Cricket Organizations

International Cricket, like any other popular sport, requires serious organizational and managerial work. For this purpose, Cricket Organizations were created. The functions of many Cricket institutions in the countries include the management of national cricket teams. In addition to organizational functions, organizations carry out important work to popularize cricket around the world.

Cricket Organizations: what organizations organize and manage cricket

The popularity of cricket requires constant control over the regional clubs. In addition, someone has to regulate the sport. That is why organizations in cricket were created: these associations not only supervise the clubs in their region but also popularize the game and organize tournaments.

Many organizations have been created nowadays, each assigned a region where there are cricket teams. In this article, we will briefly tell the history of all the main associations, as well as talk about some of the features of their work.

International Cricket Council

There are really many organizations in cricket, and they are all responsible for a specific region. But it is quite logical that there should be some other association above them, responsible for international cricket. This is what the International Cricket Council (ICC) is. It has existed for over 100 years and successfully fulfills its functions.

• History. The International Cricket Council appeared on the world stage on June 15, 1909. Initially, it was called the Imperial Cricket Conference, then, the association changed its name to the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and it used its modern name already in 1989. The founders of this organization are representatives of England, Australia and South Africa, and the headquarters is in Dubai (UAE).
• Composition. In total, 106 national cricket federations have joined the organization. For convenience, the company has divided the participants by authority and status. In total, the list of full-fledged members includes 12 governing bodies of teams from different countries. They have full voting rights on the board and can also officially hold test matches. In addition to them, there are 92 governing bodies in countries where cricket is popular and has its clubs, but these administrations have not yet received full membership.
• Functions. One of the main competencies of the International Cricket Council is the appointment of referees for world-class matches. The council also fulfills the function of suppressing corruption schemes in high-level cricket. However, there are also those things that are not within the council’s powers – for example, the lack of the right to develop the rules of the game, as well as non-interference in bilateral meetings between the national teams.

The main income of the council comes from the organization of major cricket tournaments, primarily the Cricket World Cup.

Regional organization in cricket

In addition to the main council, several regional organizations promote and develop cricket in the established region. We will briefly tell you about each:

• the Asian Cricket Council. The council includes five full members: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan. The organization was founded in 1983 in New Delhi, India and had been promoting cricket in Asia ever since. The Council implements a development program that supports refereeing, coaches, sports medicine in the countries that are part of the ACC. Funding comes from major regional tournaments, including the Asian Cup, Asian Test Championship and others.
• the European Cricket Council. This international organization oversees cricket in England and Wales. Based, respectively, in London. Interestingly, the organization was only founded in 1997. Due to the game’s growing popularity in the region (and Europe is traditionally not a place where cricket is widespread), Scotland, Ireland, and the Netherlands joined the ECC. Responsible for organizing cricket championships in Europe. In addition, the association contributes to the popularization of cricket in Israel.
• the African Cricket Association. An international party founded in 1997 deals with cricket in African countries. At the moment, it has two full members – South Africa and Zimbabwe. Although their own councils independently administer cricket in these countries, the ACA is the organization responsible for promoting and developing cricket in the rest of Africa. Of course, their power includes the development of coaching and refereeing. By the way, the Cricket World Championship was held only in 2003 on the territory of the ACA in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
• the ICC Americas. The organization oversees cricket in the Americas and the Caribbean. In addition, this organization is responsible for organizing the ICC Americas Championship. The company was previously headquartered in Toronto, but in 2016 they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
• the ICC East Asia-Pacific. This organization is responsible for cricket in East Asia and the Pacific. It was founded in 1996 and opened an office in 1999 in Melbourne, Australia. There are only two full members in the association – Australia and New Zealand. The EAP organizes major tournaments in these regions and develops programs to popularize cricket among young people. Well-formed organizations in cricket make it possible to effectively manage this sport around the world, delighting both the athletes themselves and the fans with well-organized tournaments.

Abolished organizations in cricket

Some cricket organizations were disbanded because their activities were no longer necessary.

We briefly talk about them:

• the East and Central Africa Cricket Council. This group was responsible for organizing cricket in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. However, the emergence of the African Cricket Association brought the organization to a halt.
• the West Africa Cricket Council. It was also abolished in connection with the appearance of the ACA. The authority was responsible for cricket in The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

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