India threaten tournament snub unless ICC hand over more power

The ICC’s full members are due to meet next week to discuss a ‘position paper’ that would see India, England and Australia take over the major decision making in world cricket.

The draft proposal has been met with cynicism in some quarters, with fears the ‘big three’ nations would prosper at the expense of the rest of the world.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has regularly flexed its muscle on the international stage and appears ready to do so again to push through the proposal.

Following a meeting of its Emergent Working Committee, the BCCI released a three-point statement in which it stated India’s participation in world events was “subject to the proposal being approved in the ICC board”.

The BCCI also described the proposal, written by the ICC’s working group, as being for the benefit of the game while confirming its intention to enter into bi-lateral tours with all Test-playing nations.

India’s absence from major tournaments would likely have significant financial implications given its economic power.

The proposal is set to be discussed by all full-member nations at the ICC executive board meeting on January 28-29.

Cricket South Africa has asked for the “fundamentally flawed” paper to be withdrawn while Cricket Sri Lanka want it to be “deferred and reconsidered on a future date”.

Reports regarding the paper only surfaced last weekend, with its wide remit of recommendations ranging from scrapping the Future Tours Programme (FTP), in favour of a two-tier structure, to remodelling how revenue is distributed among the ICC’s members.

The key proposal, however, is the formation of the four-man ExCo, on which the BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and Cricket Australia (CA) members would all be guaranteed a place and elect the fourth member. The proposed executive committee powers would supersede those of the ICC’s board.