Hall's aim at ICC was misdirected - Speed

Wes Hall's criticism of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the scheduling of the series between the West Indies and Sri Lanka during the rains was misplaced, according to Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC.

Speed said that Hall, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), was wrong to blame the ICC because it was the responsibility of individual country boards to decide where and when matches would be played.

"The only role the ICC has in scheduling [matches] is to make sure that all teams fulfill their commitment to play each other in a series of not less than two Test matches and three one-day internationals both home and away in a five-year cycle.

"In this year's West Indies schedule, the WICB, for sound cricket and commercial reasons, decided to play four Tests and seven ODIs against Australia and this decision obviously impacted on their ability to schedule the Sri Lanka series.

"The previous chief executive of the WICB raised some concerns about the timing of this tour with the ICC last year and we indicated that there were alternative times available for the games to be played within the five-year schedule but no alteration to the schedule was made."

Hall had earlier said that scheduling matches in June - the hurricane season in the Caribbean - was "cricketing madness". He also expressed his inability to alter the itinerary. "You may ask then why, as president, I don't change it. I can only say that the West Indies board has only one vote at the ICC and I can only hope that we are able to convince the authorities that it is madness to play in June."