Kuwait on the up..

Posted by John Winn

Where would we be without Cricinfo? Where else could one get details of the ICC World Cricket League Division Seven Tournament held last week in Botswana? The competing nations were the host nation plus Germany, Japan, Norway, Nigeria and Kuwait.The fifty over competition was won by Kuwait who beat Nigeria by 72 runs in the final.
What I found of particular interest was the composition of the teams. The German team, judged by the surnames of players was entirely of Asian origin, as was Norway but Japan,again using the surname test was more than 50% Japanese. The other three teams seemed to have relied on their indigenous population.
Forty Eight teams are ranked globally by ICC with Ireland leading the non-test playing nations. The six teams who competed in Botswana last week are ranked from 37 to 42. Below this there is a whole host of nations who are ranked regionally. For example there are a further twenty European nations headed by France.
Kuwait are clearly a team on the up, having won the Division 8 tournament last year they will now compete in the Division Six tournament to be held in Malaysia in September, a nice way for the professional cricket watcher to prolong the season?