Cricket’s lawmakers, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), conducted their meeting to review overseas tours strategy to maximise support for developing nations. MCC have toured South America (Belize and South American Championships), Africa (Tanzania & Kenya), European (Germany) and Asian (China and Hong Kong) regions in 2017 and Brazil/Chile, Belgium, Kenya and Thailand in 2018, visiting emerging nations to increase the game awareness, conduct coaching and training sessions and provide support for better administration of the game.
MCC believes that countries like Germany, Nepal and Zimbabwe provide ample opportunities for overseeing development and will now review its strategy and work with ICC (International Cricket Council) to identify where it can best help the world game. Germany have shown immense amount of development and progress due to heavy influx of immigrants from Asian countries, especially Afghanistan, and narrowly missed out to Jersey in the European regional finals for qualifcation towards ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2019.
MCC have identified that conducting repeat tours to emerging countries will help them oversee the developments in a better way in terms of players, coaches and facilities. MCC have announed that through the MCC foundation, a series of “Legacy” tours will be conducted to leave a steady impact in the countries after the tours are over. Nepal is a prime destination for development for MCC, and with the country currently having temporary ODI status until 2022 Cricket World Cup qualifiers, the time is ample to develop the age-level youngsters (U12, U16 and U19) for future opportunities with the senior squad.
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