The 2010 Indian Premier League season kicked off on March 12th with four new venues to the IPL tournament - Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala and Vishakapatnam - acting as home venues for Mumbai Indians, Team Jaipur, Kings XI and Team Hyderabad respectively.
The 2008 Asia Cup cricket one-day tournament will be held at three venues in Pakistan in April-May, a top Asian Cricket Council official said today.
ACC chief executive Ashraf-ul-Haq also said that the sport`s regional governing body would be hosting a Twenty20 Cup tournament for its associate members next year.
"Pakistan would host the Asia Cup matches in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi from March 12 (2008) onwards and all the four Test playing nations have confirmed their participation," he said.
The Asia Cup has proved to be a jinxed tournament for the ACC since its inception in 1984 with many editions being either postponed or called off due to the strained political and diplomatic relations between Pakistan and India.
The last Asia Cup was held in Sri Lanka in 2004.
Ashraf said after the inaugural Twenty20 competition is held for associate members, he foresaw the four Test playing nations, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also getting together for a regional event.
"It will not be long before we see these countries having regular Twenty20 matches among themselves as all the 10 Test playing nations have now agreed to play in the first Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2008," he said
ACC approves projects to promote cricket in China
Nov 26, 2006
The Asian Cricket Council has reportedly approved special development projects to promote cricket in China.
"The ACC development committee meeting has approved a budget of 5.6 million dollars for the next fiscal year and we have special development programmes for China, where the interest is growing fast," ACC chief executive Ashraful Huq said.
During its development committee meeting here, the ACC chalked out a development plan for the next five years with special emphasis on China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.
International Cricket Council Chief Executive Malcolm Speed visited China earlier this year and was impressed with the interest in the game there.
Huq said the ACC had also requested special funds from the ICC for China.
"The ICC has also promised help for China and we have also requested for special funds from the ICC. China's school team of under 15 years of age will be among eight teams participating in a school event in Thailand next month," said Huq, a former secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Already, 200,000 dollars has been provided by the ACC, a sum which would be matched by a further 200,000 dollars from the ICC, Huq said.
An under-15s competition among schools was held in Beijing in July this year while the first inter-university competition was also held there last month.
Nepal's youngsters help lead the way in ACC Premier League
Nov 20, 2006
Nepal are leading the way in this years five-team Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Premier League.
The tournament involves matches between the leading Associate sides in the region played over three days, after wins against Singapore and Hong Kong and their one defeat so far has come at the hands of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nepal leads the round-robin table from Singapore, ahead of Malaysia and Hong Kong while the UAE trail all of the other sides as it has played just one match so far.
The next round of fixtures is set to have a crucial bearing on the fate of this years competition with Nepal travelling to Malaysia while the UAE, with only one match played so far, host Hong Kong at Sharjah, with both matches set to be played from November 24-26.
