For sparing of a little cost - budgets bite for associates

At Kuala Lumpur's Kinrara Oval, the second Asian sub-regional World T20 qualifier is in full swing. It's the tenth of twelve such tournaments that make up the bottom rung of the qualifying ladder for the 2020 World T20 in Australia, and the fourth international cricket tournament that Malaysia has hosted this year.

With Nepal and Singapore comfortably occupying the top two positions on the table, the hosts are facing a tough contest with Thailand to claim the third qualifying spot. Today the rain threatened to put a serious dent in their hopes, when the heavens opened after Malaysia had reduced perennial whipping-boys Myanmar to 9-8 in ten overs. That they were eventually able to get back on and knock off the six required runs is a testament to the much-celebrated drainage at Kinrara, which regularly sees play resume relatively quickly even after total inundation.

Off the field however, Malaysia Cricket faces an even tougher battle, one for the future of its flagship ground - widely recognised as one of the finest facilities in the Associate world. The stadium at Kinrara, situated in Puchong to the South of Kuala Lumpur, is one of only a handful of ODI-standard grounds in South East Asia, and something of a regional hub for development. It regularly welcomes training tours from teams such as Hong Kong (who have limited use of their own facilities), has hosted more World Cricket League tournaments than any other venue in the world, as well as being one of the few Associate grounds outside the UAE to have hosted full-member ODIs. Pakistan even expressed interest in hosting home Test matches at the ground, which would likewise be a first outside of the Emirates.

Later this month it is set to host a five-match women's ODI series between Pakistan and Australia. It may be the last cricket to be played there. Earlier this week Malaysia Cricket received notice from Permodalan Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund that owns the land on which the stadium stands, to vacate by the end of October when the board's 15-year lease on the ground expires.

Needless to say the loss of the ground would be a huge setback for Malaysian cricket, which has made steady progress climbing the associate ladder over the past decade, currently sitting in WCL Division 4 but recognised as a Tier A country on the ICC's development scorecard owing largely to its success in growing the sport locally. Whilst there are several other grounds in Kuala Lumpur, Kinrara acts as the board's base of operations for administration, events and training. The loss of the venue could undercut years of work; "two steps forward and ten steps back" is how NSCA president Senathiraj Thevaratnam sums it up.

As a grassroots campaign to save the ground staged a demonstration yesterday, Malaysia Cricket President Mahinda Vallipuram is hopeful that a solution can be found, in part because the ground has seen considerable investment from the Malaysian Government (which undertook substantial improvements ahead of the Southeast Asian Games just last year). The economic development of the surrounding area over the past years has however put considerable pressure on the lease, with the commercial value of the land increasing dramatically.

Yet whatever might be made from a few more condos or a shopping mall, for Malaysian cricket the venue is almost irreplaceable. As well as drawing regular international cricket to the country, Kinrara plays an important role in sustaining the remarkable growth of the game in Malaysia, which has seen participation rise threefold over the last decade to some 30,000 according to the ICC census. Vallipuram estimates that the use of the ground, its accommodations and facilities is worth something in the region of 150,000 USD a year to Malaysia Cricket - a serious sum for an Associate board - and the cost of replicating it elsewhere considerably more.

Hong Kong act under financial pressure

If the Kinrara Oval is one of the more tangible monuments to the gradual globalisation of the game that the ICC has achieved, it is not the only one that is under threat. The same week that the doubts over the ground's future were made public, Cricket Hong Kong were forced to inform sponsors and players that this year's edition of the Hong Kong Sixes, which returned last year after a five-year hiatus, will not go ahead, whilst the 2019 Hong Kong Blitz, which had been scheduled for February, would be postponed until October of next year.

The board plans to combine both events into a week-long "Festival of Cricket" next year, and doubtless hope that the forced rescheduling may turn out to be a happy outcome. Yet the unplanned postponement speaks to the growing financial pressure on Hong Kong Cricket, which lost ODI status earlier this year, in part due to the loss of state assistance following the axing of cricket from the Asian Games. The same financial pressure doubtless contributed to national team player Christopher Carter's decision earlier in the week to retire from international cricket to pursue a career in aviation, he being the latest in a long list of associate cricketers to retire prematurely to pursue a career outside the game.

The shortfall in this case is understood to be a matter of just a couple of hundred thousand US dollars, yet the sum evidently proved beyond the board's means. The Blitz especially had been a remarkable success story, the first Associate domestic league to draw a genuinely worldwide audience (launching the career of young Sandeep Lamichhane) and spawning a number of similar franchise T20 initiatives in Associate countries. That its place in the calendar now seems under threat is a testament to the fragility of progress in Associate countries.

Namibia held back by budget

It was announced that Namibia could no longer afford to participate in Cricket South Africa's provincial competitions, which have provided much of the competitive cricket on the schedule for Africa's leading associate nation over the last decade. Since 2006 Namibia has taken part in both the Sunfoil 3-day Cup and the Sunfoil 50-over Challenge, with a best finish of 3rd in their debut year in the 50-over competition, and reaching the 3-day final just last year.

The regular fixture list that their inclusion in the SA domestic competitions has provided them without question contributed to Namibia's continued competitiveness at the highest level of associates competition, and might well be envied by