July 05, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 1, 1429

KARACHI, July 4: With four Test playing countries in its fold, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is going to celebrate its Silver Jubilee here on Saturday although its efforts towards promotion of the game in the Asian continent leaves much to be desired.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the four countries which form the nucleus of Asian cricket. This kind of opportunity is not available to any other continent and by virtue of this, the ACC has a powerful mandate to organise more competitions at all levels and specially strengthen the game at the grassroots. Unfortunately, it has fallen well short of achieving such objectives.

The fact remains that the continuing political tensions between two of the biggest countries in South Asia — India and Pakistan — coupled with the lackluster attitude of the ACC has somewhat stymied the promotional work for the game in the region.

For example, the Asia Cup - a biennial event which was introduced in 1984 - could be held only nine times. Had there been cordial political relations between the two countries and the ACC had played its effective role, it would have easily been the 13th edition of the Cup.

The ACC had introduced the Asian Test Championship some time back but after holding it just the one time, it failed to organize it on a consistent basis on the pretext of hectic international schedule.

Moreover, the body should also realize the importance of grooming technical expertise in all fields including umpiring, coaching, training and sports medicine to cater to the need of regional cricket as well as of the world in a better manner.

Currently, all four Test playing countries of the region are compelled to take foreign expertise in two key areas of the game - coaching and training which also reflects poorly on the ACC.

Simimlarly, grooming pitch curators and other experts in technical field is also aresponsibility of the ACC that it has not been able to fulfil totally.

Apart from this, the ACC needs to intensify its efforts towards organising the Under-19, Under-16 level competitions which will go a long way in strengthening the Asian cricket outfits. It is suggested that on the pattern of its parent body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the ACC should also introduce a Junior Asia Cup and Under-16 contests besides launchingan Asia Cup for women.

It is observed that the ACC has involved itself in promotional programmes in countries where the game is not gaining much ground. The countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, Thailand are showing some cricket activity but most of them are depending on foreign players from amongst the Test playing countries rather than building on their own resources and infra-structure.

This is not to say that the ACC stops such promotional work there, but it must adopt a more comprehensive programme to categorise the countries.