Results of second day of ICC Board meeting

ICL application to be approved as unofficial cricket rejected; Ex-England captain Clare Connor invited to join ICC Cricket Committee Audio available athttp://www.icc-cricket.com; photos available through Getty Images, vision via SNTV
Saturday saw the second and final day of the ICC Board meeting in Dubai, the second of the four scheduled meetings it holds in a year.

Among decisions reached were:

Indian Cricket League
The ICC Board considered an application for the ICL to be approved as unofficial cricket.

The Board went through the application carefully, including assessing it against the criteria within the ICC regulations for approving such events.

Those criteria are as follows:

• Where the event takes place in an ICC Member country, whether the home board has granted approval or not;

• Safety and suitability of the venue, including anti-corruption considerations and the safety of players and officials;

• Whether the event has any meaningful role in the development of the game or has a specific charitable or benevolent purpose; and

• Whether the event causes any conflict or perceived conflict with ICC events.

After due consideration, the Board resolved that the application should be rejected.

In relation to the possibility of players returning to official cricket from the ICL, the Board reiterated to Members the importance of protecting the fabric of the game. A clear message needed to be sent that players could not swap between official and unofficial cricket at will.

However, it was confirmed that the nature and scope of any sanction would ultimately be a matter for each individual Member to determine, based on its own local conditions.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said: “The Board gave the matter careful consideration but, looking at the criteria set out in the regulations, felt the application for approval could not be granted.”

Clare Connor invited to join ICC Cricket Committee

The Board agreed that former England women’s captain Clare Connor is to be invited to join the ICC Cricket Committee as a representative of women’s cricket.

Ms Connor is the head of the women’s game for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and is also a non-executive director of Sussex County Cricket Club.

She was awarded an MBE in June 2004 for her services to cricket and, 18 months later, an OBE, after leading England to an Ashes victory over Australia in 2005

Between 1995 and 2005 Ms Connor played 16 Tests and 93 ODIs, including three women’s world cups.

Commenting on Clare Connor’s invitation to join the ICC Cricket Committee, ICC President David Morgan said: “I’m delighted the ICC Board has decided to appoint Clare to the ICC Cricket Committee.

“She has a wealth of experience in the game through her playing and administrative activities and has already been an active member of the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee.

“This is another reflection of the ICC’s commitment to the women’s game. We believe Clare will be a real asset to the group and I look forward to her taking her place at the table.”

The next meeting of the ICC Cricket Committee, chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, will take place in London on 11 and 12 May.

Promotion of Test cricket

The Board agreed to consider means of further promoting Test cricket, the pinnacle of the game, at its next meeting on the basis of recommendations from both ICC management and the ICC working group, made up of ICC Full Member representatives, that convenes every month by teleconference.

Day one of the ICC Board meeting

The media release covering the first day of the meeting can be found here: http://www.icc-cricket.com/

Audio of ICC President David Morgan explaining decisions made on the first day of the meeting can be found here: http://www.icc-cricket.com/

The release includes details of decisions:

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

The Board resolved that, given the current uncertainty surrounding the security situation within Pakistan, the country should not host matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup (ICC CWC) 2011.

This means the event will now be hosted in three countries, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

The tournament secretariat will move from Pakistan to a location to be determined by the tournament’s Central Organising Committee.

Lahore incident

The Board asked Lord Condon, the Chairman of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, to lead a task team to include ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and ICC directors Jack Clarke and Shashank Manohar which would conduct a comprehensive review of security arrangements for all international cricket.

The Board also agreed that the ICC’s management should approach other sports to see if there was scope for information-sharing in the way security is conducted across major events around the world.

Zimbabwe

The Board received a report on cricket in Zimbabwe from a task team headed by ICC director Dr Julian Hunte, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board.

The report presented a series of recommendations on how best to assist Zimbabwe to improve its performances so as to allow its return to the Test arena as soon as appropriate.

The report stated that a sustainable return to that form of the game was possible when:

• Zimbabwe’s national representative sides have satisfied reasonable performance criteria in first-class and other multi-day matches;

• Various structures and processes have been updated in line with recommendations of the task team;

• Domestic structures have been upgraded and a longer and more competitive first-class league is introduced; and

• There should be an ongoing partnership between Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) and the ICC Member Services department to track the former’s performance against its strategic plan.

Zimbabwe Cricket accepted the report’s recommendations and agreed to work with the ICC to ensure they are enacted.

The full task team report is available at the ICC’s website, http://www.icc-cricket.com

ICC Cricket Committee

The Board agreed that former India captain Ravi Shastri will replace Michael Holding as the media representative on the ICC Cricket Committee. Mr Holding resigned last year.

Media notes

Photographs of the meeting are available via Getty Images and video footage is available via SNTV. Further information can also be obtained by getting in touch with your usual Getty Images or SNTV contacts.

Audio is available at: http://www.icc-cricket.com/

The ICC Board consists of the chairman or president from each of the 10 Full Members plus three Associate Member representatives. Also present at ICC Board meetings is the ICC President, who chairs proceedings, the ICC Chief Executive and the ICC Vice-President, as well as, by invitation of the President, the ICC Principal Advisor.Those attending this meeting were:

Associate Member Representatives

In attendance

ICC Vice-President Sharad Pawar was not in attendance because of the ongoing election campaign in India.