Asian Cricket Council’s AGM concluded in spectacular style in Bali, Indonesia on the 31st of January at the W Hotel.
Mr. Jay Shah, General Secretary of the BCCI was re-elected as the President of the Asian Cricket Council for another year up until January 2025, after which the presidency tenure will be passed on to Pakistan Cricket Board as per the rotation policy of the ACC amongst test playing nations.
KCC Board President Mr. Haider Farman congratulates Mr. Jay Shah on his re-election. All the members now look forward to another successful year where a number of pathway events are lined up, paving the way for more development opportunities.
These include qualification spots for both the Asia Cup and the Emerging Teams Asia Cup for men’s and women’s categories. Mr. Farman has played a pivotal role in the induction of cricket in the Asian Games as the former director of the Asian Games, and he is a very popular and highly respected figure in the world of cricket.
KCC’s Director General, Mr. Sajid Ashraf represented the KCC Board at the ACC AGM in Bali. He addressed key areas of improvements, including but not limited to, the need for more development support from the ACC for all the associate members, especially for those countries participating and performing well in the pathway events.
Mr. Sajid stated that “although the number of pathway events and spots up for grabs for the Emerging Teams Asia Cup have increased, the development support for each tournament seems to have remained stagnant since my playing days of Kuwait U19 and the men’s team….digital broadcasting and surrogate branding has brought in new ways and mechanisms in modern day cricket to increase that support for the associates by monetizing all their events…”
This was well acknowledged by the Development Committee Chairman Mr. Mahinda Vallapuram and ACC President Mr. Jay Shah, where Mr. Mahinda declared that plans are very much in place to increase that support for associate countries and tournaments in the near future.
ICC – International Cricket Council CEO Mr. Geoff Allardice made a special appearance and gave a comprehensive presentation to the ACC AGM of ICC’s global strategy, where USA was highlighted as a key growth market for the future, to which Kuwait’s Mr. Sajid expressed that “within Asia, the Middle East remains as the most lucrative market amongst associates in terms of T20I rankings, competitiveness, fans, followers, commercial & broadcasting rights potential and should therefore be looked into by the ICC with the same enthusiasm….
The results of this region have been there for long and far greater over the past two decades including the successes of UAE & Oman, who have both already played multiple World Cups and Kuwait has only missed its opportunity by a game or two in the recent past…” Mr. Allardice in agreement seconded that point of view stating that “this was very well observed and recognized during the inaugural GCC Cup in Qatar last year and the successful World Cup trophy tours that took place in Kuwait & Bahrain, respectively, and the focus is there very much on the Middle East, too..…as one of the key growth markets…”
The induction of Japan Cricket Association and Indonesia Cricket Association as members of the ACC was another key highlight of the AGM, which was facilitated by the President Mr. Jay Shah. The two new members were wholeheartedly welcomed into the ACC family.
The ACC AGM was attended by all the heads and directors of full member and associate member countries, including test playing nations, comprising of Mr. Mirwaiz Omairy (Chairman, Aghanistan Cricket Board), Mr. Nazmul Hassan (President, Bangladesh Cricket Board), Mr. Jay Shah (General Secretary, BCCI), Mr. Shah Khawar (Acting Chaiman, Pakistan Cricket Board), and Mr. Shammi Silva (President, Sri Lanka Cricket Board).
Kuwait, as a member of the ICC & ACC, has been making its presence felt both on and off the field and will continue do so as it remains focused on improving its T20I rankings in both the men’s and women’s categories, along with hosting more international events in the State of Kuwait in the future.
