Australia, England and India’s ‘position paper’ to form a cartel to redefine the way the game is administered is set to cause a major upheaval in the cricketing world.
The money-spinning India openly threaten to pull out unless Australia and England join them to rule the cricketing world and brandish veto power over the rest of the nations.
Pakistan and South Africa have clearly voiced their opposition and Sri Lanka has also sent words of opposition.
Stop the Indian bullies BCCI President N. Srinivasan by Neil Perera
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has forgotten, as it appears, the days when the England and Australian Cricket Boards dominated the International Cricket Council, till about two decades ago, when those countries had Veto Power which could throw out any proposal put forward by the other member countries.
Sri Lanka was the country that was worst affected due to this Veto Power of the founder members of the game’s governing body. Both England and Australian Cricket Boards vetoed our application for Full Membership for nearly ten years! Sri Lanka first applied for Full Membership in the early 1970s.
Thereafter the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) successfully spearheaded a proposal to abolish the Veto Powers of these two dominant members of the ICC in the early 1990s and was ably supported by the Indian and Pakistan Cricket Boards (PCB).
It is distressing that the BCCI had forgotten the ignominious manner in which these two dominant members treated the other members of the ICC.
At the time I attended the ICC meeting at Lord’s in 1992, as Honorary Secretary of the BCCSL, I had the opportunity of exposing the high-handed manner in which the ICC had been operating in the immediate past.
The former England captain Sir Collin Cowdrey was the President of the ICC at that time. When I was Hony. Secretary of the BCCSL from 1973 to 1976, the then President of the PCB Abdul Hafeez Kardar pushed our case for Full Membership at every occasion. Mr. Kardar had played for Oxford University, India (before partition) and later went onto captain Pakistan. He was so angry that Sri Lanka was not given Full Membership during that period that he accused the ICC of racial discrimination.
Emboldened by the remarks of Mr. Kardar which were firmly registered at the back of my mind, the hallowed precincts of Lord’s did not deter me as Hony. Secretary of the BCCSL in 1992 from venting out my feelings about the manner in which England and Australia had treated us.
I compared the Lord’s conference room to a jungle scenario where the larger animals ate to their hearts content and left the bones and the crumbs for the smaller animals to feed on. I pointed my finger at the England’s representative and said, ‘England, you have played only four Tests in 11 years against us.’ Then pointing my finger at Australia, I said; ‘Australia, you also have given us only 4 Tests in 11 years.’
I asked why the ICC was discriminating against certain members and that it was high time that the ICC treated all its members equally. The PCB especially and the BCCI supported me and were very vehement that all members should be treated equally.
The BCCI has now done an ‘about-turn’ and wants to join hands with England and Australia to discriminate against other countries.
As S. H. Moulana has questioned quite rightly, ‘Is the ICC going to be another UN in the making?’
It does not appear to be an accident that India wants to join hands with the powerful perpetrators of injustice like the US and the UK at the UN to pass a vote against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Cricket must vehemently oppose the resolutions to be proposed at the ICC together with all the other Full Member countries. I hope the SLC representatives will have enough courage to boldly speak out at the ICC meeting after obtaining the support of the other Full Members and throw out these most obnoxious of proposals.
(This writer is a former Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka and was the Manger of the national cricket team when Sri Lanka won the first Test away from home in 1995).
Cricket South Africa slams ‘flawed’ ICC plan
South Africa have become the first major cricket nation to call on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to withdraw a draft plan that would give greater control of the world game to England, Australia and India.
A “position paper” outlining the proposed changes is due to be discussed by the ICC’s executive board next week.
But, ahead of that meeting, Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Chris Nenzani published an open letter to ICC president Alan Isaac on Monday urging the “fundamentally flawed” plan be taken off the table.
One key proposal is for a four-man executive committee where the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Cricket Australia (CA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the three countries that bring most revenue into cricket, would all be guaranteed a place, with the other position selected by the trio annually.
On the field, there is also a suggestion of the creation of two divisions for Test cricket but with England, Australia and India all guaranteed to avoid relegation from the top tier because of their commercial importance.
The proposals need seven votes from the ICC’s 10 leading nations to pass.
According to some forecasts South Africa, currently the world’s top-ranked Test side, could see their share of future revenue fall below that of Pakistan if the new set-up, labelled “unconstitutional” by Nenzani, is adopted.
“These proposals should first be referred to the relevant ICC committees or sub-committees for proper consideration and to make recommendations to the ICC Board,” Nenzani’s letter to Isaac said.
It added: “The proposal self-evidently is inextricably tied up with a fundamental restructuring of the ICC, which has far-reaching constitutional implications.
“The draft proposal is, therefore, fundamentally flawed as regards the process and, therefore, in breach of the ICC constitution.
“In the circumstances we propose that the draft proposal be withdrawn immediately given that the proper procedures have not been followed.
“In our respectful opinion, a more considered, inclusive/consultative, and properly constitutionally-ordained approach is required.”
But not all boards from amongst ‘the seven’ were as scathing, with New Zealand Cricket director Martin Snedden, a compatriot of Isaac, saying of the BCCI-CA-ECB plan: “Don’t jump to the conclusion what they’re doing is not good for world cricket.”
The once close relationship between CSA and the BCCI appears to have declined markedly since former ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat took up a similar position with his home board in South Africa.
While at the ICC, Lorgat promoted a report by Lord Harry Woolf, a senior English judge, which advocated putting the ICC under the control of independent directors.
However, the report was shelved and Lorgat effectively forced out of the ICC, with the BCCI refusing to talk to him when India, in a late change of plan, announced a greatly reduced tour of South Africa last year.
Another item set to be discussed by the ICC next week is the relocation of its existing headquarters in Dubai.
Earlier on Monday, Welsh outfit Glamorgan confirmed their interest in being the ICC’s new home from 2015, amid reports of competition from Colombo and Singapore.
“Discussions are at a very early stage and ongoing, with Cardiff being only one of a number of possibilities being considered,” a statement issued by Glamorgan, who play in England’s County Championship, said.
Glamorgan’s Sophia Gardens home in Cardiff staged the opening Test of the 2009 Ashes and was one of three venues for last year’s ICC Champions Trophy.
The ICC was based at London’s Lord’s ground for 96 years before leaving for Dubai, mainly for tax reasons, in 2005.
Thousands Bangladesh cricket fans take to street to protest “Big 3 plan” placed to ICC
Thousands of people on Saturday evening formed a human chain in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in protest against the “Big 3 plan” on test cricket placed to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Agitating cricket fans, mostly youths, say if the “Big 3 (India, England and Australia) plan” comes into force, Bangladesh cricket would suffer setback and face big trouble in future.
The protesters who organized themselves through social media like Facebook say Bangladesh will not play test cricket if the proposal is passed.
They chanted slogans against the Big 3 proposals, saying they would give ample power and control of the world cricket to the Australia, England and India boards.
The banners and placards read “play for glory not money,” and ” won’t tolerate Dadagiri (dictatorship) of India, Australia and U.K. “
“We would continue our protest program until the plan is shelved,” Farhad Hossain, one of the protesters, told Xinhua.
He said they are planning more wider protest program in the future to refrain ICC from passing the proposals “which aimed serving vested interest of the Big 3.”
Sources said a position paper outlining a number of proposals would likely be discussed by the ICC’s executive board on Jan. 28 and 29.
They said one of the proposals is for a four-man executive committee where Cricket Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the England and Wales Cricket Board, the three countries that bring most revenue into cricket would all be guaranteed a place with the other position selected by the trio annually.
According to the sources, there is also proposal for the creation of two divisions for Test cricket keeping England, Australia and India on the top tier because of their commercial values.
Bangladesh Cricket Board Saturday said it will protest the plan.
BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus told the media that it has taken a stance against the Big 3 – India, England and Australia – proposal on test cricket placed to the ICC.
According to the draft proposal of India, England and Australia, the teams who are staying between the ranking of 9 and 10 will not be able to take part in the test cricket.
In the test ranking, Zimbabwe’s position is 9 with 34 points while Bangladesh’s position is 10 with 18 points.
In 1997, Bangladesh became a regular ICC member with the right to play One-Day Internationals (ODIs). It attained the status of a Test playing nation on 26 June 2000.
