CHENNAI: The International Cricket Council, on Saturday, voted in favour of a restructured revenue model that will virtually put an end to the Big Three’s take over of finances.
Though it is still some time away from being put in to practice, it is expected to only be a formality. The ICC got the majority despite Vikram Limaye, representing the Board of Control for Cricket in India, voting against it. Zimbabwe, the other full-member of the ICC, abstained from voting. It is understood that even Sri Lankaa Cricket opposed the change in revenue model and backed BCCI.
Though how the revenue will be distributed among the members is still not clear and will emerge only in the April meeting, the majority of members, by voting for the change in revenue model, have officially shut the door for BCCI to play a hard game.
The BCCI has maintained that since it contributes the most to the revenue pool, it should get a minimum of 20 per cent from it. Though the BCCI doesn’t have a strong representation in the ICC following the removal of Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke as the president and secretary respectively in the wake of a Supreme Court order, it did make some attempts to derail the new proposal.
It is learnt that treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and joint-secretary Amitabh Choudhary proposed lucrative tours to Cricket South Africa, New Zealand Cricket, SLC and West Indies, but most of the members seem to have stood their ground keeping in mind the betterment of the associate nations.
“We tried all that we can. We even proposed to a few countries on touring their nation during their peak cricketing season. They are, of course, open to it. This isn’t the end of it because, it is just a preliminary proposal. We are not demanding a huge change. We just want 20 per cent of it as against the 15 per cent that they are quoting now,” a board official told Express.
Limaye expressed his concern over the documents, especially in light of the insufficient time available to the Supreme Court appointed committee of administrators to take an informed view of the proposal. He also argued that there was no scientific basis behind the percentage distribution allocation, other than ‘good faith and equity’.
The ICC issued a statement confirming the ‘in principle’ agreement to the constitutional and financial changes to the world body. ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said, “Today was an important step forward for the future of the ICC and cricket around the world.
The proposals from the working group to reverse the resolutions of 2014 and deliver a revised constitution and financial model were accepted by the ICC Board and now we will work collectively to refine the detail for final sign-off in April. This also allows the new BCCI leadership appropriate time to appraise the detail and contribute.
I want the ICC to be reasonable and fair in our approach to all 105 members and the revised constitution and financial model does that.”
Major shake-up
Express picks out key decisions taken during the first ICC Board meeting of 2017...
Financial Model
Changes recommended by ICC Working Group to the constitution and financial model have been passed in principle by the body, with a commitment to consider any further representations from Members, and completing the detail by April’s ICC Board meeting.
Financial distribution ensuring a more equitable distribution of revenues.
A revised constitution to reflect good governance, expanding and clarifying of roles and objectives of the ICC, to provide leadership in international cricket.
Further constitutional changes proposed include...
Including additional Full Members (Ireland and Afghanistan subject to both meeting Membership criteria).
Removal of affiliate level of membership so only two categories remain; Full Member and Associate Member.
Introduce an independent female director.
Equal weight of votes for all board members regardless of membership status.
All members to be entitled to attend the AGM.
DRS technology
The Chief Executives’ Committee agreed to the principle of a consistent use of DRS technology across all international cricket. A full implementation plan will be considered in May before approval in June 2017 for roll-out from October 2017.
What next?
Boards like BCCI will have until April 17 to recommend changes to the proposals. They also can discuss with various associations, and can woo them with a more lucrative financial deal.
As far as the structure is concerned, the Indian board is more or less OK with it.
Even other associations can suggest changes to the proposal.
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