MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

Wills Cup promises rich fare

For the first time in the history of cricket, a limited overs tournament on a knockout basis featuring all the nine Test-playing nations is being organised by the ICC.

The event has been titled the Wills International Cup.

It will serve the dual purpose of a competitive event featuring the top cricket playing nations of the world, as well as generate resources for the various developmental programmes initiated by the ICC. The ICC's vision is to globalise cricket, and this cup is meant to be the first concrete step towards realisation of its objectives.

The choice of Bangladesh as a venue symbolises the organisation's commitment towards spreading the gospel of this game far and wide, an ICC press release issued in Calcutta said today.

The event will be held at Dhaka, and all matches will be played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium from October 24 to November 1,1998, with a reserve day on November 2,1998.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, England, South Africa and Zimbabwe will be the participants.

There will be a pre-quarter final, followed by four quarter finals, two semifinals and the final. With no second chances, and where every match is a do or die affair, the tournament promises to be a highly enthralling and memorable cricketing spectacle.

ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya indicated that a total prize money of 400,000 dollars would be on offer. Of this, the champions would get $100,000, the runners up $60,000, the losing semifinalists $60,000, winners of the pre-quarters and quarters $20,000, and the losers in these two stages $15,000 apiece. Besides, there would be four individual awares of $5000 each.

The official logo of the tournament was released at a function in Calcutta, with the likes of ITC's vice president, the ICC president, the ICC CEO David Richards, Bangladesh Cricket Association president Sabir Chowdhury and former Pakistan cricket captain Asif Iqbal present.

Richards said that the ICC had picked S Venkatraghavan, David Shepherd and Peter Willey, Steve Bucknor, Steve Dunne and David Orchard to officiate. Match referees will be Ranjan Madugalle and Raman Subba Rao, while they will be understudied by Ibrahim Issacs (South Africa) and Gundappa Vishwanath.

All matches will be day-night games, over 50 overs, as per ICC rules.

UNI