RIFA Cup 2007

The 2007 edition of RIFA Cup will begin on 26 July 2007. The tape ball cricket tournament is played each year in memory of young cricketer Rifa Abbas. 18 teams are taking part in this year's tournament. The tournament features a number of expatraite teams. The tournament will be played over 3 days. The 18 teams have been assigned to 6 groups for round robin matches after which a super league will be played between the winners of each group.

Playing conditions

- First round all matches will be 5 overs (max 1 over per bowler).
- Second round will be 8 overs (2 overs max per bowler).
- Each wide / no ball 4 runs - through out the tournament.
- If last ball of the over is a wide, extra ball should be bowled.
- Each win 3 points, draw or abondon each 1 point.
- If two teams equal in first round, net run rate will be applied to decide winner.
- Match might have to continue in the rain, any stoppage will be at the umpire's descretion.

Any quaries pse call Mr. Saudan 7873843

Fragata Triangular Cricket Cup

Cricket control board is introducing its first ever inter resort cricket tournament on 5 July 2007. This is an initiative by the board and has being well endorsed by our private sector partners with a high level of sponsorship. We congratulate the sponsors of the first inter resort triangular cricket tournament. STO Peoples Choice Supermarket has sponsored the tournament. So the first resort tournament is played under their product name ‘Fragata’. We are grateful to the sponsors for their commitment in the development of the sport and their partnership with Maldives Cricket to market their product.

Several number of resorts are now expressing their interest in participating in this tournament. As this is the first time we are having such an event, the Board decided to launch with a small event. Therefore we invited three resorts who has been in contact with the Board and who conducted cricket activities in the resort. They are Meeru, Sovena Gili and Taj Coral. On behalf of CCBM I congratulate these teams for participating in the tournament. In these resorts tournaments are held for their staff and one resort has developed cricket infrastructure like practice turf for their staff.

Even though we could not invite more resorts to participate in this tournament we will be happy to invite those resorts who want to be part of next year’s tournament to register themselves with the board. Then we can start communicating with such resorts and we can make next year’s tournament grander.

We had our launching of the 1st triangular cricket tournament with the complementary support of Sovena Gili resort and our sponsors. I thank Soneva Gili for the initiative and the support.

Enjoy cricket and make it a part of your life style. We are there to expand the game in the wider community. The game of cricket is truly Asian. So be part of it, join us and make this year’s tournament memorable. We invite enthusiastic resorts to be part of next years tournament to make cricket more wider in the Maldives with your greater participation.

Ahmed Hassan Didi

ICC Annual Conference

The ICC announced on 29 June the outcomes from its week of meetings at Lord's, including Friday's annual conference. Go here for major decisions and changes proposed for ICC Playing Conditions.

Fragata Resort Cricket

The first inter-resort cricket tournament will take place on 5th July at the Cricket Ground. Three teams are taking part in this tournament sponsored by "Fragata". The tournament was launched at Soneva Gili resort on 25 June 2007.

The tournament is a tape-ball tournament with one round of matches, and the top two teams playing in the final. Each match will consist of 15 overs.

Match schedule

M1:Soneva Gili vs Meeru Island Resort (time 08:30 – 10:30)
M2: Taj coral vs Meeru island Resort (time 11:00 – 13:00)
M3: Soneva Gili vs Taj Coral (time 13:30 – 15:30)
M4: Final Match (time 16:15 – 18:15)

Sony Ericsson Division 1

The Sony Ericsson Cup, Limited Over Division 1 tournament will start on July 8. Teams are requested to send in their team lists before 13:00 hrs on 1 July 2007. Teams should follow the ranking list agreed at the meeting held on 21 June 2007 to finalise their teams. Three foreign players can be registered by a team but only two plays can play at the same time.

As announced last year CCBM will be providing financial assistance for Division 1 teams beginning this year. The assistance will be for coaching and for the purchase of equipment. Teams need to meet the following minimum criteria to qualify for the assistance money.

To claim for monthly funds for coach teams need to fulfill the following requirements.

- Teams must send practice schedule before 30th June 2007.
- Daily attendance sheet signed by coach, manager or captain should be submitted to CCBM every month.
- Teams should hold a minimum of 3 practice sessions per week – starting July 2007 – December 2007. (During the month of Ramazan 02 practice sessions a week)
- A minimum of 7 players should be present for every session.
- A sum of MRF. 3,000.00 will be disbursed each month if all papers are submitted before 10th of each month.

To claim money for cricket equipment teams need to fulfill the following requirements

- A valid purchase of cricket equipments up to MRF. 15,000.00 for each team is provided by the board till December 2007.
- All supporting documents should be submitted to CCBM with the claim.
- Teams can also send purchase orders from any sports shop (only cricket equipments), and CCBM will make arrangements to issue the goods from the shop.

Good luck to all the teams!

MSHHSA lifts the Sony Ericsson Cup

MS Helping Hand Sports Academy lifted the Sony Ericsson Cup Division 2 trophy today beating OFFU FC by 95 runs. MSHHSA won the toss in the morning and batted first. Adly Ahmed Didi gave the team a great start, scoring 90 off 92 runs. His 90 runs included 7 fours and 2 sixes. Mahmood Riyaz made 43 and Mihusan Hamid 28. At the end of their 40 overs MSHHSA were 234 for 8. Visham, Suzain and Adnan took 2 wickets each for OFFU.

OFFU started in a cavalier fashion scoring 100 runs in their first 10 overs. Ali Suzain made 44 runs in this early onslaught. He was supported by one of the young stars of the tournament Jilwaz Rasheed who made 20 runs. After the departure of Suzain, and then Mustaq Ahmed Didi for 33, OFFU run chase hit rock bottom, with some quick wickets. They managed only 39 after the initial high, and were all out in the 28th over. Mahmood Riyaz took 3 for 19 in 6 overs. Adly Ahmed Didi was adjuged player of the tournament.

Ahmed Kaleem who scored 351 points in the player ranking was awarded the top player of the tournament. Jilwaz Rasheed with 312 points was second, and Ali Suzain with 262 points was third.[more >>]

Club of the Year Award

During the Cricket Evening function held in May, CCBM announced that a Rf. 10,000 award will be presented to the best club beginning 2007. The purpose of the award is to provide an incentive to clubs, to motivate teams and players and to provide a financial bonus to top performing teams. Presently CCBM is developing criteria to select the team of the year, and would like your input to make this workable. Below is the criteria being developed to select the Club of the Year.

1. Clubs will be ranked after each tournament and points will be given according to the following scale.
Champion team 100 pts
Runner-up team 75 pts
Third placed team 50 pts
Fourth placed team 40 pts
Fifth placed team 30 pts
Sixth placed team 20 pts
Seventh and below placed 10 pts each.
(On average upto 4-6 teams take part in CCBM tournaments. As such points below fifth ranking will be allocated accordingly)

2. Apart from the champion and runner-up, teams will be ranked by points earned in the tournament. If two teams are equal in points net run rate (NNR) will be used. If equal on NNR, head to head wins will be counted.

3. Each win in a game will earn the club 5 bonus points. An average of the bonus points (bonus points/number of matches played) will be used in the final equation to select the top team. Bonus points will be awarded only to those teams who complete more than 7 matches in a year.

4. The final equation to select club of the year will be as follows
Points from Ranking + Bonus win points (average) = Total club points.

5. Trophy and prize money will be given away as below;
Cricket Evening Function - Club of the Year Trophy
1st tournament played by the club - Rf 4,000
2nd tournament played by the club - Rf 3,000
3rd tournament played by the club - Rf 3,000
(teams can choose which tournament to draw their prize money)