SINGAPORE CITY, Singapore, CMC – The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has supported a new proposal from the International Cricket Council (ICC) which was approved at the Board’s meeting in Singapore yesterday.
The revamp plans for the ICC, piloted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA), won the support of eight Full members. The cricket Boards of Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstained from voting.
Among the decisions taken were the replacement of the World Test Championships with an ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2021 and greater financial recognition of Full members based on their contribution to cricket, particularly in terms of finance, their ICC history and their on-field performances in the three formats.
Several of the decisions taken would have to be considered and adopted by the ICC’s Full Council but they provide a bit of relief for some member boards which expressed initial concerns on the plans.
South Africa, which had initially objected to the revamp proposals, calling them “fundamentally flawed,” decided to give support.
WICB’s Vice President Emmanuel Nanthan, who represented the regional board at yesterday’s meeting, said that the proposals will ensure that none of the Full Members will be worse off than they are at present and all will be significantly better off.
“West Indies had budgeted deficits of US$20 million and $12 million for the last two years. Over the next eight years we will have surpluses and play more regional and international cricket,” he told GrenadaSports.
“West Indies will play India, Australia and England more than we played them in the last eight years. It’s a saviour for West Indies cricket, not a let down at all,” he said.
BCCI’s president Narayanaswami Srinivasan is to become the first chairman of the ICC. His appointment is from July, 2014 as the game’s governing body will see a new set of rules related to governance, competition and financial models. However, the ICC Board will continue to be the primary decision-making body.
“A new Executive Committee will be formed to report into the Board. The initial Chair of this Executive Committee (ExCo) will be Wally Edwards from Cricket Australia while the Chair of the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) will continue to be Giles Clarke from the ECB. These roles will be for an initial two year transitional period to 2016 only. Once this transitional period is completed, the Chair of the ICC Board will be elected from within the ICC Board with all Full Member Directors entitled to stand for election,” according to an ICC statement.
“BCCI, CA and ECB – will be represented on both sub-committees, along with two representatives of the other Full Members (who will be elected by the Board).”
