Back in 1909, representatives from 3 countries, England, South Africa and Australia met at Lords and formed what the original ICC; which was then called the Imperial Cricket Conference. Today the ICC has a total of 104 members: 10 of these are full members that are test playing nations, 34 are associate members and there are 60 affiliate members. Associate members include countries like the United States and Canada, Argentina and several European and African countries where cricket is cricket is seen to be organised and established. 60 other countries who are associate members are recognised as playing the game of cricket.
It is the ICC’s job to centrally govern the game of cricket worldwide. It is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. The ICC sees that the Code of Conduct is upheld, and that standards of discipline are upheld in international cricket. Areas such as corruption and match fixing are also controlled by the ICC.
Now with the ICC completing 100 years, an official Catch the Spirit website has been launched, what aims to celebrate 100 years not just of the ICC, but which aims to commemorate the very spirit of the game itself.
On the site one can view videos of players such as Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Stuart Broad, Jacques Kallis and officials such as Simon Taufel and Ranjan Madugalle talking about what, for them is the spirit of cricket. Pakistan cricket legends Hanif Mohammad and Javed Miandad were earlier inducted into the ICC hall of fame and the audio of their acceptance of the honour is also available for download on the site.
A blog on the site keeps you abreast of news and views from around the cricket world, from test playing nations as well as other member nations of the ICC. For those that fancy their ability with cricket trivia, they can try their hand at some quizzes that you can take online this site. There is a comprehensive list of all those cricket players inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame and also a photo gallery associated with the hall of fame. The complete calendar of ICC events in international cricket is also listed on the site.
