Dubai, March 07, 2012: The ICC Chief Executive Committee (CEC) met in Dubai over the past two days. Among the decisions or recommendations made to the ICC Board were:
Independent Governance Review
The CEC received a presentation on the independent Woolf report on ICC Governance. The presentation was to allow the CEC, an important grouping, to better understand or to seek clarification or explanations of any proposals contained in the report. The CEC noted that Member Boards and the ICC Board of Directors in particular will need to consider the recommendations in detail, a number of which were already work in progress.
Proposed Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
The CEC recognised that the ICC Board had determined that a decision as to whether a particular tour should take place or not is one for the participating countries and the ICC’s role was limited to considering the safety and security of the match officials after a tour had been confirmed and a security plan produced.
The CEC also noted that in the event of the participating countries deciding that the tour should proceed and the ICC determining that it was unsafe to appoint match officials to the tour, a special dispensation to depart from the Standard Playing Conditions to allow non-neutral match officials to participate in the matches would be required from the ICC Board. While acknowledging that the granting of such dispensation must involve a wide range of important considerations, the CEC agreed to recommend to the ICC Board that, from a cricket perspective only, the granting of the special dispensation would be justified.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive, said: “Bearing in mind that safety and security is the sole responsibility of individual Member Board’s for bilateral matches, the CEC regarded this as an exceptional circumstance in which the appointment to matches of non-neutral match officials could be justified but stated clearly that it should not to be regarded as a preferred option or precedent if the dispensation were to be granted.”
T20 strategy
The CEC held a strategic discussion on Twenty20 cricket and agreed to recommend the following to the ICC Board:
• three additional Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) should be allowed in the year in which the ICC World Twenty20 is being played (the current regulations permit a maximum of 12 T20Is for each Full Member in any one year). This would allow teams the opportunity to prepare for the event;
• the next ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2014 in Bangladesh should be increased to 16 men’s teams;
• the Associate and Affiliate Members should consider submitting a detailed proposition to host a future ICC World Twenty20 event in a developing country or region; and
• the ICC World Twenty20 should continue to be a joint event for men’s and women.
Haroon Lorgat said: “It was an important discussion and the CEC agreed that further conversations to strategically manage T20 cricket and also to promote all three formats would be beneficial.”
ICC Cricket Committee
The CEC has reappointed Ravi Shastri for a second three-year term as the media representative and has appointed David White, the CEO of New Zealand Cricket, to replace Justin Vaughan as the CEC representative on the ICC Cricket committee. The CEC also supported the women’s committee chairperson, Clare Connor, to continue as a representative of the women’s game on the Committee and also noted the nomination of John Stephenson to replace Keith Bradshaw as the MCC representative.
The ICC Board will consider nominations for the role of chairman of the committee as Clive Lloyd’s term has expired.
International venues
The CEC approved a framework for revised regulations dealing with the required standards of venues staging international matches. The revised regulations will include a consolidated list of the current minimum requirements complimented by best practice guidelines. Haroon Lorgat said: “Ensuring the best world-class venues is essential to produce quality cricket and also attract spectators to the game.”
Other cricket matters
The CEC confirmed that the existing ICC Test and ODI ranking systems are fit for purpose and recommended to the ICC Board that they be retained to determine qualification to ICC events and for promotion and relegation purposes in due course.
The CEC also recommended the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) agreement and a revised Anti-Racism Policy to the ICC Board for approval.
The CEC were pleased to note a marked improvement in the quality of pitches that has led to a much better battle between bat and ball in Test match cricket. Only 10 per cent of Test matches in 2011 ended in a draw as compared to 38 per cent in 2010.
In order to share experiences and to seek continuous improvement, the ICC will host a workshop for curators in Dubai on 11 and 12 April 2012, covering a wide range of issues in pitch preparation.
Mr Lorgat said: “Curators and grounds men around the world deserve credit for preparing pitches which have produced exciting Test match cricket.”
The CEC also acknowledged the improvement in over-rates and gave credit to the umpires for their positive interpretation of bad light and weather regulations, which has led to more cricket being enjoyed by spectators.”
Mr Lorgat said: “Overall the ICC match officials have been excellent and the notable improvement in standards of officiating needs to be acknowledged.”
The CEC also received an update on the research project which the ICC has been supporting (together with the MCC) to develop technology which can be used to monitor bowling actions in match conditions. The technology which uses inertial sensors has been successfully evaluated and now is entering the next phase of development.
Cricket development
The CEC received update presentations on the progress with global development of the game which included the strategies to grow and integrate the women’s game internationally. The CEC agreed to explore a Future Associates Tour Schedule to investigate whether a programme of matches can be designed for Associates/Affiliates and the Full Member National or ‘A’ teams.
“The development programme has a comprehensive strategy which includes improving performances and plans to increase participation by one million new players from the Associate and Affiliate Member countries by 2015,” said Mr Lorgat.
The CEC also received an update regarding cricket for people with disabilities and agreed to work towards establishing a framework and criteria to recognize different types of disability cricket.
Multi-sport games
After discussing cricket’s participation in multi-sport games, the CEC decided to further explore an invitation for cricket to take part in the Commonwealth Games to be held on the Gold Coast in Australia in April 2018.
The CEC also supported the key initiative in the ICC strategy to independently evaluate the pros and cons of participating in the Olympic Games.
“A preliminary high level evaluation is expected to be presented at the next CEC meeting,” concluded Mr Lorgat.
The CEC comprises the Chief Executives or nominated representatives of the 10 Full Member nations as well as three Associate Member representatives. The ICC Chief Executive chairs the meeting and, by invitation, the ICC President or the ICC Vice President may attend.
Haroon Lorgat ICC Chief Executive (Chairman)
Alan Isaac ICC Vice President (for day 1)
Subhan Ahmed Pakistan
Nizam Uddin Chowdhury Bangladesh
David Collier England and Wales
John Cribbin Associate Member Representative
Warren Deutrom Associate Member Representative
Francois Erasmus Associate Member Representative
Dr Ernest Hilaire West Indies
Sanjay Jagdale India
Gerald Majola South Africa
Wilfred Mukondiwa Zimbabwe (alternate for Ozias Bvute)
Nishanta Ranatunga Sri Lanka
James Sutherland Australia
David White New Zealand
Apologies:
Sharad Pawar ICC President
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