ALEXANDRA South Africa. Aug 7 (Reuter) The dusty streets of Alexandra ftwn • ship are alive

wmi iric nruiiiiy screams of excited children playing cricket in the streets. '

It is a joyful noise that re-■eounds more and more frequently throughout the black townships of South Africa as the sport continues to expand its liorizons away for its traditional base among the whites of the country.

Expansive development programmes, first initiated 10 years ago and aimed at schoolchildren, have brought

cricket to blacks, who traditionally played soccer, and seen several of their number break into South African representative teams.

Now the International Cricket Council (ICCJ is seeking to put together a development programme of its own that will take cricket to even more exotic destinations than the streets of South Africa s shanty towns.

ICC chief executive David Richards recently unveiled an ambitious development pro gramme that will attempt to expand the reach of the game.

"My view is that cricket must move on as rapidly as possible from being a sport

established throughout the Commonwealth to a truly global sport." he said in his report at the ICC annual meeting al Lord's.

The ICC. which has nine Teat-playing teams. 23 associate members and further 13 affiliated members, has created a development committee to take cricket beyond its preserve in Britain and its former colonies.

The committee' will be headed by Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, who has been a long-term campaigner for the expansion of the sport away from its traditional bases.

"Cricket has problem. The Same is not expanding. It asn't been for years." he told Reuters. “Summer too. it's no longer the exclusive domain of cricket. We are competing with the likes of soccer and rugby for the public's attention, the sponsors' dollars and the media coverage.

Bacher and his new five-man committee have 12 months in which to come up with a game plan to turn the world's attention to cricket.

“One of our first olrfectives must be to try and make the

nine Test-playing nations more equal in strength, he said.

"We don’t want to tamper loo much with those countries and may be there is a formula that will ensure all Test series are exciting, competitive and draw large crowds."

Bacher says his committee then plans to turn its attention to the associate members, who will next year compete for three places al the* 1999 cricket World Cup.

Bacher says all programmes have to be sustainable worldwide and he sees a role for former Test players in the expansion plans.

The development committee has a year to pul together its plan of action, before reporting back to next year's ICC meeting in London.

It's a big project but we have to ensure a bright future for cricket." Bacher said.