The International Cricket Council (ICC) will pump in around $300 million to develop the game worldwide, the governing body announced on Tuesday. Haroon Lorgat, CEO of the ICC, described the initiative as “the biggest investment in global development by any sport outside football”. The ICC pledged around $40 million a year for seven years from 2009 to help its 94 associate and affiliate members, placed below the 10 Test-playing teams. “We want to see results that challenge world cricket's existing order,” South African Lorgat, who took charge at the weekend, said in a statement. “We want to develop better players and structures on and off the field, giving everyone the chance to be the best they can be.” Currently, associates get only rare opportunities to rub shoulders with the elite, mainly at the one-day World Cup. Lorgat said the initiative was possible because of ICC's lucrative commercial deals, particularly the media rights deal signed with ESPN STAR Sports in December 2006 which is reported to be worth around $1 billion. Australia on Champs Trophy Australian cricket officials said on Tuesday they could decide within a fortnight whether or not to pull out of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan because of security concerns. A bomb blast in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad killed 19 people on the night of the Asia Cup final between Sri Lanka and India in Karachi. The International Cricket Council (ICC) responded to the blast by threatening to move the Champions Trophy from Pakistan if there were any further threats of violence. Australia, whose players have long held concerns about touring Pakistan, could preempt an ICC decision and withdraw from the tournament, which starts on Sept. 11. Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Paul Marsh said the organization was awaiting reports from a security expert and the Federation of International Cricket Associations. “They're compiling reports which we should have within the next two weeks,” Marsh said. “Until you have all the information you can't make a final decision but the concern levels certainly rise whenever there are bombings.” Cricket Australia was also expected to make a decision within the next two weeks, spokesman Peter Young said. Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998 due to concerns about security. Match postponed A Twenty20 Cup quarterfinal was postponed around an hour before its start on Monday when the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) received claims that one of the teams had fielded an ineligible player in an earlier round. Hundreds of fans had arrived at the Riverside ground expecting to see Durham entertain Yorkshire when the ECB revealed an earlier match between the visitors and Nottinghamshire on June 27 was under investigation. Reports in the British media on Tuesday said 6,000 tickets had been sold for the match. “Yorkshire fielded Azeem Rafiq who is alleged to be an unqualified cricketer,” an ECB statement said. “After investigation this morning (Monday) the board's legal advisers confirmed that the player was not eligible to be registered as a qualified cricketer. “ECB made it clear to both counties that ...the panel could order the replay of any match or matches which could affect any quarterfinal.”
