International Cricket Council may favour Big Three' today
SINGAPORE: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will meet in Singapore today (Saturday) to discuss and possibly vote on a plan to give the sport's most financially powerful nations -- India, England and Australia -- a greater say in running the world game
South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have strongly opposed the idea.
A day earlier, Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board, Zaka Ashraf, said he would fight Pakistan’s case in utmost good faith at ICC meeting.
"No matter how strong India maybe, we will have our say in the strongest of words:, said he talking to media before leaving for Singapore to attend the ICC meeting.
Ashraf had also said that would take Sri Lankan and South African cricket boards in confidence by holding one-on-one meetings with their chiefs, that too before the ICC meeting.
He was of the view that it would help them take a firm unified stand against this injustice.
“I will try to convince them that as we all are in the same boat then we must stand united and fight for what is fair for all the members”, said he.
Commenting on the controversy, former ICC president Ehsan Mani said it would be “sheer madness” for the governing body to effectively hand over control of the sport to India, Australia and England.
It was announced after a board meeting in Dubai last month that a new five-member ICC executive committee would be established to include representatives from the ECB, Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India. However, the plan has received widespread criticism.
The current executive committee includes representatives from all 10 test-playing countries, and some suggest the new proposals will allow the ‘Big Three’ to take over at the expense of other cricketing nations.
“If these proposals are accepted then the Big Three will decide how the ICC runs and what it does,” Mani told a foreign news agency.
“The board of the ICC cricket council will effectively have no powers apart from approving whatever India, Australia and England do,” Mani said.
“If these proposals are accepted they are going to be doing severe damage to world cricket. It would seriously affect the credibility of the ICC as the governing body.”
Mani believes three of the 10 test-playing nations will reject the new proposals.
“As far as I know, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will not vote for it and without those three this cannot go through,” said the 68-year-old businessman who presided over the ICC between 2003 and 2006.
“Do you really want to run World Cups and such like without these countries and without South Africa who are the number one-ranked test team in the world? That would be sheer madness,” Mani exclaimed.
India have long been regarded as the traditional powerhouse among the test-playing nations and the Pakistani says England and Australia might think again about the new proposals if they are rejected.
“What will be interesting is what the Big Three will do if the plan is blocked,” said Mani.
Bangladesh and West Indies have only supported the Big Three because they’ve been given the incentive that they will get more tours from these countries, hence more money from television rights.
“I question the morality of that but if this move is blocked, then it will be a serious time for England and Australia to think about how much damage they might be doing to the game just to fall into line with something that India wants,” he further said.
