Cricket mini-World Cup to be held in Sharjah

Cricket mini-World Cup to be held in Sharjah

CALCUTTA (AFP): Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was chosen
over Bangladesh and the United States as the venue for the 1998
mini-World Cup cricket tournament at a meeting of the
International Cricket Council (ICC) here Tuesday.

ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya, however, said the two-day ICC
conference, which ended Tuesday, put on hold its verdict on a
proposal for a World Cup for Tests and on the total volume of
cricket to be played by each country.

On the mini-World Cup tournament, to be held in September and
October next year, Dalmiya said one group in the ICC suggested
the event be held in Bangladesh while another advocated
Disneyland in the United States.

"But ultimately we found that there was no slot available in
any of the stadiums in (the Bangladesh capital of) Dhaka."

He said all the nine Test-playing countries will participate
in the mini tournament.

On his proposal for a World Cup for Tests, Dalmiya said: "We
have not taken a concrete decision although there were a lot of
proposals."

The ICC chief said the conference in Calcutta set up a panel
which will discuss the issue in June next year at Lord's.

"I suggested Tests should be played in different countries at
different times on a point system," he said and added the top
four teams would then qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup
Test cricket tournament.

A recent meeting of all Test captains had suggested that each
country should not play more than 12 tests and 30 one-day
internationals in a year.