ICC meets to approve revamp plan

SINGAPORE: India will push for significant control over the ICC's revenue and power structure when a radical revamp plan is put to vote in a meeting here on Saturday despite strong resentment from the Cricket Boards of South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The controversial restructuring of the ICC, which would cede executive decision-making to India, Australia and England, requires consent of eight of the 10 member Boards and it remains to be seen whether the dissenting Boards remain adamant or agree to the changes.

The three Boards could relent if the the 'Big Three' offer some lucrative tour assurances in bargain.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa have refused to back the plan stating that it only makes the 'Big Three' more powerful.

BCCI president N Srinivasan has, however, defended the proposal stating that a strong India would be good for world cricket and that efforts were on to get a consensus among ICC members.

During the ICC Board meeting last month in Dubai last month, a final decision on the proposal was deferred due to a lack of unanimity among the member boards.

At the Dubai meeting, the BCCI's status as the most influential cricketing body in the world was formally acknowledged with a bulk of its demands getting passed.

While BCCI's demand for immunity of the 'Big Three' in a two-tier Test format was ruled out, they had their way in deciding the exclusive bi-lateral series agreements from 2015-2023.

The revamp plan focusses on the establishment of an Executive Committee (ExCo) and Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) to provide leadership at an operational level, with five members, including BCCI, Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board representatives.

The decks were also cleared for BCCI president N Srinivasan to become the chairman of the ICC Board with effect from June 2014.

Similarly, a Cricket Australia representative will be the chairman of the Executive Committee (EX-Co) while the ECB representative will be head of Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee.

BCCI also had their way in doing away with the proposed World Test Championship. The Indian Board managed to keep the Champions Trophy (50-over format) among the three ICC tournaments being organised in every four years.

The ICC board also decided to create a 'Test Cricket Fund' from which all other members (excluding BCCI, CA, ECB) will be equally paid to encourage Test cricket.

Share it Please

Tweet

Shweta Pandey

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation.