ICC World T20: Sultan, Borren seek more matches for associates

Dharamsala: Oman skipper Sultan Ahmed and his Netherlands counterpart Peter Borren called for more official games for the associate teams and also the affiliates.
Speaking after their exit (one inconsequential match against Ireland remaining) from the ICC World T20 Championship, the Dutch captain called for more consideration from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“We have the associate status but we don’t get games to play. We are eager to play more cricket and the governing body must chalk out plans to give the associate members their due,” said Borren.
“If you ask what next for Netherlands, we have hardly three to four games lined up for this year and mind you this includes the match against Ireland here,” said Borren.
“We will be playing two matches against Nepal and one against Afghanistan,” he added.
“I don’t say ICC is not doing anything. All their developmental programmes have been fruitful, but what we want is ‘play more’. More frequent matches rather than waiting till the next World Cup qualifier,” detailed Borren.
“This will help the game spread wings faster,” he added.
Borren also highlighted that revenue must not remain in one or two selective hands. “It would be good everyone gets a good share of the cricket revenue, so that more can be done for the growth of the game.”
At the same time, Borren also appreciated the fact that it is nice to see new cricket teams coming up and catching the eye of the world.
Vouching to what Borren said, Oman captain Sultan said, it will be nice to have more matches and ICC chalk out plans for bilateral series.
“Yes we would love to play cricket round the year and also host matches,” said Sultan. “It would be good if we get chance to play more 50-over matches and also T20 and first class games.”
Adding on Oman team manager Jamil Zaidi pointed out that the Netherlands has been an associate member for quite some time now, “but we have earned the status only recently.”
“ICC has been helping Oman Cricket a lot and it was the governing body who arranged many T20 matches (both official and unofficial) for us in the UAE,” said Jamil.
“ICC has helped us a lot in our preparations thus far and yes as (captain) Sultan said we would like to play more international matches from here on. Hope a new programme for the associates will be chalked out soon,” he said.