Hampshire County Cricket Club Chair Rod Bransgrove said that the "county's hopes of staging an Ashes Test match can only be boosted by Durham losing their Test ground status." He said, "With one less ground, you could say that the competition won't be quite as tough." Durham's Test status "was withdrawn on Monday as part of a series of sanctions over the county's financial problems." Bransgrove added, "There's a lot of very good grounds in the country and they all deserve plenty of opportunities. I've always felt that we've been more than unlucky in the allocation of international cricket in the past. This (the Ageas Bowl) is an amazing venue and everyone who visits here says so" (BBC, 10/5).
Kenya will spend over $1M to "renovate its stadia ahead of the 2018 Africa Nations Championships, which the country will host." Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa said that only one stadium in Nairobi "is sanctioned to stage international matches while three more venues will be required to meet the demand for the competition, which brings together 16 teams." He said, "There should be no cause for alarm. The government is doing what it has to do in order to have the venues ready" (XINHUA, 10/4).
