The International Cricket Council has tabled first-up on their agenda at the annual ICC Cricket Committee meeting scheduled to take place in Mumbai on 15 and 16 May, the much talked about disparity between bat and ball in all formats of the game.
Seemingly for entertainment purposes cricket has quietly slid into a batsman’s game especially in the shorter forms with fielding restrictions and no ball rules. Bowling has thus become a dying art in the sport of cricket. Without a doubt Cricket’s entertainment value is and should be the tussle between bat and ball and in the wake of this, this is indeed a timely move.
Amongst the topics on the agenda for discussion over the course of the two days are:
- The balance between bat and ball in all three formats
- ICC Playing Conditions, including a post- ICC Cricket World Cup review
- The use of technology in umpiring
- Code of Conduct, including player behaviour
- Illegal bowling actions
The committee is chaired by former India captain Anil Kumble and includes representatives of the game’s various stakeholders.
The Cricket Committee’s remit is to discuss cricket-playing matters and to make recommendations to the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee and the ICC Board that will meet in Barbados during the ICC’s annual conference week, from 22-26 June.
The ICC Cricket Committee comprises:
- Chairman – Anil Kumble (former India captain)
- Ex-Officio – N. Srinivasan (ICC Chairman) and David Richardson (ICC Chief Executive)
- Past Player representative – Mark Taylor (former Australia captain)
- Current Player representative –Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (ex-India leg-spinner)
- Full Member team coach representative – Darren Lehmann (Australia coach)
- Women’s Cricket representative – Clare Connor (former England women’s team captain)
- Media representative – Ravi Shastri (former India captain and a respected commentator)
- Umpires’ representative – Steve Davis (member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires)
- Referees’ representative – Ranjan Madugalle (ICC chief match referee and former Sri Lanka captain)
- MCC representative – John Stephenson (MCC’s Head of Cricket)
- Statistician representative – David Kendix (statistician/scorer)
Apologies: Kevin O’Brien (Associate representative), Kumar Sangakkara (Current Player representative), Andrew Strauss (Past Player representative), David White (Member Board representative, NZC Chief Executive)
