ICC News: Restructuring the ICC, BCCI Influence & more

[SaiSrini]

If the BCCI want the revenue, let them have that. Give them the revenue.. But what's this B.S. about the following?

1. Protection from tier relegation for the Big Three (BCCI, CA and ECB)
2. The Executive committee made up of people from the Big Three

These two proposals are the damning ones! If these two are removed, then BCCI getting a bigger pie of the ICC cake is not a bad idea.

 

[War]

Sambit Bal: No revolution at hand for cricket | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

I am not holding my breath. The cricket world has always been governed by self-interest and expedience. Compromise is easier than confrontation. South Africa are leading the resistance simply because they have been left out of the main table. It is improbable that they would have refused an invitation had it been extended. The voices that have railed against the proposal have nothing to lose. The boards will weigh their risks and cut their deals. The decision will perhaps be delayed and the draft tweaked in some ways.

But that will be that. A revolution is not at hand.

Indeed, no revelation is going to happen & the aforementioned is likely to happen a Bal stated.

But that would still be bad. This draft proposal is the biggest shakeup cricket administration has had since the Kerry Packer saga. World cricket now has another chance make the ICC a proper governing body.

Old England & AUS failed to do this in the 70s & if they have any decency left, they will turn their backs on India at this meeting, organize the other boards & let India walk away from world cricket...

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I heard that the rumours coming out of the BCB were that they were concerned about being "alone" if they didn't vote for it...

THe way I see it is that if it is going to pass; then the majority of the boards who are on-the-fence will vote for it and you'll have CSA and the PCB as the only ones against it.

The way I see the votes going as of now are:

YES: BCCI, ECB, CA (of course), WICB (they've pretty much said that they support it; plus India have been... quite kind towards the West Indies recently and perhaps they don't want to lose that?) and the NZCB (similar reasons?)

NO: CSA (the board that loses the most from this; definately hasn't been treated very well by the BCCI and sees itself as oneof the big nations in cricket while the proposal ignores them); PCB (I'm sure they've came out against, haven't got a source though)

At this point, its 5-2 towards yes. If its a simple majority, then they need one of the remaining votes to guarantee a win (unless the tiebreak would go for the proposal, I'm not sure how its decided). If its a super majority; you'd be talking about 2/3s normally, so that's 7 boards.

Those undecided currently are SLC, the BCB and the ZCB - the three nations most likely to lose out from this proposal. The grapevine seems to be saying that Bangladesh my vote for the proposal while not really liking it because they need the 1 ODI every 5 years from India to survive, which would make it 6-2 (a simple majority). God knows that the ZCB will do, but I'm guessing that they'll go with South Africa on this, especially since the "Big" nations probably won't be touring Zimbabwe any time soon and there won't be any ICC competitions for a while, so the cuts in revenue sharing would actually hurt them.

Thus, if my assumptions on the voting system and the attitude of the boards are correct; its all down to how Sri Lanka vote. I dunno, but I'm not feeling very optimistic...

e: Personally, I think that they should give the associates representation in ICC decisions. Perhaps not too the level of the main nations (it'd be dumb to give Jersey and France the same voting powers as India), but at least some protections to ensure that they were being listened too. Perhaps all decisions would need 50% of all members and 50% of full members; with big ones needing 2/3s of both? Perhaps state that associate/affiliate members have to approve ICC funding proposals, with any cuts not going through unless approved? I dunno, but a more independent, inclusive ICC would be much better for the development of the sport as a whole rather than simply including India in the old Australia/English duopoly...

According to this article, SA, PAK, BANG, SRI are opposing in theory for sure, But of course, that translating to a similar vote against, is a different story.

 

[jinxjack]

I usually don't post here, I only lurk as this is a great forum for cricket.

Thought I should post this, seeing how this is an important discussion.

Aapas Ki Baat 26 January 2014 , Complete Talk Show - YouTube

Show on GEO News, with Najam sheti (Last PCB Chairman) and Ehsan Mani.

Some quotes....

?I stepped up and asked Giles Clarke, who started the briefing, about it.?

?I said to him that all this talk of yours reminds me of the United Nations.?

?There are 5 vito powers in the UN and they run all global politics in their favour.?

?I said this is reversal to the ICC and you want to have vito powers.?

?He said to me that yes, you are right and we want the powers because we have the right.?

?They will run the ICC, earn the most money and every cricket board will have to listen to them.?

?I warned him that this is not a democratic structure and will not go well.?

?He was speechless and Srinavasan started speaking that the BCCI generates the most revenue and if they stop playing, the ICC would be doomed.?

?Star, SONY, Ten Sports etc. are Indian broadcasters and they have the highest bids.?

?He said to me that the PCB will not get benefits from it.?

?Giles Clarke said that if you guys don?t accept the offer, we will part ways.(As in the big three from the ICC)?

?No other board was speaking there and just I was speaking. Other boards were asking me not to speak.?

SO these are some of the important bits for those who don't speak Urdu.

He also mentioned that It is highly unlikely the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would even speak against India. As their pockets are filled with BCCI. Said Bangladesh doesn't even say anything in the board meetings...

 

[sifter132]

Yep I was thinking about the United Nations the other day, quite similar in many ways...but we'll leave that alone for the moment. Don't want to get too political about it.


Will be interesting to see how other nations vote on this, whether it gets revised and redrafted etc. Unfortunately, the two teams that could afford to ignore India are the ones that have sided with BCCI (Aus and Eng). Both those countries could survive if India dropped out of international cricket. They'd have less money, but both countries take more pride in their local competitions and rivalries with each other than anything India gives them - cricket wise. Money wise, it's different...but even then, Aus and Eng could do without Indian money.

 

[MattW]

That's why the secret ballot is more important than 'democracy'. The only way the boards could not be pressured over it would be if they did not have to reveal how they voted.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Zimbabwe will vote in favour of the BCCI as they have a good relationship, I know South Africa are their neighbours and have just offered Zimbabwe a one off test match ahead of the Australians visit but I just can't see it happening what with all the turmoil in Zimbabwe domestic cricket currently.

 

[Karachi]

He also mentioned that It is highly unlikely the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would even speak against India. As their pockets are filled with BCCI. Said Bangladesh doesn't even say anything in the board meetings...

Can't say much about SL, but usually they tend to be smart enough. BD however is of a great concern here. Their current government is politically dependent on India. I won't be surprised if they vote in fever of the BCCI (& CA & ECB) draft under political pressure. In fact there have been some hints of BCB voting in favor of the draft. But if the draft passes no one would be as big a loser as BD (Zimbabwe is already a lost cause). The Big-3 won't invite them nor play them at their grounds, as there is not much public & financial attraction into it. & good luck to BD for hosting any ICC event for at least a decade (2015-2025). Worse of all PCB & CS also seem to to be showing very little interest playing 1-on-1 with BD on both political & revenue basis. If the draft passes these 2 boards might also start playing series that make more financial sense.

 

[sifter132]

ICC revamp : Big Three offer redraft to ICC as lobbying intensifies | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

This latest article says the proposal will be redrafted, but the gist of it will remain, and that there are LOTS of promises being thrown around ie. India will tour your country soon! I imagine most boards won't last long if they are offered good incentives. Was sad to read that SA is being ignored in these discussions though...god knows how long it will be before India goes there again.

 

[jinxjack]

ICC revamp : Big Three offer redraft to ICC as lobbying intensifies | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

This latest article says the proposal will be redrafted, but the gist of it will remain, and that there are LOTS of promises being thrown around ie. India will tour your country soon! I imagine most boards won't last long if they are offered good incentives. Was sad to read that SA is being ignored in these discussions though...god knows how long it will be before India goes there again.

If SA wants to survive, it's time time they start lobbying against this proposal. Otherwise they won't even get trinkets. Get Pakistan by their side, maybe SLC? at least do something....

 

[jinxjack]

Well well well, there is some defiance after all.

Three boards call for deferral on position paper

In a late development on Monday night, three cricket boards wrote to the ICC asking that the discussions on the proposal referring to the restructuring of the ICC's administration and financial distribution model be deferred.

 

[SaiSrini]

The proposals have been deferred to next month after board's objections
ICC revamp : Draft proposals not taken to vote | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

Good news! I think the draft will be watered down even more. Lets see what comes out of this. Good to see that some boards have the guts to object.

 

[War]

ICC revamp : 'Unanimous support' for draft principles - ICC | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

Alan Isaac pushed Big Three to collaborate

Well it seems as if the ICC president told the BCCI, CA, ECB to have these meetings, so that changes the idea somewhat that they were working independently to undermine the ICC.

ICC press release citing unanimous agreement clearly is in contradiction to what the the boards of PAK, SRI, CSA, BANG are saying though.

Windies offically making their support position known now though - WICB statement on support for ICC key... | WEST INDIES CRICKET BOARD

 

[puddleduck]

Whole thing sounds ridiculous. If anyone kills Test Cricket it'll be the boards of the big three.

I do see some sense in a tiered setup. People talk about the likes of Bangladesh missing out on playing the top 5/6 teams, however there is also an element that playing regular and competitive Test cricket in pressure enviroments can actually be a benefit. It could see new rivalries form.

However the idea that the three biggest boards get the most say because they have the most money is just ridiculous. Especially because it's clearly about maximising the series they play that do make money. India would still continue to flog their players around the world to the highest bidders and it wouldn't see an increase in the quality but decrease in the quantity. Probably the opposite for them.

 

[War]

ICC revamp : What happened at the ICC meeting? | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

Clearly version 2.

Cricket used to be a simple game. Each team toured each other home/away in a structured basis. The team that showed the best versatility (except during the world cups, champions trophy & faulty ranking systems) would be crowed the best in the world.

That's what Windies of the 80s & AUS 2000s & modern S Africa have done.

Now we have a situation where AUS/ENG/IND are telling the world, they don't want to play them because it isn't a financially durable tour for them. While most understand why this strange dynamic has come to pass - but if cricket tours becomes dictated on those financial basis & not on the field efforts, the sanctity and sanity of the sport, would be totally derailed.

 

[War]

ICC revamp : BCB on board, Big Three one vote away | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

Doomsday is almost here....