The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will hold an executive board meeting in Bahrain for the first time ever on February 4.
Foremost on the agenda for the meeting, requested by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi, will be the resolution of a dispute between Pakistan and India over the 2023 Asia Cup, scheduled for September.
The hosting rights for the tournament were awarded to Pakistan in late 2021 by the ACC’s executive board but Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, who is also the ACC president, said last October that India would not participate in the competition unless it was held at a neutral venue, leading to an impasse between the two boards.
Following his meetings with ACC officials in Dubai earlier this month, Sethi announced last week that his request for an emergency meeting to resolve the issue was accepted by the ACC executive board which chose Bahrain as the venue.
The ACC, formed in 1983, consists of five ‘full member’ nations – those with full International Cricket Council (ICC) status: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – and 20 countries with ‘associate’ ACC status, including Bahrain.
“This is a very important milestone for the kingdom,” Bahrain Cricket Federation (BCF) president Hatim Dadabai told the GDN. “Cricket in Bahrain has been taking huge strides and we had a successful year in 2022, with our national men’s team winning their first-ever T20I tournament in Malaysia last December.
“The ACC’s decision to hold the meeting in Bahrain shows that they appreciate our efforts to build the game up from the grassroots. Our women cricketers set several world records last year and our age-group teams have also been doing well in international tournaments.
“As our efforts to popularise the sport in the kingdom continue, the ACC’s presence in Bahrain for this meeting will give a bigger boost to cricket in the country.”
The BCF’s chief development officer Gurumurthy Palani told the GDN the meeting would give ACC officials from different countries the chance to see how rapidly the game has progressed in the kingdom since the current administration took over in late 2021.
Focus
“The focus of the cricketing world will be on Bahrain,” he explained. “The ACC will be discussing important issues during the meeting and their officials will also get the chance to see, first-hand, all the initiatives we have put in place to grow the game further in the kingdom.”
Last March, Palani and the BCF’s advisory board chairman Mohammed Mansoor were invited to the ACC’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Sri Lanka where they met Shah and outlined the BCF’s plans for the next three years.
“During our very productive visit to Sri Lanka, we also extended an invitation to the ACC to hold their next meeting in Bahrain,” Mansoor told the GDN. “Other associate nations, such as the UAE, were also very keen that the ACC should consider holding it in their countries, but I am glad that Mr Shah and the executive board decided to opt for Bahrain.
“This puts Bahrain on the world cricketing map because the eyes of the Test-playing countries and other ICC and ACC associate nations will be on the kingdom.
“This is also a recognition of how far cricket has come in Bahrain in the very short span of time since we took charge with the ICC giving the BCF a special award for the ‘100% Female Cricket Initiative of the Year’ last July for our domestic women’s league. Our men’s team performed brilliantly all year before winning their first-ever international tournament in Malaysia in December. And our women’s and age-group teams have been gaining valuable international experience.”
Meanwhile, the BCF held a special ceremony on Wednesday night to honour the men’s team for their outstanding triumph in the 2022-23 Malaysia Quadrangular T20I Series last December.
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