ICC allocates USD 422,000 for developing Afghanistan cricket

With an aim to develop more competitive teams among its full, associate/affiliate members, the ICC has allocated USD 422,000 for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) from the its Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP).

It was decided during the second of the four board meetings of the ICC and IDI (ICC Development International, the commercial arm of the cricket's governing body) held here on April 16 and 17.

"The ICC introduced a TAPP fund of USD 12m in January 2012 to help develop more competitive teams at the highest level by targeting the lower ranked full members and higher ranked associate/affiliate members for assistance," the world body said in a statement.

"The Board had previously received applications and made awards to Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland, Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (Netherlands), New Zealand Cricket, West Indies Cricket Board and Zimbabwe Cricket."

The statement added that this funding for the ACB is for the development of the National Cricket Academy in Kabul and is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions.

During the two-day meeting, the ICC also received an update on anti-corruption matters from YP Singh, ICC's Head of ACSU, including an overview of the ACSU workshop that took place in Dubai on March 22 involving personnel from the anti-corruption units of the ICC and member boards.

In addition to the regular updates from the finance, audit and governance review committees, the Board also considered and noted reports on relevant cricket issues, including presentations on umpire performance, assessment and training, and the Reliance ICC Rankings, the statement further read.

The ICC board also noted and welcomed the changes made by the Pakistan Cricket Board to its constitution to make the process of electing its chairman more democratic and reducing the risk of inappropriate government interference.