the state-controlled Team Danmark. The most high-profile
fixture of the year also went badly: Denmark were routed by Northamptonshire
in their C&G game in May after water seeped under the covers. It is
hard for the Danes to take on top-class opposition so early in the season. "We
are forced to produce grass pitches and it is only a few weeks since the polar
bears were walking in the Copenhagen streets," said Soren Nissen, chairman
of the Svanholm club. Skanderborg claimed a third successive Danish
Championship after beating Svanholm in a play-off. PETER S. HARGREAVES
FRANCE
The national team, which beat Kent in March at the Le Touquet indoor
international tournament, also won all their four traditional friendlies against
Germany and Belgium. But the highlight of the season was a two-day match
against MCC at Dreux. France lost by two wickets, but their wicketkeeper
Wasim Bhatti scored 108 and was man of the match. Nallur Stains won the
French championship for the first time, and an Under-15 championship was
created. Dreux won this title at the Bagatelle ground, where cricket dates
back to 1866. OLIVIER DUBAUT
GERMANY
The wettest season for a long time left many players, umpires and especially
scorers with the Duckworth/Lewis blues. Despite this, the adoption of the
50-over format for one-day games was highly successful. For the first time
in their history, the British Army (Germany) were beaten by a North Rhine
XI. And on a surprisingly rain-free day in September, Cologne CC won the
national championship. WRAYE WENIGMANN
HONG KONG
The good news was that Hong Kong established two new grounds at Po
Kong Village: the bad news that we may not be able to use these beyond
2008. Ground development remains the priority for the Association: due to
the lack of an international venue, Hong Kong currently have to play
home internationals in Bangkok. There are increasing numbers of players,
especially juniors and women, but this puts even more pressure on ground
availability. JOHN CRIBBIN
INDONESIA
In 2000, Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country with more
than 200 million inhabitants, had about ten indigenous cricketers. Now the
figure is around 8,000, and in 2005 an Under-15 national team took part
in the first East Asia Pacific tournament, beating Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and
Japan. This growth had significant help from ICC, who helped upgrade the
administration, train coaches and target primary schools for development.
The most unusual event in the calendar is the Bajo Cricket 20s held near
the Komodo National Park in Flores. Through the energy of one Indonesian,
Laurence Johani, the game has entered a whole new area. In the Bajo 20s
players walk barefoot through the bush to play on a mud wicket carved
out of a buffalo paddock. Foreign players can enjoy a raw and joyful form
of cricket, go to watch Komodo dragons and dive on pristine biodiverse
coral reefs. ALAN WILSON
ISRAEL
South Africa had their cricketing disappointments against Australia in
2005-06, but it was a different story at the 17th Maccabiah Games, the
multi-sports tournaments for the world's Jewish community. Cricket returned
to the games after an eight-year absence with teams from five countries
(Australia, Britain, India, Israel and South Africa) and an Under-18
tournament for the first time as well as a senior event. South Africa did have
one huge advantage: they were captained by the Test batsman, Adam Bacher.
Content to let other players take the stage in earlier games, Bacher came
into his own against Australia in the final, with a century that set up a 212-
run win, watched by Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive. The British
took bronze, beating Israel. Australian captain Jonathan Weinstock was
named man of the tournament for his batting and wicketkeeping performances.
The South African spinner Daniel Harrisberg took the award in the
junior competition, also won by South Africa, but with Israel second. At the
Under-19 World Cup qualifier in Scotland, Israel won four successive games
until beaten by Gibraltar in the final. Batsman Danny Hotz, who averaged
over 90 in the earlier games, pulled out of this because he is an Orthodox
Jew, and the match was on Saturday. At home, Lions Lod won the league
for the fifth time in six years but they lost their first league game in four
years, against Tel Aviv. STANLEY PERLMAN
ITALY
Twenty20 cricket came to Italy in the silver jubilee season of Italian cricket.
It was the format used for the Italian Cup and Pianoro, who lost their
championship title to Gallicano, gained their revenge. In this tournament
sides were allowed to play as many foreign players as they wanted - but
Pianoro gained their victory fielding a team with eight Italians. SIMONE
GAMBINO
JAPAN
Japan earned promotion to associate membership of ICC. The men's team
marked the occasion by winning the six-nation East Asia Pacific Cup in
Vanuatu, pulling off a remarkable win over the Cook Islands, who needed
just ten to win with three wickets standing. But Naoki Miyaji took all three
wickets in two overs to give Japan a seven-run win, and their first
international title. They were welcomed back by banner-waving cricketers
at the airport gate. Japan also hosted a successful MCC tour. Millennium
CC won the Kanto Cricket League, the premier domestic competition; this
was the first time a predominantly Japanese team had won the title.
Millennium celebrated in the manner of Japanese baseball teams, by tossing
the captain into the air as high as possible. MASAAKI ITI
LESOTHO
The old heavy roller lies alone and desolate on the edge of what used to
be Lesotho's main cricket ground, alongside the Maseru Club. It is all that
remains of the game that once thrived among British expatriates in the old
protectorate of Basutoland, totally surrounded by South Africa. Other
cricketing bits and pieces were carted over the South African border, and
the field is now devoted to football, with the roller looking on forlornly. But
cricket is clinging on: it is played on Sunday afternoons on roll-out matting
on a local college field. The most regular players now are Asian expatriates,
but the game has picked up among youngsters of school age, both boys and
girls. Lesotho ranks officially among the ICC's affiliate countries, along with
the likes of Ghana, Malawi and Mozambique; but when Mozambique paid
a visit to Lesotho in mid-2005, they were far superior to a team with ten
Basotho players. Despite this, Lesotho Cricket Association chairman
Majorobela Sakoane is full of optimism: "We hit bottom and now we're
beginning to climb again," he says. COLIN MACBETH
MONGOLIA
It started with a Scotsman, Wilf McKee, who gradually collected the kit and
the trophy. In 2002 and 2003, there were season-long competitions between
India and Rest of the World, with over 20 regulars. Every week, the match
was written up in the Ulaanbaatar Post, the local English language
newspaper. The September finals, played in the National Stadium, used the
same bit of grass where enormous Mongolian wrestlers had just been fighting
for the national championship: nice stadium, uneven bounce. Everyone
played with the abandon of beginners; running between the wickets was
joyful and selfish, as the UB Post reported. "We were entertained with one
of the typical traditional and spectacular run-outs that combine lunacy, beauty
and tragedy in a few anarchic seconds, bringing tears to the eyes of even
the most hardened observers."
Cricket continues now, but less regularly. And we have never equalled Mongolia's only golf course in terms of harnessing the locals' skills. Due to the length of the grass, they employed mounted spotters, who charged away on horseback after every drive to follow the ball's path. Our outfield, after the rain starts, is so slow that the only way of getting the ball anywhere is heaving it up in the air, and aiming for a fielder who can't catch. The weather is unpredictable, and dust storms, snow and violent thunder can all appear rapidly from a clear sky, but the surrounding mountains make for a spectacular backdrop, whatever the weather.
Other local factors: anybody who bowls fast to a newcomer is looked down upon; underarm bowling is allowed; it is difficult to make the Americans not throw the bat away after hitting and to run straight instead of in circles (one Mongolian hit the ball and ran to the fence to get his four runs); catches are dropped intentionally to make the game interesting and chivalrous. We do allow beers and smokes on the field. RICHARD SANDALL AND BABU JOSEPH
MYANMAR
Viewed by many as a throwback to the country's colonial past, cricket here
has often struggled for acceptance, and until recently had all but died out.
Due to the country's political isolation, it may be some time yet before there
is any repeat of the MCC matches against Rangoon Gymkhana and All-
Burma (Maurice Tate had match figures of ten for 72) in 1926-27. But, led
by one of Myanmar's most famous action movie stars, 65-year-old Nyunt
Win, who began playing when he was nine, the game is enjoying a small
revival. Through the efforts of some expat Australians, the country's first
permanent (and playable) turf wicket was developed in 2003, at the Pun
Hlaing Golf Estate in northern Yangon (formerly Rangoon).
Due to the weather (it's either pouring with rain or unbearably hot) the season is short, from December to February. But there is a national league with eight teams containing an eclectic mix of ages and nationalities, playing a 30-over league and knockout and, if time permits before the hot season, a 13-over tournament. We have introduced the game to schools in Yangon and Mandalay, and the children are enthusiastic. The only real international games at present are between the Ayeyarwaddy Cricket club, based at Pun Hlaing, and the Siam Cricket Club in Bangkok, with the boys from Bangkok winning the Andaman Trophy on their last trip to Yangon. STU BENNETT
NIUE ISLAND
The fielder, high in a coconut tree, throws the ball to one of his 39 teammates
at ground level, desperate to prevent his opponent completing the
maximum sixth run. The batter, holding the triangular bat, crafted by his
forefathers, prepared by an entire family and handed down through the
generations, readies himself for the next ball which may come from any
direction, depending on the location of the fielder. The pace is frenetic,
thanks to local tip-and-run rules, and the atmosphere vibrant, as the spectators
sing traditional songs and applaud good play. The field, located in the main
village square, has no designated boundary, meaning the rubber ball will be
fielded in unlikely places, from the top of a coconut tree to some house's
washing basket.
But amidst the action - and where 80 players might bat in a day - there is still time for moral redemption. A series of ducks or getting out to an unlikely catch is a sign that someone didn't listen to traditional beliefs. Time out is called for a meeting amongst the unlucky team and a confession is sought. The question will be asked: "Did one of you sleep with someone's wife or something?" Play only resumes once the guilty party pays a fine - a different slant on the MCC's "Spirit of Cricket".
Niue is a coral island in the Pacific, home to 3,000 people. And cricket, of a kind that would be considered untraditional elsewhere, has a traditional role in Niuan society and is part of the recovery process for a place battered by Cyclone Heta in January 2004. As the first sport adopted by Niuans, it earned a cultural niche: games involved whole villages, both on and off the field, and the host provided a feast. Nowadays it's b-y-o. This match is the main event of a week-long celebration of the anniversary of Niue attaining self-government, in association with New Zealand, in 1974. It is a tradition associated with certainty. As the island moves forward to an uncertain future, it looks outward - and local officials are seeking kit so they can establish "English" cricket as well. TONY MUNRO
RUSSIA
The success of the Ashes led to the revival of cricket in St Petersburg in
2005, and play continued deep into the Russian winter. Unfortunately, the
games had to be shifted from the original venue, the Field of Mars (formerly
the parade ground for the Tsar's imperial guard), because the local militia
regularly turned up and threatened to arrest us. After September, play
continued on alternate Saturdays at the Tavrichesky Garden, with a tapeball
and metal chair legs as stumps. When it snowed, we shovelled it off and
played on the ice, using brightly-coloured tape to bind the ball so it could
be spotted in the outfield and bundled ourselves up with thermal underwear
and fur hats. JAKE HOOKER
SUDAN
The Anzacs v Rest of the World fixture involving UN peacekeeping soldiers
took place in 40-degree heat two days after Christmas 2005 in a suburb of
Khartoum on a field normally used for soccer. The ground had a six-foot
high brick wall round it, which made a useful boundary. But the wall is
used as the local toilet, adding to the lovely smell of Khartoum. On one
side was a massive cemetery. Fortunately, no sixes went in there, as the
Muslims might have been upset had we chased the ball, and we only had
the one. We did have two bats and two sets of pads and gloves, which made
changes of batsmen rather slow. And by the end, all the kit was a dusty
grey. Both teams wore uniform boots and trousers, with T-shirts and hats.
The pitch was swept down to the hard dirt, and the bumps taken out with
a shovel as best we could. The Anzacs won by two runs, with two balls left.
The umpiring was terrible. MICHAEL DAVIDSON