ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

Values of the Proficiency Index for 2004 and 2005 need to be interpreted with care since the winners of the African and Asian groups have lower values than those who finished below them. This is because their indices were reduced through playing stronger opposition in the semi-finals. The high proficiency values for Nepal reflect the relative ease with which they beat Malaysia and Hong Kong in 2004 and 2005 respectively and the fact that they beat the United Arab Emirates in 2005 but just failed, by half a point, to win the Asian Group. Nepal also had the advantage of playing three of their four matches at home in conditions which favoured their pace attack, as indicated by the very low value of runs conceded per wicket taken. Average runs scored per wicket lost Country 2004 2005 2006-07 2007-08 2009-10 Afghanistan 36.78 Bermuda 18.76 32.47 33.71 20.59 16.91 Canada 29.09 25.11 28.09 24.68 25.25 Cayman Islands 16.32 Hong Kong 13.30 Ireland 27.11 49.47 32.15 47.50 33.69 Kenya 32.82 26.41 26.70 27.82 33.14 Malaysia 13.73 Namibia 32.68 27.29 18.98 24.40 44.63 Nepal 23.23 25.65 Netherlands 24.39 39.16 45.35 21.78 24.42 Scotland 40.96 20.07 28.98 28.53 22.30 Uganda 21.71 18.41 26.65 United Arab Emirates 29.31 18.98 23.17 24.38 34.64 USA 19.10 Zimbabwe XI 42.46 Values in italics are for the Intercontinental Shield Average runs conceded per wicket taken Country 2004 2005 2006-07 2007-08 2009-10 Afghanistan 28.01 Bermuda 30.66 22.96 42.46 30.73 43.00 Canada 20.73 20.18 33.05 31.57 34.50 Cayman Islands 39.91 Hong Kong 15.60 Ireland 22.31 27.05 15.04 20.98 29.34 Kenya 47.36 38.61 28.70 25.54 34.89 Malaysia 16.41 Namibia 34.82 30.12 19.29 21.49 28.10 Nepal 18.80 11.15 Netherlands 41.39 44.57 39.38 30.91 33.44 Scotland 19.34 19.95 24.44 21.91 25.18 Uganda 29.27 23.78 30.55 United Arab Emirates 26.14 34.47 47.39 30.98 27.90 USA 19.23 Zimbabwe XI 29.37 Values in italics are for the Intercontinental Shield The Proficiency Index shows that Scotland dominated the competition in 2004 and that in the next three tournaments, Ireland dominated. The 2009-10 competition was much more evenly contested which makes Afghanistan’s achievement in winning it at the first attempt and remaining unbeaten in so doing highly commendable. What would have happened if they had met a Zimbabwe XI instead of Scotland in the final can only remain speculation but it is likely 9 Introduction