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.