LAHORE, May 9: International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ehsan Mani said on Sunday that he gave priority to making the teams of all the affiliated member countries equal in strength in order to develop competitive cricket.

Mr Mani said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of ICC cricket development seminar here, that the competitive cricket would help do away with putting teams in 'A' or 'B' categories.

"It is also a reason for ICC's support of Bangladesh and Kenya," he said. "We are extending help to Bangladesh through ICC high performance programme. As for Kenya, the world body has focussed on providing more one-day matches opportunities to the country which it too is demanding."

He said the ICC was formulating several programmes to assist the game in different countries. "For example, money is not a problem for Bangladesh but Zimbabwe has other kinds of problems."

He said that the matter to give Test status to Kenya would be taken up next year. The Rawalpindi-born Mr Mani said that the ICC mainly draws its finances from World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy. Seven years ago, the international body had only £125,000 but now it had $20 million resources.

"The ICC saw the United States and China as two significant regions to promote the game as it would also mean increased mileage for the body," he remarked. He claimed that the match-fixing incidents in cricket had been brought down significantly by the efforts of its Anti-Corruption Unit.

About Abu Dubai event, Mr Mani said that the ICC did not allow it as the organizers had directly contacted Pakistani and Indian players bypassing their respective cricket boards. "Organizers' direct contacts with players could raise chances for match-fixing.

"Any country which failed to act according to the 10-year ICC activity plan could face membership cancellation," he said, while adding that he thought safety or security issues should not cause a tour to be suspended, but the ICC could do nothing if a government was involved.

The ICC chief said that the ICC was trying to unite its two offices working at two separate places - England and Monaco. "Any country including Malaysia, Dubai or Switzerland could be selected for the establishing headquarters."

He called the revival of cricket relations between Pakistan and India a good sign for the game in Asia in particular and in the world in general. "The decision to take over women cricket would be taken next year. The ICC will give $400,000 to the International Women Cricket Association (IWCA) for holding its World Cup in South Africa next year," he added.