Official website attracts 1.4 million hits during WCL Div. 5
“Demonstrates the huge interest there is in Associate cricket,” says Matthew Kennedy
The official website of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 (WCL Div. 5) tournament, held in Jersey from 23-31 May, has confirmed the presence of a huge interest in international cricket beyond the boundaries of the Test and ODI arenas.
Located at www.iccworldcricketleague.com, the website was run in conjunction with CricketEurope and Jersey Cricket and it proved to be an enormous success attracting more than 1,400,000 page impressions in the 10-day period from midnight on 22 May up until the same time on 1 June.
This figure does not include visitor-initiated refreshes of live scoreboard or commentary pages and on average, 10,381 individual visitors (different URLs) were attracted to the site each day.
“This is a very encouraging sign for Associate and Affiliate cricket,” said ICC Global Development Manager Matthew Kennedy.
“It shows that there is a significant level of interest for the sport all over the world and not just in countries where they play Test cricket. This tournament in Jersey was the fifth division in a global tournament that will bring events to Tanzania (Division 4) and Argentina (Division 3) before the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier (incorporating Divisions 1 and 2) in the UAE next year.
“The popularity of event websites such as this shows us that the development of cricket around the world is working and that more people than ever before are playing and taking an interest in the game,” said Mr Kennedy.
The event was won by Afghanistan, who beat Jersey in a closely fought final in front of a sizable crowd at Grainville. Consolation for the host team was that although it was beaten in that match, it still qualified along with Afghanistan for the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 event, which will take place in Dar-es-Salaam from 4 to 11 October.
In turn, the top two teams from that tournament will progress to WCL Div. 3 in Argentina next January and then the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2009 in the UAE, which incorporates Divisions 1 and 2.
At the end of that tournament, the top four Associate or Affiliate teams in the world will be booking their places at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to be staged in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Those four will join the 10 Full Members to decide the top one-day side in the world.
“It gives a clear pathway for our Associate and Affiliate Members towards the ICC Cricket World Cup. Events like the WCL help to raise the profile of the sport and in turn increase the number of people taking up cricket,” said Mr Kennedy.
CricketEurope, which operated the WCL Div. 5 site, is an independent website dedicated to the coverage of cricket beyond the Test nations. It can be found at www.cricketeurope.com.
Final Standings
- Afghanistan
- Jersey
- Nepal
- USA
- Singapore
- Botswana
- Germany
- Mozambique
- Norway
- Japan
- Bahamas
- Vanuatu
(Afghanistan and Jersey qualify for the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 event in Tanzania from 4 to 11 October.)