Beijing, Sep 20 (IANS) A sum of $400,000 has been granted to China to "accelerate" the development and growth of cricket in the world's most populous country.

While announcing this grant here Wednesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) said this "special and substantial" amount is besides what the ICC allocates to cricket's developing nations.

Said ACC CEO Syed Ashraful Huq: "This special funding is targeted at accelerating the growth process just when cricket is starting to gain some momentum.

This grant is special and substantial, but in China they are not playing cricket with any thought of financial gain. They are playing cricket because once anyone has been exposed to 'The Noble Game', they are fascinated by it - coaches, players, and officials."

Cricket officials are also hoping that once the game takes firm roots in China, they can push cricket's case for inclusion in the Olympic Games.

Half of the $400,000 comes from the ACC development fund and the rest by the ICC's use of a special fund.

ICC CEO Malcolm Speed, now on a tour of the country along with Huq, stressed that people should not expect instant results in China.

"There's been a very good start in China. This is a 10-year project and no one should be under any illusion that results will appear overnight," he said.

"Cricket in China is still very new and this funding from our two bodies is directed at strengthening the development structure for cricket as established by the state sporting administration."

Huq was happy that cricket is taking encouraging strides in schools and universities.

"China has gone from practically no cricket activity one year ago to 51 schools in Beijing and Shanghai playing the game, with close to 6,500 participants," he said.

This cricket season, the first in which cricket has been part of the school sports curriculum in China, an under-15 schools competition was organised in Beijing in July and in October the first Inter-Universities competition will be held at Tsinghua University, one of China 's prestigious institutions.

ICC's global development manager Matthew Kennedy said ICC is treating China as a "special case".

"This is a new funding commitment outside of what the ACC provides already. We will be monitoring the situation closely and hope that the activity of China 's cricketers and administrators helps them to bring cricket closer to the core of national sporting activity," said Kennedy.