Welcome to the first segment of 'Development Express', an assortment of news and views too short to form an article in their own right. It is intended to appear fortnightly, but that will depend on content availability.

I can't tell you a lot but Malcolm Speed's appointment as its Chief Executive is just the start of a new approach to cricket administration from the International Cricket Council - no I don't work for the ICC's Publicity Department!

There are moves behind the scenes, beyond what Malcolm Gray has said in the media in the last week, initiated by the ICC itself, to ensure the stodgy nature of the world governing body will be erased and replaced by an attitude that will make cricket a leader in sports marketing and expansion.

It all depends on the outlook of the Full Member countries and the ability of some of them to overcome racist politics - although even they now realise supporting the game's expansion creates a bigger pie. Guess what the driving force is?

Cricket in West Africa has taken its first tentative steps towards transcending its British colonial roots following the visit of the ICC's African Development Officer, Hoosain Ayob to Abidijan, the capital of the French speaking Cote D'Ivore.

During his stay, Mr. Ayob met officials from the country's Ministry of Sports, the National Training School for Physical and Education and Sports as well as the International Community School of Abidjan (ICSA), where he met with the Principal and Director.

Mr. Ayob left a video, 'This is Cricket' which will be shown to Phys.Ed. students during lunch hours.

Local contact, Avognan Nogboun, said Mr. Ayob would return for an Easter training session which will involve Phys. Ed. teachers in Abidijan and surrounding districts.

Mr. Ayob is also believed to have conducted a successful visit to the former British/French territory of Cameroon.

All of this happened due to the drive and perserverance of Mahendra Mapagunaratne, who contacted Mr. Nogboun and officials in Cameroon, expousing cricket's virtues and the opportunities provided by the ICC's development process.

Of course, the Cote D'Ivore initiative, however positive, isn't completely new.

Regular readers of BTTW (Hi Mum!), will be aware of a welcome trend where expatriates have taken it upon themselves to adopt a bottoms-up approach.

Expats in Bali (Indonesia), Ethiopia, Spain and Uruguay have chosen to focus on junior development, taking a long term approach, in preference to reliance on cricket's stability on a transient expat. population.

In all four cases, Kwik Cricket has been the preferred tool, with three doing it without outside help.

One administrative body is earning an unsavoury reputation for favouring those with a similar racial origin.

BTTW has received complaints about the body (it is not the ICC), which has been accused of ignoring those who support indigenous development while alternatively backing others where cricket is mainly played by those of a similar ethnicity.

Its attitude is a clear impediment to the enticement of new nationalities to the game.

The national teams of Yemen and Saudi Arabia are likely to clash this year following a meeting of respective national officials in Karachi, Pakistan.

Although nothing is confirmed, the two agreed to principle to staging at least one 'international' in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Neither country has fielded an adult national team to date.

Yemen remains a bit of a favourite for this page, having enduced Arab participation, and doing it all on their own. The Yemeni season starts in May.

Amongst those who like unearthing new outposts, there has been much confusion caused by the 1998 article, 'The History of the Africa Cricket Association'.

It implies that Mozambique, Sudan, Zanzibar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are members of the Africa Cricket Association.

This is false - none of the four have national associations.

A member of the Malawi Cricket Association says his brother is involved in cricket in Mozambique, while it is known that there was cricket activity in Khartoum (Sudan) and Kinshasa (DRC) about 15 years ago. However, it is thought to have subsided.

Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, the same as Tasmania is part of Australia, and cannot have individual membership of any continental or global governing body.

There has also been misinformation about the above four's alleged membership of the East and Central African Cricket Conference.

Again, none are members, and neither is Rwanda. The membership of EACACC solely consists of Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. Kenya and Uganda were members, but attained individual Associate membership of the ICC.

Of course, the whole issue will be sorted out when BTTW compiles its six-monthly list of cricket playing countries in two editions' time.

If you think BTTW is nothing but a lot of scandalous rumour-mongering, then you're probably right (although, how much of a scandal can you create at the non-Test level?).

Apart from malicious gossip, it does act as a communication path between various national administrations. In this respect, BTTW was particularly chuffed to bring together the Bahamas and Cayman Islands Cricket Associations, who are likely to play 'internationals' later this year.

There is a lot of cricket being played around the Caribbean Rim, but most countries act in isolation, a habit BTTW (not to mention, Robert Weekes, the ICC's Development Officer for the Americas) is keen to change.

Both the ICC and the various continental bodies are eager to encourage more interaction between countries outside continental tournaments.

In the South Pacific, Samoa hopes to host the Cook Islands and Tonga in September.

BTTW also made it possible Panama to take part in last year's South American Championships by putting them in touch with the organiser, Grant Dugmore. Yes, I know, self praise is no recommendation!

Moves to revitalise cricket in the Solomon Islands have been stymied by a civil war limiting freedom of movement in the South Pacific nation.

Enthusiasts were keen to build on momentum created by occasional matches played amongst expatriates in the capital, Honiara, and seek greater indigenous participation.

While matches are still being played every couple of months, plans to establish a more permanent structure have had to be postponed.

Cricket followers there have identified the enticement of the indigenous population as a priority due to, surprise, surprise, the transient nature of the expatriates. Do you see a theme developing?

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd