Dougie Hind

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A very successful visit to the Isle of Man took place on Thursday, 13th May of representatives of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
 
The visitors were Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB and ICC Committee member; Matthew Kennedy, ICC Global Development Manager, Richard Holdsworth, ICC European Development Manager, and Andy Hayhurst, Director, Lancashire Cricket Board.   All were very impressed by what they saw and were well entertained by the Isle of Man Cricket Association (IoMCA).
 
The "red letter day" is Thursday, 1st July when the ICC meet at Lords (AGM) to accept, amongst other issues, membership applications. There are 3 applications to consider (all for affiliate member status) from the Isle of Man, from Mexico and from China!   Tim Lamb will be proposing the membership application from the Isle of Man as the representative for the full member in the European region (i.e. the ECB).  He is very confident that the application will be accepted.
 
Tim and Richard commented, having seen the Isle of Man in person for the first time, that the facilities and infrastructure for cricket on the Isle of Man is comparable with the top affiliates already in the European Cricket Council.  Tim also commented that, subject to performances on the field, he believed that a "promotion" of the Isle of Man to associate member status within the ICC could happen in the near future.
 
It would look like the Isle of Man’s first tournament as an ICC member would be in the European Affiliates Championships to be held in July 2005.
 
This visit was only possible with the kind support of the Standard Bank - IoMCA national sponsors.  As part of the arrangements for the day, there was a reception at Government House for the guests kindly hosted by His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor Ian MacFadyen. To recognize this important event, a new IoMCA tie (based on the new logo) has been designed and produced and guests at the reception were presented with one of the new ties by the Standard Bank.