ICC aware that government planning to suspend board

Cricinfo has learned that the ICC was almost certainly aware that the Kenyan government was considering suspending the Kenyan Cricket Association, although the speed with which Ochilo Ayacko, the sports minister, acted might have surprised it.

Ayacko made a low-key visit to London on December 18 last year where it is believed he met Ehsan Mani and Malcolm Speed, the ICC's president and chief executive, at Lord's for discussions about the crisis blighting Kenyan cricket.

A letter has also been leaked from Speed to the minister sent earlier in that month, in which the ICC highlighted its unease with the operations of the KCA. Although officially the ICC has maintained that it does not get involved in its members' domestic issues, there are signs that it has grown exasperated with the way that Kenyan cricket has been allowed to disintegrate since the 2003 World Cup.

In April, Mani and Speed visited Nairobi and were given a blunt appraisal of the situation by Najib Balala, Ayacko's predecessor, in a private and unscheduled meeting. It was in the aftermath of these discussions that Mani warned that Kenya's progress towards Test status was subject to the KCA meeting certain conditions and that progress was "too slow".

It was subsequently revealed that the KCA, which is reported to be close to bankruptcy, was using money received from the ICC for development to pay salaries. The ICC stepped in and put a stop to that, a move which indirectly led to the players' strike in October as the KCA did not have sufficient money to pay outstanding fees or offer anything but short-term contracts.