The array of top-class facilities being put into place at Dubai Sports City, home of the ICC's Global Cricket Academy, will be used for developing cricketing nations, says ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed.

It is intended that the academy will be a focal point for the training and development of cricket players, coaches, umpires, curators and administrators.

Another one of the innovations the ICC Global Cricket Academy is looking to implement is the creation of the first universal standard for cricketing qualifications. Its Director of Coaching Rodney Marsh says: "At the moment there is no way of knowing how a coaching qualification in one country relates to a qualification somewhere else. What we are looking to establish is a series of benchmarks that everyone can understand and recognize, something that will allow people to know exactly where they sit in the scheme of things."

Filed November 2 2006