EIGHTH_WC_VENUE_23MAR1996

Eighth World Cup venue: battlelines drawn

By R. Mohan

MADRAS, March 22.

The Wills World Cup, the sixth in the history of cricket`s quadrennial events, is just over but the controversy over the eighth has already begun. The South Africans to whom the conduct of the eighth World Cup in 2003 had been allotted by a resolution of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1993 are crying hoarse now about the talk of a proposed change of host.

There had been good reason to assume that the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) had been firmly given the conduct of the 2003 World Cup. There has apparently been a change in thinking at the ICC level. Dr. Ali Bacher, Chief Executive, UCBSA, is hotly contesting the issue now. ``It is a fait accompli. And there can be no deviation on that,`` he said on the telephone from Johannesburg.

The ICC had agreed that the resolution granting the conduct of the seventh and eighth World Cups to England and South Africa would be carried out in whole and not in part. But since the terms of the seventh World Cup changed from being conducted directly by the ICC to the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) becoming the host, the resolution was no more binding, claimed some members of the ICC.

This places doubts over the South African World Cup with the eighth World Cup likely to be thrown open for bidding with the West Indies showing an interest in hosting it. The West Indies, with its union of six countries and its inadequate facilities by way of spectator seating would have had no hope of bidding for a World Cup. But the financing of World Cups has changed so much because of the leap in marketing strategies that even the generally impoverished West Indian Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) can think of being host to the coveted event.

The UCBSA is, however, determined to make the ICC stick to its allotment of the conduct of the event. By the terms of the resolution of 1993, the 1999 World Cup was to be conducted by the ICC through a managing and marketing committee. That changed with the TCCB coming forward to run the event with a profit-sharing formula which apparently is to the satisfaction of other member countries and associate member countries. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, Mr. I. S. Bindra, was the one who pointed out at the ICC meeting in Lahore that if the resolution was not carried out in full, then the commitment to South Africa on the 2003 World Cup was not binding. The annual ICC meeting at Lord`s should be quite interesting now with South Africa reaffirming its case as World Cup host strongly.

``We have the facilities and we have the expertise. We have already been preparing for the marketing of World Cup 2003. It is a binding decision of the ICC that we have the World Cup. There is no going back on this, `` Dr. Bacher stressed.

Adequate facilities

South Africa`s hosting of the Rugby World Cup was acclaimed a grand success by all the participating nations last year. The country has eight international cricket grounds with flood-lighting facilities to be able to host a World Cup. The UCBSA also has the marketing clout to make the show a success.

The changed thinking in the ICC is a matter for concern to the South African cricket authorities. Their president, Mr. Krish Mackerdhuj, intends to contest the chairmanship of the ICC which is, however, more likely to go to Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya in the July meeting when he should become President-elect for a year until Sir Clyde Walcott`s term ends in 1997.

The UCBSA is most agitated over the moves to take away a World Cup about which a commitment had been made. The battle lines have been drawn. Interesting times are certainly ahead because the cricket World Cup has become such an extravaganza that everyone wants to get into the act of hosting a mega-buck event.

Explaining the background to the whole issue of World Cup allotment, Dr. Bacher said that South Africa had not been interested in bidding for the `96 World Cup because there was much development work to do on return to the Test-fold. His board had also gone along with the ICC thinking in making the conduct of the 1999 cup over to England but on the assumption that it was binding that UCBSA would have the 2003 event.

``The West Indies came much later into the picture. At a meeting of the full members of the ICC in 1994, it was impressed upon Mr. Peter Short (President, WICBC) that the earliest the West Indies could host the World Cup was in 2007. That was the position. It still is. As far as we are concerned, we are the hosts of the event in 2003,`` Dr. Bacher said.

Source :: The Hindu