Integrate Twenty20 in to existing structure - Speed

Malcolm Speed, ICC chief executive, has said it's premature to change the fundamental structure of cricket even before the IPL begins. "Let's wait and see," Speed said, reacting to the view that various members of the ICC were already open to the idea of accommodating the IPL in the annual calendar and adjust the other series around it.

Speed said integrating Twenty20 events like the IPL into the other forms of the game was not a "problem" but a "challenge". "I said to the ICC board in the very long paper I wrote in March this year that this current generation of cricket administrators will be judged not by how much money the game makes out of Twenty20 cricket. It will be judged by how well we integrate Twenty20 into the other forms of the game," Speed said in Mumbai.

The challenge, according to Speed, is that Twenty20 cricket has captured the imagination of the masses swiftly unlike any other sport. "What we are seeing is in a very short space of time, unlike in the other forms of football, volleyball and rugby, Twenty20 cricket is up there claiming as much newsprint and television time as other forms of the game. So it's emerged beyond being a development tool, it's a fully-fledged form of the game". The ICC was happy about it, Speed said, as there were many opportunities to come out of it but "it had to be managed sensibly."

The IPL was one of the main discussion points the ICC's board meeting that took place in Kuala Lumpur in March where Speed reiterated that IPL was a good concept. "If it's executed properly and can be integrated into nation versus nation cricket it can be very successful. But we need to proceed with caution."

Speed said India have every right to aggressively gain mileage for the IPL but they can't force the others to follow suit. A view that is gaining popularity is that the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) is increasingly under pressure from tournaments like IPL. Comments from Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen that they stand to lose huge amounts of money by not being allowed to participate in the IPL have added fuel to that opinion. But Speed was clear about his thoughts.

Echoing IS Bindra's recent statement that the ICC might think about including the IPL in the FTP, Speed called Bindra's view "sensible" but added "there are some people who are going ahead and saying before it [IPL] has started. [They want to] carve up the cricket season and change things that have sustained other countries. No country other than India gets any benefit so why should they change what they do at this stage?"

Speed acknowledged the increasing demand for cricket's shortest form but asserted that the cricket's "lifeblood" was the bilateral series between the ICC's members. "Up till now it has been the lifeblood of all of the members including the BCCI as that's where the BCCI's money comes from when they play against other countries. We need to be very careful we preserve that."

As for the displeasure expressed by players, Speed reminded them the only reason they've been approached to play in the Twenty20 tournaments like the IPL was because they were stars for their country. "And they became stars because they were identified as good players and brought up through the system within their country.Let's not get too carried away by the money."

Speed said a better judgement on the IPL could be made at the end of the first edition. The parameters that might help understand the success of the IPL, according to Speed, were quality of cricket, quality of facilities, the television coverage, the number of people watching on TV and on the ground, and the effect it has on player workload.

"We've seen the players meeting the demands put forward by the countries. Now they are doing the same for the franchisees. Now we've to see how both these thing are to be balanced," Speed said.