MCC World Cricket Committee met in Cape Town

MCC World Cricket Committee met in Cape Town on 8 and 9 January and made a number of recommendations on the state of the game.

Stating that corruption posed the biggest danger to the game of cricket, the committee, made a few recommendations to the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

Led by MCC's Anti-Corruption Working Party, chaired by Steve Waugh, the committee made ten recommendations to the ACSU, including: Lifetime bans for any captain, vice-captain or coach found guilty of corruption, removal of minimum sentences in the ICC's anti-corruption code, specific anti-corruption clauses to be included in players', officials', coaches' and administrators' contracts.

The committee urged the ICC to ensure uniformity on the implementation of the Decision Review System (DRS).

The MCC World Cricket committee has also recommended that ICC to publish, in full, the ICC Governance Review, led by Lord Woolf, when it reports back in the coming weeks. The committee supported the comments made by Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive, when he called for the ICC Board to have some form of independent directorship so that "there's at least a balance of debate or a voice spoken without self-interest".

Committee member Majid Khan provided an update on the status of cricket in Pakistan and the current security situation in the country. The committee noted with some optimism the security improvements over recent months.

The committee urged ICC to ensure that all future ICC World Twenty20 comprise 16 teams, rather than the 12 that will compete in the 2012 tournament. A 16-team competition is aligned to ICC's strategy to promote and globalise the game.

The committee also discussed several aspects of the Laws relating to switch-hits, and proposes a further review by MCC's Laws sub-committee, who would then report their findings to ICC's Cricket Committee.