Cricket � evokes passions within South Asia synonymous to those exhibited by the Latin Americans & Europeans for Soccer.

An English sport � primarily now played in the�Commonwealth Nations,�the former British colonies. The centre of gravity of the sport is though now centered on India where it evokes a billion passions and several more $$$. No longer is it the gentleman�s sport played over the English greens in pristine whites for it is characterized by raucous crowds screaming their hearts out. Indian wins within India are cheered by scenes depicting those of street parties and fire works displays of the nature on display at the millennium eve�s party on the Sydney harbour while losses at times result in extremes from violence, discussions within the parliament (YES) to burning of effigies of the cricketers. Why? Only for cricket being the sport which puts India a force to reckon with � a country of a billion + which struggles to draw a single �gold� in the Olympics! Not to mention the cricketers are amongst the highest grossers in the country and including endorsements their annual take homes runs into millions and millions of $$.

But then � I am not here trying to write on Indian Cricket but rather cricket in China!

The Chinese cricket team is the team that represents the country of the People’s Republic of China in international cricket. They became an International Cricket Council affiliate member in 2004. Hong Kong is a member of the ICC in their own right, becoming an ICC associate member in 1969. Hence, players from Hong Kong are not eligible to represent China in international competition.

Although cricket was brought to China by the British as long ago as 1858, the game was never taken up by the locals and, beyond a few expatriate tournaments, did not exist in the world’s most populous nation until the start of this century.

The CCA (Chinese Cricket Association) was founded in late 2004 but receives no funding from a state-run sports administration directing most of its resources at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The association does, however, have ambitious plans and has roped in the ACC and Cricket Australia to help it to fulfil them. It started by taking the game into China’s most prestigious universities such as Tsinghua, Peking University, the Renmin University and Fudan University as well as their associated schools.

As per CCA�s development director Calvin Leong, “In Britain, it has always been regarded as a sport for gentlemen so we’ve decided to position it as ‘the noble game,. China had produced 68 qualified coaches and umpires, while the association had introduced the game to 19 primary schools, 20 secondary schools and 25 universities. Beijing and Shanghai are the two biggest cities in China and are more readily acceptable of new ideas and cultures. If we are successful here, it can influence other cities. The CCA hopes China will have 30,000 players, 600 coaches & 600 umpires by the end of 2007 and 150,000 by 2020. If it achieved such targets across a wide enough geographical base it would then be able to press for government funding.

About 70 men and women have undertaken coaching courses so far, with half of those having been through a Tier I course and the other half taking it in August. The next step for them is to enter an under-15 team in the plate competition at the ACC Trophy in Thailand in December.

Asian Cricket Council (ACC) development officer Rumesh Ratnayake once told “I was sceptical and thought it was too early, but the authorities and coaches were keen so we said ‘let’s get ready.’ On a scale of one to 100, Australia are maybe a 98, Sri Lanka a 95. Here we’re talking a three or a four. On day one, they are very sceptical but by the end they are more enthusiastic than those we train in more developed cricket countries.�

�Li Zhen, a teacher at the Shanghai Sports Institute, felt his students had taken well to the game. She found them very fond of cricket.��

�China are yet to participate in any international competition, but yet they hope to participate in the ACC Trophy for the first time in 2008. In addition to this goal, the Chinese Cricket Association has set itself other goals over the next 14 years :

��2009: Have 720 teams across the country in a well-organised structure
��2015: Have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches
��2019: Qualify for the World Cup
��2020: Gain Test status

Optimistic to some it might sound but China�s past track record particularly in the Olympics does not make it too distant.

If, however, the CCA development plans are even half successful, it is only a matter of decades before the cricket world could be looking at the new giants of the game.

Ross Turner, Cricket Australia’s general manager for global development, comments on how it predicts China to do in Cricket:

“The greatest pleasure of my life in a professional context was visiting China for the first time and working with a group of dedicated officials in breaking incredibly new ground. The baby in some ways has not been born yet. But there is an opportunity in a global sense that we need to grasp. The CCA have drafted a long-term strategy - and I recommend (the world) to look at this project, which will help bring a new face to cricket that we cannot fully comprehend at the moment.”

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, is confident China can be successful in its development plans. According to him� “China is the world’s most populous country and the ICC would like to support cricket in China as much as possible”.

Development and the game aside one particular article which I found quite interesting was the �cricket gambling den busted in Shanghai can be read here :http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/112311.htm

They seem to have all the ingredients � watch out India!
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