By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Johannesburg : The generosity of the Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket squads currently vying for a semi-final berth in the Twenty20 World Cup Championship here has been disclosed by ICC Emirates Elite Panel Match Referee Mike Procter.
Both teams donated their Man of the Match and Player of the Series winnings during a recent quadrangular series in Kenya to the Ugandan team to support their efforts to boost the game in their country.
Procter, who officiated in the series that acted as a warm-up for the two teams and Kenya ahead of the Twenty20 tournament, said: “When you talk about the spirit of cricket, well, the players from Bangladesh and Pakistan really displayed it with their gesture as far as I am concerned.
“It is about respect for your opponents and that is exactly what the players of these two sides showed with their generosity. They are among the big boys of world cricket, and to help out a country that is still developing in the game is a superb effort.
“Uganda is moving forward with its cricket, as it showed during the series when it beat Kenya, and the generosity of the players of Bangladesh and Pakistan will be a huge help in that regard. It is something that deserves to be talked about and recognized,” Procter added.
The cash was made up of five Man of the Man awards – $500 each – as well as the Player of the Series prize, a total of $3,000 that was shared by the two captains, Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh and Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik.
One of the Man of the Match award winners, Bangladesh fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, explained why the players acted in the way they did.
“We donated the money to help Uganda’s cricket development,” he said. “They are trying hard to improve their game and so far the signs have been encouraging.
“In a small way, we wanted to be a part of the effort to take cricket forward in Uganda. As a full member of the ICC I feel we have a responsibility to try and help associate countries in any way we can.”
Uganda has only been an associate member of the ICC since 1998 but is making rapid strides, playing in its first ICC Trophy (the cricket World Cup qualifying event) in Ireland in 2005 and taking part in last year’s ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Its development programme has earned widespread praise and earlier this year it won the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 in Darwin, Australia, beating Argentina in the final.
That success earned Uganda promotion to the Division 2 event in Windhoek, Namibia in November where it will face the hosts, as well as Argentina, Denmark, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the last named having played in the cricket World Cup in 1996.