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The International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League Division One will bring together top six Associate Members in the world and will be hosted by Holland in 2010 while the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2013 (formerly ICC Trophy) will be hosted by Scotland.

Hosts for the ICC WCL Div1 in 2014 are still to be confirmed but among members still in frame to host this event are Ireland and Namibia. “In total we’ve six different Associate Members from across four continents hosting significant events over coming years,” said the ICC President Ehsan Mani.

“All of these members have produced hosting submissions that comply with similar strict criteria to that in place for the ICC Cricket World Cup. That so many members had commitment and support to satisfy these criteria is the testament to increasing profile of the sport beyond its traditional boundaries.’’

Malaysia will become the first Associate Member country to host the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup when it stages sport’s biggest junior tournament in February 2008. As well as awarding the 2008 event to Malaysia in its meeting in Dubai, the ICC Board also handed right to host the 2010 event to Kenya, the 2012 event to Canada and the 2014 to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“We are delighted to be able to spread our top junior cricket event around emerging cricket world,’’ said Mani. “Malaysia has a proven track record of staging international cricket events. It successfully staged cricket during 1998 Commonwealth Games and previously hosted the ICC Trophy and the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division Two.

“Kenya hosted an ICC Trophy and has extensive experience of hosting events involving Full Members including ICC Knock-out in 2000,” he added. Canada will also be able host having staged a successful ICC Trophy in 2001 while the “UAE will have three magnificent stadiums in place by 2014 and facilities of the ICC Global Cricket Academy.’’

All four members have sufficient grounds and turf pitches. These events will provide impetus for continued growth of the sport in these geographically spread countries. The UAE was also awarded the right to host the 12-team ICC World Cup Qualifier (formerly ICC Trophy) in 2009. Four years later the same event will be hosted by Scotland.

Source:The News

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