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Squint and you can see the vision. It may sound like grandiose dreams, but Big Bash League matches - and big ticket international events - being played at the picturesque Bayuemas Oval, the home of Malaysian cricket about 45 km from Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, might one day become a reality.

While the ground is mostly empty on this day, just ahead of the women’s Asian Games qualifier, it’s nonetheless impressive marked by a lovely British colonial-style club house with new cricket nets nearby.

A large tower dedicated for media facilities is erected on one end although no broadcast is needed for this event given the exclusive rights for Asian Games, which is organised by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Temporary grandstands can ensure a ground capacity of about 10,000 people. More than 5000 fans attended the women’s under-19 World Cup final between India and South Africa earlier this year, enlivening these sedate settings amid lush greenery on the edge of a semi-rural jungle where monkeys roam around.

Bayuemas - which became Malaysia’s main home ground after Kinrara Oval was vacated and now resembles a forest - has hosted plenty of Associate and under-aged tournaments, cementing its reputation as the hub of cricket in Southeast Asia.

But looking to take the next step, Malaysia last year pushed its case to be part of potential BBL expansion through a 30-page document sent to Cricket Australia.

While plans to privatise the BBL is mired in tumult right now, with an expansion abroad unlikely any time soon, Malaysia is attempting to position itself as an appealing destination to perhaps at the very least host matches.

The BBL is set to open next season in India and there is a feeling that they will play some matches in various overseas locations in the coming years, something of a trial run to possible expansion abroad.

Malaysia is strategically located with proximity to Australia - with the same time zone as Western Australia - and India while the country boasts a significant South Asian diaspora.

CA officials are well aware of Malaysia, with Australia’s women’s team in 2018 having been part of an ODI series against Pakistan at the now defunct Kinrara Oval.

Malaysia also famously hosted an ODI tri-series involving India, Australia and West Indies in 2006 - a tournament featuring Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and where Mitchell Johnson made his international debut.

Intriguingly, a Cricket Victoria official did recently visit Bayuemas. While the purpose of the visit is unclear, Malaysia’s impressive facilities should have been noted.

“No one in this part of the world has better facilities,” Malaysian Cricket Association president Mahinda Vallipuram told Cricket Financial Journal.

“I would put our facilities up against even some of the Full Members. We have 70 full-time staff, including curators and groundstaff. We even have chefs and caterers. It’s a big operation.”

While Malaysia has become a regular host of Associate and youth events, it is eyeing several marquee global tournaments that will be highly coveted. As I first reported previously, there will be a global qualifier for Associates before the next T20 World Cup in 2028 while there will also be a global qualifier for the Olympics.

The 2028 Olympic global qualifier is likely to be played in Los Angeles and that event is likely to comprise mainly big cricket countries such as Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka who are unlikely to automatically qualify for the six-team event.

There are hopes that the 2032 Brisbane Games will be expanded to possibly 12 teams and provide openings for Associates, many of whom are relying on Olympic clout to inject much-needed government and corporate funding.

While Associates (bar host United States) won’t be part of LA, it is envisioned that a 2032 global qualifier will be played amongst smaller Full Members and Associates. With the Brisbane Olympics to be held on the doorstep of Asia, Malaysia is already circling the global qualifier as a major opportunity to showcase its hosting abilities.

“Certainly we have proven that we can host big events that have many teams competing,” said Vallipuram, who is also on the all-powerful International Cricket Council board.

“It’s not only about showcasing Malaysia, but also benefiting the whole Associate world because we can help develop cricket through our resources and investment.”

Through its British historical footprint, Malaysia has a proud cricket history which is visible from the many ovals and cricket social clubs dotting the country. In 1927, Malaya (Malaysia’s former name) defeated a touring Australian side captained by the great Charlie Macartney but cricket has always remained on the fringes.

As expected, the sport has mostly been played among the Indian diaspora with cricket finding it difficult to penetrate the Malay and Chinese communities.

“Indians, even those who have been here for several generations, have mostly been contributing to the sport in Malaysia,” Vallipuram said. “Cricket has been traditionally viewed as an outsider type of sport, so it’s also important that we get the demographics right and that participation is not just seen as one small group.

“We’ve been working with the Ministry of Education in getting cricket part of the syllabus at schools which has now been the case for the past decade.”

In a culture where education is of utmost priority, sport - especially cricket - in Malaysia faces an uphill battle convincing kids and, more importantly, parents that there are viable employment prospects.

There will generally be mockery followed by scorn for those vowing to be a professional Malaysian cricketer rather than pursue a career in medicine or the court room.

But perhaps times are changing. Malaysia have never quite been a top Associate country but are currently ranked in the top 30 in T20Is for men’s and women’s.

Through the rise of T20 franchise cricket, new possibilities have arisen underscored by Malaysia captain Virandeep Singh having played in the UAE and Canada leagues while he was shortlisted for this year’s IPL auction.

“It’s important to show youngsters that there are opportunities to be a professional cricketer, so they hopefully keep playing as there tends to be a drop off around the age of 14-15,” Vallipuram said.

“We believe the talent and resources are there in Malaysia, it’s about retention and ensuring proper pathways.”

The ultimate dream, like every country undoubtedly, is for Malaysia to one day play on the grand stage of the Olympics. Before then, the next generation will continue to be inspired by top-shelf cricket being played in Bayuemas with the promise of much more to come.

“The future is exciting for Malaysian cricket,” Vallipuram said. “We continue striving to get better and ensure that cricket is highly visible in Malaysia. We will always push the boundaries of what is possible.”

There is doubt over whether the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle will expand to 12 teams after robust discussions at the International Cricket Council board meetings in Ahmedabad.

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Preliminary work continues apace on the much-anticipated Bali International Oval (BIO) project with Cricket Financial Journal confirming that the sleepy seaside village of Gerogak will be the location of a cricket ground that may one day host major T20 matches.

While public documents state the site will be in the Buleleng Regency, no actual address has been mentioned which has prompted conjecture that it’s likely in the regional capital of Singaraja or the tourist district of Lovina.

However, sources have said that a 5-hectare plot located between the neighbouring villages of Gerogak and Sanggalangit is currently being prepared for further works, suggesting the clearing and grubbing of land, grading, utility installation, stakeout and survey works.

Sources have also confirmed that the site will be “beachside” of the main road, however a “proper” road into the site remains to be constructed, further giving credence to the lack of an address.

Sources further said that a hotel complex including a swimming pool will also be constructed and will cater to visiting teams and participants in the on-site cricket academy.

A project manager has also been confirmed to be present on location to manage the works.

Bali is seen as an alluring destination for cricket given its mass tourism and proximity to Australia and India. It has been mooted as a potential site if the BBL were to expand abroad, while the Asian Cricket Council has hosted meetings there in recent years to underscore Bali’s growing heft.

Opening up north Bali

Bali in recent years has pivoted its economic focus from mass tourism towards value-added niche sectors such as medical tourism, global conference and events venue and property development, which was accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war.

The construction of the BIO adds to this new direction with the potential of luring billions of cricket fans to watch international or franchise league matches to Bali’s shores. The success of Bali United’s soccer training centre in Sukawati, Giyanyar Regency shows that sport can be another of the island’s lucrative drawcards.

But the main drawcard for the Indonesian and provincial governments, other than the potential revenues, is how an international sporting venue could anchor large infrastructure projects that open up Bali’s north.

The much-discussed idea of having Bali’s second international airport near the same area as the BIO makes sense if there is a need for international travellers to go to an ‘out of the way’ place, which raises the further question of transportation.

The proposed rail system a few years previous would stretch from Bali’s current international airport through the beating urban heart of Denpasar and up over the mountains into Singaraja and beyond would also make sense if there were a reason for throngs of sports fans to head north.

It currently takes about four hours driving time to travel north one way from the southern suburbs of Denpasar through hills, mountain passes and questionable roadways. Driver fatigue is a real danger and congested roads mean traffic jams and chancy near-fatal overtaking manoeuvres. Not to mention bus and truck breakdowns, and the risk of thunderstorms and landslides.

A train line could significantly mitigate these safety risks, especially when maintained well. And the travel time spent could be viable enough for somebody to travel from Kuta, where they are staying, to watch a T20 match in the BIO and then head back at the end of the day.

Whether this happens remains to be seen, but a successful build and regular use of the BIO will keep these options open for Bali which is fast becoming an enticing destination for cricket powerbrokers.

An expanded 12-team World Test Championship (WTC) proposal will be thrashed out at upcoming rescheduled International Cricket Council (ICC) board meetings but an imminent decision is unlikely.

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In a few sporting disciplines, diving and gymnastics for example, each skill or routine has what is termed a “degree of difficulty”. This is a measure of the relative complexity or risk involved in each move, or each series of moves, and it is factored into the scoring of a performance.

In diving, for instance, the straight, forward somersault from the one metre springboard has a 1.6 degree of difficulty. The backward version of the same dive, on the other hand, has a higher rating of 1.7. This means that a participant gets a higher mark for the backward dive if they are both perfectly executed.

There should be something similar in cricket. Few games are as significantly affected by external factors - such as the state of the batting surface and weather conditions – as cricket.

Putting the quality of the opposition aside for a moment - should a hundred made on a featherbed in Antigua be worth the same as one on a seaming Headingley? Should wickets captured by a spinner in Perth, where the ball almost always travels in a straight line, be counted the same as those collected on a minefield in Nagpur?

There is much information to be gleaned from a scorecard. But a scorecard deals only in numbers; it does not offer perspective. We sometimes scold a batter seen pushing and poking and playing and missing without fully appreciating the difficulty of batting in that environment.

Or we’ll see a bowler making little impact on a very benign surface and think he’s bowling abysmally. A system that utilizes context in assessing the play would surely offer valuable insight. It would make for a more meaningful system of rating the relative quality of players’ performances.

It would also, to be sure, place an unwelcome layer of complexity upon an already complex game. Ideally, however, it would be helpful to have every performance framed by the circumstances under which they occur, and it would highlight the special qualities of the players who consistently excel in tough conditions.

Last May I watched England score a flood of runs during the Trent Bridge Test against Zimbabwe. The hosts rattled up a gigantic 565/6 declared, made off 96.3 overs. Both openers scored hundreds – Ben Duckett 132 and Zak Crawley 115 while Ollie Pope scored 171. The only batter who could be said to have failed was Joe Root who was dismissed for 32 and captain Ben Stokes who made 28. In this period of Bazball their 5.86 run-rate was not unprecedented, but it was startling just the same and spoke to the ease with which the batters scored.

The following month India arrived on England’s shores to play for the Anderson/Tendulkar trophy staffed with higher quality bowlers. Unsurprisingly, they provided a much sterner examination of the home team’s batters. To anyone who witnessed the two visiting teams in action it was clear that scoring runs against India was much more difficult than scoring runs against Zimbabwe.

At points during the series Bazball was totally jettisoned, especially in the third Test where there was a spell of 28 dot balls. And so, shouldn’t runs against India be priced higher than runs against Zimbabwe?

Some years ago, a group of “25 cricketers, broadcasters, writers, and statisticians,” according to ESPNcricinfo, voted Laxman’s 59 and 281 against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, the best performance in Test cricket history.

It’s not hard to understand why. India followed on 274 behind and were still 222 adrift when Laxman arrived at the wicket.

What followed was 281 of the most handsome and consequential runs anyone could ever wish to witness, as bowlers of the caliber of Shane Warne and Glen McGrath were carted all over the Eden Gardens, in a wonderful display of back-to-the-wall batting.

Now, compare Laxman’s knock to, say, Brian Lara’s world records in Antigua. His 375 and 400 not out were monumental efforts. They were extraordinary feats of endurance and skill and focus. But they were made on featherbeds and both matches ended in draws, and would have probably required at least two additional days to eke out a result.

Much more recently, South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder smashed an unbeaten 367 on a flat surface in Bulawayo against a rather tame Zimbabwe attack. Considering that Mulder, who was captain, declared when he was within reach of Lara’s world record Test score and with loads of time left in the game, might suggest he didn’t think he deserved the record under those circumstances. Perhaps he thought it was all too easy.

Other great performances that came against strong odds would include Michael Holding’s 14 for 149 on a totally lifeless Oval surface in 1976. There was also Graham Gooch’s unbeaten 154 against the might of West Indian fast bowling in gloomy conditions at Headingley in 1991; Ian Botham’s 149, again at Headingley, as England overcame 500-1 odds to beat Australia despite following on; and Brian Lara’s 213 in Jamaica and 153 in Barbados, both played during Australia’s 1999 tour of the Caribbean.

In sports, as in life, the most telling accomplishments are the ones achieved against all probability. Leicester City’s 2015-16 Premier League win was universally lauded because it was thought an impossibility. That is the kind of sporting achievement that we all live to experience.

Cricketers, and sportsmen in general, are expected to perform well when the environment is favourable. The truly great performance, however, can only ever occur against overwhelming odds.

Australian batter Don Bradman was, simply, the best batter ever. His average of 99.94 is scarcely believable, considering that it is almost 40 runs better than the next in line. And yet, according to his contemporary Jack Fingleton, who went on to become a distinguished writer, Bradman was but a shadow of himself when asked to perform on a wet wicket.

This is what he said in Cricket Crisis, his book on Bodyline: “…I hasten to add now that all this concerned Bradman the great of the Good Wicket. In that category he stood alone. He was towering, majestic, omniscient – till the patter, patter on his palace roof told him the rains had arrived. Then he put off his majestic plumes and stole out to mix with the rabble, his features indistinguishable in the ranks of the wet-wicket mediocrities.”

To be fair, it wasn’t that Bradman didn’t have the ability to do better on wet wickets. Fingleton just thought he couldn’t be bothered, that he knew the good wicket would come along soon enough and he’d return to his gluttonous ways.

West Indies batting great and contemporary of Bradman, George Headley, negotiated wet wickets much better. In Beyond A Boundary, CLR James compares their record on wet wickets. He examines 15 wet-wicket innings in which Bradman passed 50 only once and averaged 16.66 and then points to 13 wet-wicket innings in which Headley passed 50 seven times and averaged 39.85.

By this evidence Headley was better on wet wickets. James even relates that a famed cricket journalist at the time offered that “Headley had good claims to be considered on all wickets the finest of the inter-war batsmen”.

This was an assessment with which James couldn’t agree, but accepted the point that Headley excelled when batting was at its hardest and should be given some credit for excelling under difficult conditions.

There is much information available in the game today. We can now measure the degree of seam and swing movement for each delivery and calculate what level of movement in what direction is more likely to lead to more dismissals.

We know the exact spot on which each ball lands and what length is most effective. All that data, allied with some gauge of the strength of the opposition could form the basis of some measurement scale of the degree of difficulty for batting and bowling for each game or each innings or each session etc.

This would be a novel approach somewhat, especially for a team game. Whenever Arsenal defeats Liverpool or Manchester City, teams normally appearing at the top of the English Premier League, they are awarded the same number of points as if they defeated the team at the very bottom of the standings.

Having said all that, we should acknowledge that cricket has taken some steps to add context to team performance in international games. Teams in the World Test Championship (WTC) now get more points for beating higher ranked teams and for winning away from home.

This needs to be significantly expanded because the good player is not necessarily the player who grabs buckets of wickets or makes mountains of runs when everything is in his or her favour. It is the one who scores runs on a bad wicket or takes wickets on a good one.

It is not the player who dominates weak opponents. It is the one who puts up good numbers against the strongest teams. Adding some degree of difficulty metric for each performance provides context. The greatest feats are those that overcome the greatest obstacles.

Cricket should find a way to reflect that.

With Australia about to go on a hectic run of non-stop cricket over the next 18 months, it feels like the last dance for a team that has won almost all major titles and, perhaps most importantly for their fans, not lost an Ashes series over the past decade.

While the focus will be on the twilight of their legendary players, understated Australia coach Andrew McDonald is likely also nearing the end of a highly successful run in the top job that started controversially when he took over from Justin Langer in 2022.

McDonald is contracted through to next year’s World Cup, which is set to be his swansong. Adam Voges and Chris Rogers have for some time been tipped as successors to McDonald after strong coaching performances in Australian domestic cricket.

Other candidates could emerge such as Cameron White, who like Voges will further his coaching experience in this season’s Major League Cricket in the US. After the departure of compatriot Shane Watson, White has been promoted to head coach of San Francisco Unicorns as I first reported in January.

White will juggle the responsibilities with his role as head coach of Melbourne Renegades, who last season finished second last on the BBL ladder in his second year in charge.

Despite a tough start to his Renegades reign, White has long been highly touted for his tactical nous and player management style having started his coaching career with assistant roles at Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers.

If he can guide Unicorns to a maiden title and lift Renegades off the dregs, White, a protege of mastermind coach Greg Shipperd, may emerge in the national frame especially if Australia’s hierarchy consider split coaching among formats.

“For sure,” White told Cricket Financial Journal when asked if he hoped to coach Australia one day. “I guess in the coaching world, you are mad to turn down any opportunities that may come up. You’re always looking to improve and adapt as a coach like you are as a player.

“So seeing different environments, getting different experiences can only hold you in good stead as a coach.”

White’s immediate task will be putting a stamp on Unicorns, who had unsuccessful playoff runs in 2024 and 2025. He already has a good feel of the franchise having been Watson’s right hand man previously.

“I don’t think there’ll be a whole heap of change. I think we won our first six games last year and we’ve got a very similar lineup this year,” White said.

“Just keeping the squad healthy and adjusting our tactics will be a focus. Conditions will change throughout the tournament and there is a new ground in Los Angeles now that we will have to adjust to.”

Underlining Unicorns’ recruitment strategy since inception, their squad is brimming with versatility and x-factors, including in-form Australians Cooper Connolly and Aaron Hardie who have been lighting it up in the IPL and PSL respectively.

“The beauty with our squad that we’ve put together, we can pick a lot of different teams to suit opponents and conditions. We’re pretty flexible and that’s something I really like about the squad,” White said.

“We’ve brought in Aaron Hardie this year, who’s just starred in the PSL final and can bat through the top six and also bowl in different phases. Players like that give us a lot of flexibility.”

Fitting given they are owned by venture capitalists Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, Unicorns have embraced their Silicon Valley roots and focused on cutting edge AI technology while also striving to build around young stars.

Unicorns last year kick-started Connolly’s overseas T20 franchise career and this season will do likewise with 19-year-old rising star Oliver Peake, who is set to make his international debut during Australia’s upcoming ODI tour of Pakistan.

“Will be a great experience for him to be here with the Unicorns around some of the world’s best players,” White said of Peake, who he coaches at the Renegades. “So whatever role he plays, I think it’s exciting for him and the team.”

The fourth edition of MLC starts on June 18 with Unicorns making their season debut the following day against Los Angeles Knight Riders in Dallas.

The Unicorns are set to have a significant home ground advantage with the famous Coliseum hosting a block of games from June 24-28 before being the site of the playoffs culminating in the final on July 18.

Located near Interstate 880, with its stunning views of the Oakland hills in the backdrop, the old warhorse of the Coliseum helped reel in the punters last season and develop a brand for Unicorns.

“We made 269 in the first game in Oakland, so the brand of cricket that is played at the Coliseum is great for the development and the interest in the game here,” White said with Finn Allen, who is returning to Unicorns, smashing a world record 19 sixes during his 151-run knock against Washington in the aforementioned match.

“Curators did a great job getting that surface to a very high standard, which allowed for that type of cricket to be played and that suits us as we have a very powerful batting order.”

While the international stars and the marquee signing of Indian legend Ravichandran Ashwin will hog the headlines, White is especially excited about developing homegrown American players led by rising US star Sanjay Krishnamurthi.

“I think the key in these leagues is the strength of your domestic local players, which often dictates how you go in the tournament,” White said. “I think the US team will only get stronger as the MLC develops and gets stronger as a league in general.”

While he focuses on the Unicorns amid the Australian off-season, the BBL privatisation talks have dominated the headlines back home. Cricket Victoria has expressed support for a privatised model with Renegades deemed a chance of possibly being entirely sold off if it was to ensue.

“I’m hoping that privatisation definitely is a thing for the BBL. I just think that it’ll be great for everyone involved,” White said. “I think it’s a piece of the puzzle that potentially will help the BBL, bring a whole new lease of life, not only into the BBL but access to players and all sorts of things.

“What that means for the Renegades and me as head coach, I’m not 100% sure. But I think for the betterment of the BBL going forward, hopefully it happens in some way, shape or form.”

While there is still a lot of uncertainty over that, White will be spending the next couple of months far away and amid the world’s biggest sports market where cricket is starting to make a mark.

“It’s exciting to be involved in this landscape and in this tournament,” he said. “I think this tournament is only growing. I can’t wait for the MLC to start.”

Other than the scandal-plagued FIFA, sports governance has an unwanted reputation for being rather boring. Cricket is no exception despite plenty of backroom skullduggery. The mysterious International Cricket Council can be a tough nut to crack.

Having reported on cricket political shenanigans for some time now, it’s a shadowy world and divulging actual interesting information that mainstream fans care about is tricky.

Pitching and writing articles is one matter, but writing a book on the ICC and cricket’s governance is another. Someone needed to produce a deep dive and kudos to veteran reporter Rod Lyall, who last year superbly delivered with The Club which is in the running for a prestigious cricket book award in the UK.

Lyall, a retired Australian academic who has lived in the Netherlands for decades, has dedicated retirement to cricket media endeavours, especially covering European cricket.

Given his reporting on the ICC and Associate cricket, I’ve followed his work for some time and always enjoyed his in-depth research (unsurprising given his career in academia) and elegant prose - also unsurprising given his father Vernon was a legendary newspaperman in Perth.

We have only met once despite both being at several tournaments in Europe, where I lived earlier last decade to help kick-start my cricket reportage although I spent more time gallivanting around the Baltics with journo mate Matt Garrick who some readers may be familiar with after his stoush with prickly AFL coach Damien Hardwick.

Along with another Associate writer Shounak Sarkar, we met for beers during the 2022 T20 World Cup at a famed watering hole in Perth’s leafy western suburbs that has since sadly shuttered.

The chat naturally flowed just like the beers we guzzled down and we’ve continued to correspond, most recently for this conversation.

Rod, let’s start from the beginning. When did you first become a cricket fan and how did that passion eventually turn into chronicling Associate cricket?

My very first experience of cricket was being with my dad on the last day of a Sheffield Shield match between WA and Queensland at the WACA in December 1952. I worked with the ABC as a scorer before leaving Perth to go overseas in 1967.

In 2005, I was just at the point of taking early retirement from university teaching when John Elder, who was running Irish Cricket, said he was setting up a European cricket website.

So that’s how I started in online cricket journalism. We really became the basis for coverage of Associate cricket, which had largely been ignored up to that point.

We then got a series of contracts with ICC Europe initially. I did a lot of live text commentary in obscure places like Corfu and Estonia.

My first cricket event I ever ‘covered’ - I use the term loosely - was actually in 2012 in Estonia where Shane Warne and Liz Hurley rocked up as special guests!

I was there too! I was behind the computer. Estonian cricket is very interesting, because they took women’s cricket seriously very early on at a time when the men’s team still had a lot of expats. But that hasn’t really gone anywhere, I think partly because the ICC Europe’s support for developing cricket across Europe is a much smaller operation than it was then.

So you’ve covered the Associates for many years, including for the terrific website Emerging Cricket. When did the book idea start emerging?

At some point in one of our chats among the Emerging Cricket contributors on WhatsApp, I said something about the need of a book on the history of the ICC. Tim Brooks indicated that he would be interested in working on that with me. So it started out as a joint operation between me and him. We found a publisher, Pitch Publishing, that published a previous book Tim had written. But Tim was starting to write novels, so I eventually took it on as a solo effort.

I have also written a book that was published by Pitch Publishing. Not on cricket, but about the fairly obscure game of 3-on-3 basketball. So I know these offbeat ideas can be a tough sell. How was your book proposal received?

We produced an outline and a detailed synopsis. They were very good about it, right from the start. I think they could see that this was a book that needed to be written. To understand what’s happening on the field, you really can’t ignore the political dimension. You can’t talk about world cricket without engaging with the India-Pakistan story, for example.

How difficult was the reporting? I know from experience that it can be hard to get administrators etc to talk about what can be sensitive topics.

Your sources are truly impressive! I tried to engage with a number of people initially. But I’m a documents man, so for me the most important thing was to be able to get hold of documents. It’s a story which is based on newspaper reports, many of which are now available online. I wrote the bulk during Covid when I was in Australia and couldn’t get out because of the border restrictions.

The British Newspaper Archive, Trove in Australia and papers in New Zealand, to a lesser degree, were all enormously invaluable sources. I also, for the more recent period, worked my way systematically through the Cricinfo news files, which contain very valuable material such as before and after board meetings.

You’re the perfect person to ask this. What actually is the ICC?

Somebody suggested to me before the book appeared that it could be the definitive history of an organisation which ceases to exist within a year of the book’s release. That’s not going to happen.

I think you have to have a global organisation, although I suppose it’s possible to imagine a dark future in which there are only franchise leagues and international cricket virtually disappears.

But I think the distinction between the BCCI and the ICC has become so blurred that unless the other members develop spines and start doing something about that…I think the future could be very bleak.

We have a reverse imperial model where Indian money is now colonising the rest of the world in the way that the Europeans colonised the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. What is it going to look like in 10 years? God only knows.

Since we’re amid major discussions on these topics, what do you think of Test’s future and international cricket more broadly?

I find it difficult to imagine a world without Tests. I mean, I’m 82 so I suppose I can comfort myself with the thought that I probably won’t be around to see it. It’s hard to imagine a cricket scene without the Ashes, ghastly as the last Ashes series was at times.

It’s hard to imagine a world without a 50-over World Cup, although there are people who would like to see the end of ODI cricket. I think it’s certainly traumatic to contemplate a world in which international cricket is no longer played.

Given the financial challenges and overcrowding of the calendar, perhaps the World Test Championship may come to involve one-off matches as a norm and longer series as the exception, which would be better than no Test cricket at all.

There is an article, which you might be able to find back from 2010 on Cricket Europe, where I wrote a sort of fantasy - a dream - about finding in a bookshop a history of world cricket up to 2085 or something.

It was about basically how the IPL took over and how the World Championship was a best of, I don’t know, 97-match T20 series between the Osaka Bombers and the San Diego something or other, and how both teams had no native players in them at all.

They were all Indians and South Africans and Australians, and how riots led to the burning down of the Lord’s pavilion. It was a kind of real apocalyptic dystopian view of world cricket, and I don’t entirely resign from that.

What do you think of the current state of the Associates?

Fundamentally a country like Scotland or the Netherlands or Namibia or even Nepal is systematically starved of funding, which would get them to the next level. So, you’re scrimping and saving, you don’t have enough money for development offices, you don’t have enough money to tour outside the competition structures and you can’t get the Full Members to play against you.

Finding a sponsor even in the Netherlands is a nightmare. Try finding sponsors in the Czech Republic or Romania or Estonia, where cricket is mostly expat anyway, which is a whole other problem.

If you go back to 2000-2010, when the global development program was being rolled out, there was a vision for the future which had pathways - a favorite ICC word.

We saw Ireland and Afghanistan capitalise on that. But what’s happened since to Ireland and Afghanistan is outrageous.

Things are shifting so quickly in the cricket landscape - including within the corridors of power- that you would have plenty of material for a sequel, right?

The politics has become more and more obvious, and I don’t just mean the cricket politics, I mean the wider politics of the relationship between the BCCI and the BJP.

All of that has become worse and the franchise stuff, with which the book finishes, has also become more pressing.

Somehow, the Cricket Australias and the ECBs and the Cricket South Africas have to pull their fingers out and find a way of saying no to India. Otherwise we’re doomed.

The Club can be purchased here.

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The radical shifts to the existing cricket ecosystem have been further underscored by the increasingly bitter saga in Australia, where divisions are forming over plans to privatise the Big Bash League.

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Smaller cricket events are set to receive greater exposure after significant investment into an AI-driven sports production.

SportVot is a sports tech company focused on scalable AI-driven sports production, distribution and monetisation infrastructure for emerging leagues and competitions

It received a $3.6 million (USD) investment to expand its presence across Europe, Australia, the United States and West Asia. The company appears suited to help address cricket’s needs beyond the Full Member world.

Associate cricket and smaller leagues worldwide are often not broadcast and have little media coverage in a sport obsessed with the powerhouse countries. SportVot aims to address a significant gap beyond the top tier, with smaller tournaments and leagues operating without structured production or consistent visibility.

Through its AI-driven capture and remote production infrastructure, virtual advertising integrations, player profiling and data analytics capabilities, it is hoped to shine a light on under-exposed matches.

Junior Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings’ junior tournament) has already had an involvement with SportVot, which boasts a significant cricket identity with Tim Anderson - former International Cricket Council head of development - managing director of its operations in Australia.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen strong adoption from sports organisations across Australia looking to scale how their competitions are captured and distributed,” Anderson said.

“The ability to deliver consistent, high-quality production across different sports and formats has been key.

“This next phase allows us to build SportVot is a global sport technology company, delivering cutting edge live broadcast production and content creation solutions for 30 sports in over 20 countries across the world.”

San Francisco Unicorns are bracing to be without emerging Australian young stars Ollie Peake, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly and Xavier Bartlett for the start of the Major League Cricket season.

The 19-year-old Peake and all-rounder Hardie are fresh signings for a Unicorns franchise that will be led by new coach Cameron White. The fourth edition of MLC starts on June 18 with Unicorns making their season debut against Los Angeles Knight Riders on the 19th in Dallas.

The Unicorns may be shorthanded to start the season with Australia having white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh coming up. They have a three-match ODI series in Pakistan from May 30-June 4 before an ODI and T20I tour of Bangladesh from June 9-21.

Code Sports reported that Peake will be picked to face Pakistan, while it also stated that Hardie has been brought back into the T20 fold.

Connolly, who played four matches for Unicorns last season, and Bartlett will also be in strong contention after their starring roles in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

“Just for the first couple of games there is an overlap and we are expecting to miss a couple of those Australians on that (Bangladesh) tour,” White told Cricket Financial Journal.

“Of course in our planning, we’ve made sure we’ve got enough cover replacement players for those guys we’re expecting to miss.”

Whether he will arrive in the US as a newly-minted international cricketer remains to be seen, but Peake is quickly becoming a rising star.

White knows him particularly well having coached Peake at Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League where the teenager produced a last ball six to lift his side past eventual champions Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium. MLC will mark Peake’s first foray into overseas T20 franchise cricket.

“With his ability and the way he understands and reads the game, I think he’s probably not far away from playing international cricket,” White said. “Will be a great experience for him to be here with the Unicorns around some of the world’s best players.

“So whatever role he plays, I think it’s exciting for him and the team. Just looking forward to obviously get to work with him again and seeing what he can bring throughout the tournament.”

Hardie, who has played 31 white-ball matches for Australia, also looms as a key signing for Unicorns having previously played for Texas Super Kings in 2024. Injuries and inconsistencies saw him fall down the pecking order of Australia’s white-ball teams with Hardie not in the frame for Australia’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this season.

But he’s put together outstanding T20 form this year after starring roles in the BBL and most recently in the Pakistan Super League.

“The flexibility he can bring to the line-up, being a top six batter and someone that can bowl, really outlines his all-round strengths,” White said. “Players like that can give us a lot of flexibility. We saw what he did in the PSL final and it’s a performance like that which will probably put him in the picture for those Australian tours.”

A coaching restructure and new national cricket centre are the set pieces of Malaysia’s efforts to prepare its players for the next decade of international tournaments as the emerging Southeast Asian cricket country dreams big.

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There is doubt over whether an expanded 12-team World Test Championship (WTC) proposal will be resolved at rescheduled International Cricket Council (ICC) board meetings later this month in India.

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Even when he was amid a gruelling workload with the largest national sporting governing body in the United States, Sean Cary still found himself consumed by cricket.

“Cricket’s certainly in my blood and it’s a sport that I turn to just about every day on the various apps, to see which teams are going well, especially the Australian men’s and women’s teams and the Perth Scorchers,” former Western Australia quick Cary told Cricket Financial Journal.

“So it’s something that’s been in my blood forever and I had hoped that an opportunity in cricket would become available either in the US or somewhere else.”

His wish has been granted. After almost a decade in a senior executive role at the United States Tennis Association, where he notably led competition operations for the world famous US Open, Cary recently was appointed chief executive of Seattle Orcas.

“This opportunity came up and I had some really great conversations with the ownership group,” Cary said. “Loved their vision and loved what they had to say. Felt that it would be a really good fit for me.”

Cary will be tasked with trying to help build the brand of Orcas, who are the only small market side in the six-team Major League Cricket boasting franchises from the big locales of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC and Dallas (Texas Super Kings).

There is a growing South Asian demographic in the Pacific Northwest, largely attracted to the tech industry along with a laidback lifestyle, and that has helped ensure cricket has a core base of fans.

But Cary believes cricket can extend beyond expats with the sport fuelled by its newfound Olympic status as anticipation grows for its return at the Los Angeles Games.

“I think the fact that Major League Cricket have chosen the window in late June-July….the top US sports are not really playing anything competitively,” Cary said.

“I think there’s a significant opportunity for cricket to enter the landscape of the wider American market and grasp the minds of the wider population.

“We can share that passion and share that love to educate Americans on how great this game is.”

While clever marketing - Orcas have trumpeted themselves as ‘America’s Team’ - and an eye-catching name and green team colours have ensured a distinctive brand, the franchise’s powerbrokers know that a home cricket ground will prove a game-changer.

A site has been earmarked at King County’s Marymoor Park, around 25 kilometres from Seattle, and likely to hold about 8000-10,000 fans initially but bureaucratic hurdles have proven a stumbling block.

“It’s really important that we develop cricket from the ground up in Seattle and have a home base for the Orcas where the pathway programs run and we can provide a training facility for the domestic players,” Cary said.

“So that is of highest priority for us to have that venue where we can play home games from 2027 onwards.

“I think having the venue is just going to open up so many opportunities to invest in the team and get the locals closer and more engaged with the Orcas. It’s difficult to build a really solid fan base without fans being able to watch teams play and train in person.”

Even though still early in Orcas’ history, with MLC having only started in 2023, it’s a period of leadership transition with Cary’s former Western Australia teammate Adam Voges taking the reins as coach.

After a turbulent 2025 season, where Orcas finished fifth with just three wins from 10 matches and endured the firing of their Australian coach Matthew Mott, the highly successful Voges is hoped to build a winning culture that will result in their first title.

Having enjoyed enormous success at the helm of Western Australia and reigning Big Bash League champions Perth Scorchers, Voges has long been touted as a potential successor to Australia coach Andrew McDonald.

“He’s a very strong leader, man manager. I’m very confident that he will be able to develop an extremely strong culture and values system,” said Cary, who finished his playing days when ex-Test player Voges was making his way into the WA side in the early 2000s.

“I am confident he can help the team be a franchise that international and domestic players will want to play for. I’m very confident that the team will become a force in a very short period of time.”

The strong link with WA has strengthened with Orcas powerbrokers having long expressed fondness for the Western Australian cricket system. A potential high performance partnership - much like the links between Victoria and San Francisco and also New South Wales with Washington - has been previously pondered by Orcas officials.

The Orcas are owned by an investor group of current and former Microsoft executives, technology entrepreneurs in partnership with the GMR Group, co-owners of the Delhi Capitals who bought a 49% stake in Southern Brave in the Hundred.

There is likely to be natural interest over Scorchers, the BBL’s most successful franchise, who are set to move into the next phase of the BBL’s privatisation plans by testing the global market to see what prospective investors might offer.

There is lot to play out on that front, with Cary right now firmly focused on being entrenched back in cricket after his stint in tennis which took him and his family all the way to the US from Australia.

“Certainly coming to the US was a little bit foreign, but it was probably one of the better decisions, both personally and professionally, that we made as a family,” he said.

“It’s a really good opportunity to use the experience of working within the sporting landscape in the US, and using that knowledge to really help deliver the Seattle Orcas as America’s favorite cricket team.”

Malaysia dominated the fourth and final match against Indonesia with a comprehensive five-wicket victory to secure a ruthless clean sweep of the T20I series in Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesia’s chances of a consolation victory on tour crashed after winning the toss and electing to bat. Their top-order were stifled by accurate bowling and forced them to be defensive, resulting in Pavandeep Singh claiming Dharma Kesuma’s scalp in the second over.

With very little appetite for single runs and the inability to hit big further saw the visitors remain anchored at the crease as they crashed further when Pavandeep claimed Gede Priandana and Gede Arta as part of a double wicket maiden in the sixth over.

Malaysia were on a roll and the pressure told on Kavin Chadda, who was caught by Muhamad Syahadat off the red-hot Pavandeep, who finished with the remarkable figures of 4-3 off 4 overs.

A flash of inspiration in the ninth over, courtesy of Anjar Tadarus and Kadek Gamantika, finally had Indonesia making runs off every ball. But that still was not enough to rouse their spirits, losing Tadarus in 11th over.

An lbw decision against skipper Danilson Howoe off Pavandeep all but cemented the woes of the visitors.

They slumped further with the dismissals of Sampath Karvi in the 13th over and Apriliandi Rahayu two overs later.

A last hurrah of three boundaries from Kadek Gramantika and Ketut Arwan proved too little too late for the Indonesians, losing the latter to Syed Aziz in the final over as they finished with the lowly total of 73 for 9.

In reply, the anticipated cakewalk by Malaysia did not materialise early in their innings as they started in similar fashion to Indonesia.

Perhaps the need to claw back some honour had a pumped-up Howoe claiming the wickets of Muhammad Haziq Aiman and Muhammad Amir within the opening four overs.

A sudden outburst of two boundaries and a six by the talismanic Virandeep Singh in the sixth over got Malaysia back into the groove and threatening an early end to the one-sided contest.

Sensing this, the visitors stepped up the attack which finally resulted in Virandeep holing out to Howoe off Ferdinando Banunaek.

With the dangerman gone, Indonesia sought to limit Malaysia’s run rate and it yielded the scalp of Amir Khan in the ninth over.

Another burst of big hits by Syahadat, who finished unbeaten on 33 from 40 balls, in the 10th over effectively ended the contest as Malaysia stormed to 61-4 at the halfway point.

Indonesia picked up the consolation wicket of Zubaidi Zulkifle in the 12th over and they ended their tour fighting right to the end. But it wasn’t nearly enough as Malaysia stormed to the target with 29 balls to spare to complete a flawless series triumph.

Malaysia claimed a comfortable 12-run victory over Indonesia to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match T20I series in Kuala Lumpur.

The result, which backed up Malaysia’s six-wicket victory in the opener, did not look likely initially. The hosts stumbled early with the bat after losing opener Aslam Khan, who was caught by Ferdinando Banunaek off Indonesia captain Danilson Howoe in the second over.

Caution dictated much of Malaysia’s batting in the early overs, but they started to build a platform through the muscular approach of Muhamad Syahadat and Adeshlie Alias.

Malaysia’s momentum was halted when Howoe continued to prove a thorn and turned the match on its head when he dismissed Syahadat and talisman Virandeep Singh in the sixth over.

Malaysia were further on the backfoot when Alias was well caught by Sampath Kharvi off Anjar Tadarus in the seventh over.

Determined to stem the haemorrhaging, Syed Aziz and Aqeel Wahid laid the groundwork for Malaysia’s comeback over the next three overs which were characterised by a smattering of singles and twos, as they expertly worked the ball around.

But Aziz was bowled by Kadek Gamantika in the tenth over as Malaysia slumped to 55 for 5 at the halfway point.

Amir Khan stepped up to the crease to continue the traction created by his compatriot, resulting in a further manipulation of the field. He clubbed 37 off 31 balls before his whirlwind ended in the 18th over when Howoe claimed another wicket with Ketut Artawan taking the catch.

Wahid’s 32 off 30 balls came to a close in the next over, with Apriliandy Rahayu taking the catch off the bowling of Dewa Pratama.

Despite a late collapse, which also included Muhammad Amir and Sharvin Muniandy, the hosts were in good shape after finishing with 137 for 9.

In reply, Indonesia also started off, perhaps, a little too slowly, only hitting two singles in their first two overs.

They appeared to be getting used to the pitch until the visitors defaulted to their favourite tactic of hitting big, which resulted in a solid strike by Gede Arta in the third over.

But Aziz quickly put Malaysia on top with the wickets of Arta and Dharma Kesuma in successive deliveries.

The double strikes seemed to keep Indonesia on the defensive despite some game counterattacking from Gede Priandana until he was bowled by the golden arm of Virandeep in the 10th over.

Much of the same approach characterised the rest of Indonesia’s innings as the visitors made a game push of the target but regularly lost untimely wickets. The dismissal of Anjar Tadarus in the 15th over by Amir Khan proved a major blow for Indonesia’s increasingly faint chances of chasing down the target.

Sampath Kharvi and Ketut Artawan fell to Khan in the 17th over, as Malaysia smelt victory.

Indonesia at least fought through the entire 20 overs, with Howoe and Rahayu hitting two sixes and a boundary at the death as they finished short of the target at 125 for 7.

International cricket is in trouble.

The stupendous rise of Twenty20 (T20) cricket has led to a diminution of the international game and especially of Test cricket. Every year seems to herald the emergence of a new T20 league.

They now proliferate to such an extent that even the most ardent cricket followers find it impossible to keep up with all that is going on all over the world. This is no bad thing, in a way.

The T20 leagues are lucrative and enable a reasonably large number of players to earn a decent living playing the game they love and are good at. But it all comes at a cost, a cost that the less wealthy cricketing nations like the West Indies have been paying.

The latest installment of that payment has come in the form of the retirement from international cricket of Nicholas Pooran. The left-hander issued a statement telling of his gratitude for having represented the people of the Caribbean: “After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to announce my retirement from international cricket,” Pooran wrote.

“This game we love has given and will continue to give me so much joy, purpose and unforgettable memories and a chance to represent the people of the West Indies. Wearing that maroon, standing for the anthem and giving everything I had each time I stepped on the field...it’s hard to put into words what that truly means to me.”

The Trinidadian is 30 and was the West Indies’ best T20 batter, one of the best in the world. He hasn’t been at his best recently but in last season’s IPL he slammed 524 runs at an average of 43.66 and an almost unbelievable strike rate of 196.25. He is the most prolific six-hitter in the game and has hit the most in the game since 2024.

Also high on that list is Heinrich Klaasen of South Africa, who, it turns out, also announced his retirement from international cricket. Pooran has the capacity to dominate any attack and so the already struggling West Indies will be considerably weaker without him.

Not that he has always been available: he has not represented the West Indies in 50-over cricket since July 2023 and asked to be rested for this current series in England. But his retirement means that the prospects of the Caribbean side in their more immediate upcoming endeavours have taken a dive.

This is nothing new for the West Indies. Franchise commitments and their own selection policy has long prevented them from choosing a team from a pool of its best players.

And no Caribbean cricket fan would dare argue that our top men have always been available for selection, whether it is Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Sunil Narine, or any number of others.

It is evident that many players no longer see international cricket, and Test cricket in particular, as the pinnacle of the sport. Or, they are willing to forgo playing at the highest level to maximize their earnings.

Whichever it is it spells gloom for the international game. I have no way of knowing, of course, but this is what I believe: had there been no T20 leagues to purchase his skills, Pooran would likely have been the West Indies’ premier batter, and one of the better Test match batters in the game.

His ability is undeniable, and his capacity for wreaking mayhem with the bat is why he is in such high demand on the T20 circuit, as was the likes of Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard before him.

If it seems like I’m saying all this is the fault of the T20 leagues then be clear that I am not. The cricket calendar is chaotic and has a free-for-all feel to it. Players who are adept at the T20 game, and especially those from the less wealthy nations, have become globe-trotting cricketers-for-hire.

Pooran, for example, has represented 23 or 24 different franchise teams by my calculation. The count for Andre Russell is about 28. Franchise cricket has long been eating away at the time available for international cricket. Tours are more and more becoming frenzied affairs, with games crammed together in quick succession.

This only serves, I believe, to dilute the intensity and quality of the action in the middle. Last year, Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was rested for two of five Tests on tour of England. And that was not a unique situation either because we have seen England and Australia do similarly before.

This is now something that is often seen as necessary to preserve the health and match readiness of fast bowlers. But I can’t remember Walsh or Ambrose or Marshall or Lillee or Hadlee ever being asked to sit out a Test match unless they were injured.

Things can’t go on like this. Cricket is crying out for some sort of structure. There must be a way to better streamline the disorder and confusion that now obtains. It can’t be that the cricketing eco-system will be allowed to deteriorate even more, to fall into even further disarray.

It is as if no one is at the helm of world cricket and so it drifts along aimlessly, going wherever the gusts of franchise cricket and the monied cricket boards push it. While we hope for the preservation of international cricket and especially of Test cricket it is difficult to shake the feeling that it might be in some danger.

Not long ago, the World Cricketer’s Association (WCA) submitted a few proposals in a document titled: Protecting History, Embracing Change: A Unified, Coherent, Global Future.

It includes, among other things, the creation of windows for international cricket each year and a more equitable sharing of cricket revenue. Perhaps the ICC should, if it hasn’t already, seriously consider implementing at least some of the suggested reforms.

Things are especially perilous in the Caribbean and many of us are afraid the game could die a death brought on by mismanagement and neglect.

Sanjay Govil, an American tech billionaire, is ambitious. That’s probably not surprising given his business success, which has trickled into his passion of cricket where he is building a portfolio of T20 franchise teams that may expand into Australia down the track.

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