Tanzanian cricketers to visit Australia

Here’s a piece of news that I’m just catching up with. Cricinfo reports that the Tanzania cricket team will be coming to Australia in May to participate in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three competition.

It will be played in Darwin between 27 May and 6 June 2007. I wonder how much we will see broadcast? I guess that Cricinfo will be my best resource to find out how things are going.

Captain: Hamisi Abdullah

The ICC runs international cricket. Apart from the top tier Test competition, there are five divisions for international competition, so it is to Tanzania’s credit that they made it into the Third Division. Neighbouring Kenya is the leading African cricket team and they are playing in the First Division. The teams playing in the Third Division in Darwin will be –

• Argentina, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Hong Kong, Italy, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Uganda

The US team had won a place in the Third Division, but they have been suspended from the ICC due to issues of poor governance (whatever that means). So here is one field where Tanzania is outperforming the mighty USA. Then, again, the current corruption scandal around Wolfowitz of the World Bank suggests that Tanzanian officials are no worse than officials in other countries when it comes to correct behaviour.

To prepare for Darwin, the Tanzanian team has travelled to India for a 20-day training spell. Cricket was brought to Tanzania by British and Asian residents in the late 1800s. It has been reinvigorated in recent years and is supported by development initiatives for juniors and women’s cricket, coordinated by Tanzania Cricket.

Somehow, it seems important to know that a Tanzanian national sporting team has opportunities to participate in international sporting events. It’s all part of the complex web of exchanges that keep us connected.