Beyond the Boundary!

Comment from Zahir Doekhie
Time: April 15, 2008, 10:38 pm

Strange!
Bahamas in the WCL Division 5?
Where’s Surinam in the WCL?

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: April 16, 2008, 6:02 am

Suriname didn’t qualify as they finished fourth, behind Argentina, the Bahamas and Panama in the Americas Championship Division Two back in 2006. Nothing strange about that at all.

One assumes Suriname will play in Division Five in 2010, if the ICC are continuing with the WCL that is.

Comment from alistair gordon
Time: April 16, 2008, 7:36 am

“if the ICC are continuing with the WCL that is”.Have you heard id any changes?(hopefully any such will be positive ones reducing thre times it takes a team to reach the top eg some European teams are already not able to qualify for the 2015 World Cup!)

Comment from Zahir Doekhie
Time: April 16, 2008, 9:50 am

Thank you for the answer.
Yes, Surinam finished 4th in Division 2 in 2006.

Surinam is going to the America’s Division 1 in november in Toronto as the champion of Division 2.
There are rumours in Surinam, that the road to the WC 2011 is still open.
They only have to reach the finals of America’s Division 1, so they can compete at the ICC Qualifications in 2009.

Is that correct/ possible?

Comment from Rich B
Time: April 16, 2008, 10:36 am

ECC’s promotion and relegation system is a bit convoluted. Americas and Africa have a rolling promotion system so any team can theoretically get to division 1 in any given year, whilst Asia only has 2 divisions.

In Europe you have to win your division, win a play-off with the bottom team of the division above and then usually wait 2 years, just to get one promotion.

Whilst nobody in Europe division 4 would be good enough to get to World Cup 2015 anyway, I think the current (new) system isn’t fluid enough to take account of teams’ potential improvements, so you could end up with better cricket being played in lower divisions than higher ones.

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: April 16, 2008, 12:14 pm

Zahir - There is no possible way for Suriname to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. There are only two spots remaining open for the WC Qualifier in 2009, and that will be the top two teams from WCL Division 3 in Argentina at the beginning of next year.

Comment from fromefrog
Time: April 16, 2008, 3:27 pm

the WCL is convoluted is say the least,& what happens after 2009.

Comment from Thomas Johns
Time: April 17, 2008, 6:20 am

The results of those games would be a decent indicator of comparison between three home grown indigenous teams in three different regions.

Andrew, have you heard of any changes to take place in the WCL?

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: April 17, 2008, 6:43 am

Not hear of any changes, but given the ICC’s inability to publicise non-test cricket (see my post today) I’m not surprised. I will of course let readers of BTB know anything as soon as I do!

Comment from Laksh
Time: April 17, 2008, 5:54 pm

When are the fixtures of div 5 gonna be announced? Can’t wait anymore!

Comment from Chris
Time: April 17, 2008, 6:30 pm

Zahir, do you play cricket in Suriname? If you do (or even if you don’t and you just follow it in Suriname) perhaps you could do a profile or an interview on Surinamese cricket for BTB if Andrew doesn’t mind.

The country in focus and interviews are really informative and I really like them (by the way Andrew, why not move the country in focus stories to features? They seem more suited there).

Suriname have done fairly well though. Hope they continue with their current run.

Comment from Zahir Doekhie
Time: April 21, 2008, 5:22 am

@Chris
Will be difficult as I’m playing and living in Holland.

Next question:
What are the ICC rules to play for Surinam for a player, born and raised in Surinam (Surinam Citizen) and now living in Canada with a Canadian passport?

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: April 21, 2008, 6:15 am

Zahir - They can play, as long as they meet the development criteria. See http://in.yimg.com/icccricket/pdfs/player_eligibility.pdf

Comment from Zahir Doekhie
Time: April 21, 2008, 6:48 am

Thanks Mr. Nixon.

I’ve read the document. That’s why Surinam didn’t go for the Dutch Surinam players in Holland.
A2. Born in the country
Restriction =>
B1. Rifaiz Bakas and Vimal Tewarie can’t play. They have been part of the Dutch U19 teams.
B2. That’s why others, myself included, can’t be a part of the selection.
(In 1986 we’ve been to Guyana with a Surinam national U19 development team -> B2.3)

America’s Division 1 doesn’t have a full member included in November 2008. C2 is not an option.

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: April 21, 2008, 8:00 am

Zahir - Just because those two players have played for the Dutch Under-19 team, it doesn’t mean that they can never play for Suriname.

They can play for Suriname (assuming they meet the other criteria) four years after their last game for a Dutch representative side, which is now for both players you mentioned.

Also, B2.3 is not a restriction for anyone who has played at Under-19 level or above, it is a criteria under which one can be eligible. Although Suriname have not yet played an ICC-sanctioned match at Under-19 level, so any Suriname Under-19 player would have to meet one of the other criteria.

Comment from Chris
Time: April 21, 2008, 6:41 pm

@Zahir

oh well, was worth a shot to try and find out more about cricket in Suriname.

If you know Rifaiz Bakas and Vimal Tewarie then perhaps you could encourage them to try out for Suriname (assuming they wanted to). You might be able to try out as well it seems.

@Andrew

Andrew, I’m seeing some news at the BTTW blog about Bermuda ditching their 2-day competition in favour of T20. From the article it seems like Bermuda won’t even have a double innings competition anymore, everything seems to be a single innings per team format now. Bermuda also has introduced a Five5 competition. It seems like Bermuda are trending to shorter formats and I suspect that they will suffer for it eventually in all forms of the game….it looks like the players aren’t interested either in the longer forms of the game so will Bermuda even be in the intercontinental cup in the future?

Comment from dr gulkhan
Time: April 22, 2008, 9:43 pm

suriname ’s law does not allow people not holding suriname passport to rprsent the country.
That is also the reason they never use footballers of suriname ancestry from holland either.

Comment from Zahir Doekhie
Time: April 23, 2008, 10:02 am

@dr gulkhan
That’s not correct.
Why?
Because half of the Surinam team are Guyanese, born and raised in Guyana, with Guyanese passports.

The difference: they are working and living in Surinam.
There were some issues about some of those Guyanese staying in Surinam without legal permits or even with a tourist visa!

Comment from Chris
Time: April 23, 2008, 7:25 pm

@zahir

Is there a similar situation with cricket? With Guyanese immigrants playing in the Suriname team? And isn’t there supposed to be some eventual free movement between Guyana and Suriname and the other members of Caricom? If so couldn’t some good Surinamese players move to Guyana if they aspire to play test matches eventually?

Comment from Prakash
Time: April 24, 2008, 10:55 am

Andrew,Do you know, ICC Publish the WCL Division 5 Schedule?Where is there?Nepal are which group?

Comment from Prakash
Time: April 24, 2008, 10:58 am

Andrew,Do you know, ICC Publish the WCL Division 5 Schedule?Where is there? which are Nepal group?

Comment from Thomas Johns
Time: April 27, 2008, 11:59 am

Groups for WCL Div. 5 are:

Group A
USA
Nepal
Germany
Norway
Vanuatu
Mozambique

Group B
Afghanistan
Jersey
singapore
Japan
Bahamas
Botswana

check out www.cricket.or.jp/eng for the full published schedule..

pretty evenly matched groups..

In Group A, I think the USA will come out on top, followed by a three way tussle between Nepal, Germany, and Norway

In Group B, Afghanistan and Jersey should dominate followed by Singapore.

Comment from Pathak
Time: May 21, 2008, 8:07 am

Yesterday Nepal won Bahamas by 200+ runs
Where’s da news

Comment from Andrew Nixon
Time: May 22, 2008, 1:26 pm

Pathak - there’s a post now!

Comment from Noire
Time: May 22, 2008, 11:56 pm

I think it will be an all Asian Final between Nepal and Afganistan. I wud very much like Nepal to prove Tom wrong and in a week’s time be sitting on the top of the table. We have played Germany before and beaten them. Hopefully it should be a walk around the park until we meet Afganistan!