ICC Cricket World Cup Global Trophy Tour to arrive in England

ICC Cricket World Cup Global Trophy Tour to arrive in England

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will commence on 14 February, with England taking on host Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

The most coveted prize in world cricket, the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy is scheduled to arrive at Lord’s on 18 August, where it will be welcomed by England ODI vice-captain Eoin Morgan along with representatives of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the ICC.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will commence on 14 February, with England taking on host Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). With only 180 days to go until the opening matches, Morgan said:  “The focus will be on 50-over cricket between now and the ICC Cricket World Cup once this Test match against India is over. There will be real competition for places in the England set-up and I know that playing in an ICC Cricket World Cup is special. It is the ICC’s pinnacle event and it is an event that really captures the imagination of the entire cricketing world.

“The fact that the World Cup trophy is now here at Lord’s and will tour England and Wales in the next few weeks will help raise not only profile but also excitement around the ICC Cricket World Cup.”

England is scheduled to participate in a tri-series also involving current champion India and four-time champion Australia, in Australia in January. This will be a good opportunity for the team to assess its preparation ahead of the tournament it has never won, but reached the final of three times – 1979, 1987 and 1992.

“Everyone in the England camp is hugely excited about the prospect of competing in Australia and New Zealand – in what is two hugely challenging environments against the very best players in world cricket,” said Morgan, who, having played 78 ODIs for England to date, is aiming to appear in his third ICC Cricket World Cup.

Morgan will be joined in welcoming the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy by Steve Elworthy, the ECB’s Managing Director of Global Events, Derek Brewer, Chief Executive & Secretary of MCC and, Nick Pink, Regional Development Manager- ICC Europe.at the Grace Gates.

Elworthy, who played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999 when it was last held in England, is looking forward to hosting the trophy at Lord’s: “The last time the ICC Cricket World Cup came to Lord’s was at the end of the 2010 season as a part of the build-up towards the 2011 tournament in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It proved incredibly popular with all the visitors to the ground and I am sure that will be the case again – especially the spectators at the Middlesex game against India here at Lord’s on Friday.

“For everyone in England and Wales, the trophy tour will not only add to the awareness of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 but also mark the build-up to the next round of ICC global events to be held on these shores – the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Women’s World Cup, both in 2017, and, of course, the ICC Cricket World Cup itself in 2019.

Brewer added: “Lord’s has a special affinity with the ICC Cricket World Cup – staging the first three finals in 1975, 1979 and 1983- as well as the 1999 final. All those finals produced some really iconic images and special memories in the history of the ICC Cricket World Cup. On behalf of MCC it is an honour to welcome the trophy to England and Wales.”

The 11th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup will feature a total of 14 teams, which includes the four qualifiers Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  Pink said: “The ICC Europe regional office is based at Lord’s and so this is a special moment for us all. ICC’s Associate Members from Europe are again well represented with Ireland and Scotland - where the trophy will travel to after leaving Cardiff - both reaching next year’s tournament through a global qualification pathway that culminated in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand earlier this year.”

Members of the public will be encouraged to take their own photos with the trophy and tweet these using the following hashtags: For the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the generic hashtag is #CWC15, and the trophy tour-specific hashtag is #CWCtrophytour.

The ICC Cricket World Cup trophy will travel to the following locations in the United Kingdom:

Date                Location         What's On

Mon 18-Aug   Lord's              Trophy arrives in England at Lord’s

Thu 21-Aug    Lord's              MCC Museum

Fri 22-Aug      Lord's              India v Middx 50 over match (MCC Museum)

Sat 23-Aug     Edgbaston       NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day

Mon 25-Aug   Bristol             Royal London ODI

Wed 27-Aug   Cardiff            Royal London ODI

Thu 28-Aug                             Trophy departs for Scotland

At each of the venues, legends of the game will be on hand to meet supporters and share their memories of challenging for the ultimate prize in the flagship ODI tournament of world cricket.

The trophy will arrive in the UK from Bangladesh, before which it had toured Sri Lanka, and it’s next stop will be Scotland. After visiting 13 countries over four months, the trophy will arrive in Melbourne on 6 November.

About the trophy

The current ICC Cricket World Cup trophy was created for the 1999 champion, Australia, and was the first permanent prize in the tournament's history. Prior to this, different trophies were made for each ICC Cricket World Cup.

The trophy was designed and produced in London by a team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co over a period of two months. It is made from silver and gilt, and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and bails, represent the three fundamental aspects of cricket: batting, bowling and fielding, while the globe represents a cricket ball. The trophy stands 60cm high and weighs approximately 11kg. The names of the previous winners are engraved on the base of the trophy, with space for a total of twenty inscriptions.

TROPHY WORLD TOUR SCHEDULE

18-27 August – England and Wales

28-29 August – Scotland

9-10 September – Ireland

12 September – Afghanistan

15-20 September – Pakistan

25-29 September – South Africa

2 October – Zimbabwe

7-14 October – United Arab Emirates

18 October – Jamaica

19 October – Barbados

From 6 November – Australia and New Zealand

1-31 December - India

Source: icc-cricket.com

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Irish handed further World Cup boost after ICC meeting

Irish handed further World Cup boost after ICC meeting

Ireland's hopes of playing in the 2015 World Cup appear to have received a major boost.

Ex-Ireland captain Trent Johnston told BBC Sport on Wednesday that the ICC's Cricket Committee had "unanimously" recommended that there should be a qualifying process for the 2015 event.

Last month, the ICC announced a move to restrict the 2015 competition to the sport's 10 full members.

This led to a major outcry and the ICC later said it would revisit the issue.

Former Ireland captain Johnston was attending Wednesday's meeting as a players' representative of the associate nations.

Johnston wrote on his Twitter page: "Unanimous decision by ICC Cricket Committee to recommend to the Chief Exec Committee there be a qualifier for CWC 2015. A great result!"

A final decision on the issue is expected to be taken at the ICC's Annual Conference in Hong Kong in June.

Two weeks after the initial decision, ICC president Sharad Pawar responded to vociferous dissatisfaction among the associate and affiliate nations by requesting the executive board look again at the structure of the tournament.

Apart from Ireland, who beat England in 2011 and Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup, the other nations outside the ICC's full members to take part in the 2011 event were Kenya, Canada and the Netherlands.

Scotland, who were at the 1999 and 2007 tournaments, did not dispute the decision to limit the World Cup to 10 teams but argued there should be a qualification event.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan also called for a qualification tournament.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom has insisted that the associate and affiliate nations will "keep up the pressure" on the issue.

Source & Picture: news.bbc.co.uk

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Associates future must be decided in June

Associates future must be decided in June

Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland, believes that the the right of the Associate nations to compete at the 2015 World Cup will be established at the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong at the end of June. His comments came after the board president, Sharad Pawar, requested that the tournament's ten-team composition be reassessed in response to strong and widespread criticism of the decision to limit participation to the ten Test-playing nations.

Following two weeks of silence in the wake of the decision reached in Mumbai on April 4, the ICC confirmed in a press release on Tuesday that a reassessment was on the cards. "I have given this matter further serious thought and will request the board to consider this topic once more," Pawar said. "I can understand the views of the Associates and Affiliates and the ICC will seek to deal with this issue in the best way possible."

Deutrom interpreted the ICC's silence until now as a sign that they knew they could not justify their decision. "The lack of response in those two weeks probably meant they realised they were defending the indefensible," Deutrom told ESPNcricinfo. "The ICC management are a very careful and expert bunch, and they will have done their homework. I know a lot of people have been telling us over the two weeks how strong our position would be if external remedies were necessary, although we don't want to get to that stage, we want it to be the last resort.

"I think the issue would have to be resolved in June," he added. "If there was to be any fudge, it would be completely unacceptable unless the conclusion was that we need a qualifier but we don't know what that qualifier should be. If the principle was established that a qualification tournament was to be reinstated I don't think the Associates could have too much of an argument with that, and we wouldn't necessarily need to be involved in that ongoing discussion. Our argument is purely that there needs to be opportunity for the world to be involved in the World Cup."

Over the past few days, the Associate members had met and discussed among themselves how best to handle the decision; those discussions resulted in a letter being sent to the ICC.

"We've done a great deal of research over the last week, particularly Warren Deutrom of Ireland; we've had a lot of letters of support, we've also had some experienced sports lawyers contacting us offering us help," Richard Cox, CEO of the Netherlands board, told ESPNcricinfo. "On that basis we felt we were at least able to contest the decision around qualification and the opportunity to qualify which is what we've done."

At its meeting on April 4, two days after the World Cup final, the ICC board decided to allow only the ten full members in the 2015 edition to be hosted in Australia. The board had also agreed that the ten-team format would be in place for the 2019 World Cup in England as well, though there would be a qualification process involving the Associates.

Despite the encouraging signs of a rethink, Deutrom was determined not to lose sight of the bigger picture. "We are not regarding it as anything other than a short step in a longer journey," he added. "The fact it is back on the [ICC] board's agenda is a good thing, but it's still the same ten people having the same discussion on the same issue, so there clearly has to be a catalyst. We have to help them reach a different decision.

"Part of that process we would hope would be a face-to-face meeting, which is what we asked for in the letter we wrote to Sharad Pawar," Deutrom added. "That wasn't addressed in his response to us this morning, so we sincerely hope that it will be addressed in the coming days. We would seek a meeting with the president, vice-president and senior ICC management, so that everyone is fully aware of the depth of our resolve on this matter. All of our members are very much as one on this. They completely, unreservedly and wholly condemn the decision, and our elected representatives are mandated on behalf of the 95 non-Test nations to go ahead and seek redress with the ICC."

The recently concluded World Cup, which has been largely hailed as a success, featured 14 teams, and the league stage was played in two groups of seven each, with the top eight teams playing the quarter-finals. The proposal to trim the event meant that a team such as Ireland, which has had two successful World Cups, would not be a part of the next tournament. To compensate, the World Twenty20 was expanded to 16 teams, giving six Associate or Affiliate members a chance to play in a premier world event every two years, but no matter how well they perform there, they did not have a chance to make the cut for the 2015 50-over World Cup. Pawar's intervention could yet change that.

Sourece & picture: http://www.espncricinfo.com

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