Africa, Asia rekindle cricket relationship
In their continued efforts to elevate the standards of cricket in the African continent, African Cricket Association (ACA) are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which is set to promote development of the game in the continent. On the 26th of March earlier this year, Vice Chairman of Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) Sumod Damodar ascended to the chairmanship of the African Cricket body and expressed his desire to grow the game in the continent, sensing golden opportunities to awaken a sleeping giant. Having served in the ACA committee for close to two decades now, establishing a stronger organizational foundation at all levels of cricket development (junior, emerging and senior cricket) is a leading priority for Damodar is to enhance the growth of the game in Africa. It will not be the first time ACC engages in this kind of agreement, back in 2005, the Asian Cricket Council and ACC came together in a venture to promote and develop cricket across Asia and Africa.
“We are reviving and have informally agreed to set up an understanding between African cricket and Asian cricket. We will be signing the MoU soon, we could have already done it but they were still busy finalizing preparations for the Asian cricket cup,” Damodar revealed. Established in 1983, the ACC is a regional body that consists of 24 member countries and is commonly known for its Marquee Asia cup. In a time of increasing global division, the India-Africa Cricket Co-Operation, will be a substantial symbol of international unity. The proposed resurrection of the Afro-Asia cup will see India and Pakistan players form part of an Asian XI, a set up that is likely to attract
significant interest from broadcasters. “We are looking at establishing a relationship whereby all our development team, the best of Africa, will face off against the best of Asia. Simultaneously, the top four countries in Africa will face off against the top four in Asia. The top African players will also have a chance to square-off against the combination team of India, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and some other top players from Asia,” ACA Chairperson shared.
He further added that the agreement is set to benefit African cricket, potentially fast-tracking the development of the game in the continent at all levels. “For development of cricket, there will be the exchange of administrative personnel, coaches and umpires. Africa will gain more from Asia. Asia is more developed and more advanced than we are. We have the likes of South Africa and Zimbabwe who are strong but the Asians have far more and we will emerge as a stronger cricketing force as a result of this cooperation. They have strong foundations, they got financial capacity, they have membership capacity, infrastructural capacity and above all they have top players, we are still to build all these and we stand to benefit more. They will be helping us to develop and grow,” he said.
Damodar, despite not being specific about the proposed length of the agreement, reiterated that it will be a long term covenant which will cover all areas of the game to lay structures that will enable future success of cricket in the continent, adding that development is a long term process and cannot be achieved overnight.
The African chairman also highlighted that the agreement will allow top African players to showcase their talents and possibly land lucrative deals in far-more developed cricket countries.