The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the Surinamese Cricket Bond (SCB) has withdrawn its team from the forthcoming ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 5 in Jersey.
Suriname are or were Bermuda’s opponents in the ICC Americas Division One.
Suriname qualified for the tournament by virtue of winning the ICC WCL Division 6, held in England in September 2015. The ICC acted on information brought to its attention following this tournament and its investigation uncovered failures in the SCB’s processes relating to player residency documentation for the purposes of compliance with the ICC’s Player Eligibility Regulations.
Disciplinary charges were initiated against the SCB under the Player Eligibility Regulations in respect of a number of players who represented Suriname at the WCL Division 6. The SCB cooperated fully with the ICC’s investigations and carried out a thorough internal review.
The SCB has now accepted that it failed in its duty to ensure the provision of accurate residency information to the ICC in respect of a number of players. Further, the SCB has expressed its sincere apologies for these failures to all the participating teams at the ICC WCL Division 6, as well as to the wider cricketing community.
In light of the above, the SCB has agreed that:
• Suriname will withdraw from the ICC WCL Division 5 and be relegated from WCL Americas Division 1;
• It will forfeit the US$25,000 competition grant received by all ICC Members who compete in the ICC WCL Division 5; and
• It will submit to a full ICC in-country inspection, including in respect of its processes, including but not limited to those relating to residency documentation and player eligibility, at an appropriate time in the future.
Prior to participating in any ICC tournaments in the future, the SCB will be required to satisfy the ICC that it has put in place robust processes for maintaining accurate residency records and ensuring the compliance of all Suriname teams with the Player Eligibility Regulations, in addition to any further requirements that may be specified by the ICC following the full in-country inspection.
The ICC has decided that, in light of the above, Vanuatu will be invited to replace Suriname in the ICC WCL Division 5. Vanuatu lost to Suriname in the semi-finals of the ICC WCL Division 6 and subsequently won its play-off match against Norway to finish in third place.
The final standings from the ICC WCL Division 6 in 2015 are therefore amended as follows:
1 Guernsey Promoted to WCL Division 5 2016 2 Vanuatu 3 Norway 4 Fiji 5 Botswana 6 Cayman Islands Saudi Arabia Did not compete due to failure to secure player visas Suriname
Tim Anderson, ICC Head of Global Development, said, “We were obviously disappointed by the shortcomings in the SCB’s procedures that were revealed by our investigation. There is inevitably an element of self-certification when it comes to determining compliance with the Player Eligibility Regulations, and for this reason the wider cricketing community needs to be able to place the utmost trust in the accuracy of information submitted by other ICC members.
“We are, however, heartened by the action the SCB have taken in confronting the issues raised and look forward to working closely with them to ensure they can resume their participation in ICC competitions in 2017.”
