ICC Board to tackle Future Tours Program, Zimbabwe, anti-doping, anti-racism, pitch monitoring, playing conditions and ICC Champions Trophy venues

Among the important issues to be addressed by the ICC Executive Board at its meeting in Dubai from 20-21 March will be the Future Tours Program, Zimbabwe, anti-doping, anti-racism, a proposed pitch monitoring process, ODI playing conditions and ICC Champions Trophy 2006 venues.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said that it would be a particularly important meeting for the Board.

"The Board is the major policy-making body for international cricket," said Mr Mani.

"This meeting is an important opportunity for the Directors from across our membership base to guide the direction of international cricket on a range of major issues."

After two years and 10 drafts the Board will be asked to approve a new six-year FTP for the ICC's 10 Full Members. This six-year program of reciprocal touring obligations would replace the current five-year program. It would require all of the Full Member sides to play home and away series against each other within the six year period.

The draft FTP also provides opportunities for several series to take place on a more frequent basis including Australia v England, Australia v India, Australia v South Africa, Australia v West Indies, Bangladesh v Zimbabwe, England v India, England v West Indies, India v Pakistan, India v South Africa and Pakistan v South Africa. As with the present five-year FTP, tours would be required to contain a minimum of two Test matches and three ODIs.

The ICC has recommended that, when averaged out over a four year period, Member boards should be scheduling an average of 15 Test matches and 30 ODIs a year. It will be the responsibility of the Member boards to ensure the application of these recommendations when the details of scheduling are discussed on a bilateral basis for these tours or any additional tours beyond the FTP obligations.

The Board will receive a verbal report from Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the Interim Committee of Zimbabwe Cricket. Mr Chingoka is scheduled to provide an update on several key areas that the ICC has asked the Interim Board to address. These include:

- addressing allegations of financial mismanagement by appointing a reputable independent company to conduct a forensic audit

- addressing concerns regarding the composition of the Interim Board

- improving relations with players to ensure their views are taken into account and a team can be fielded of a standard that does not have a negative impact on the integrity of international cricket

In addition, ICC management has proposed that the Board should consider whether it is appropriate to apply playing and administrative criteria to evaluate Zimbabwe's readiness to resume Test cricket when it approaches the end of its 12-month voluntary withdrawal from Test commitments early in 2007.

The Board will review the adoption of an ICC Anti-Doping Policy for all major ICC events. The proposed policy complies with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code and its implementation would formalise the ICC's commitment to drugs-free sport.

If the Board approves the policy it will be passed to the ICC Annual Conference for final ratification in July.

While there have been anti-doping programmes at all of the ICC's recent major Events, these have been formulated on an event-by-event basis and have contained some small variations from the WADA Code. If approved, the new WADA-compliant policy would become mandatory for all ICC events beginning with October's ICC Champions Trophy in India.

The Board will receive an independent written report from India's Solicitor General Goolam Vahanvati into incidents of racist crowd behaviour in Australia.

Mr Vahanvati has interviewed representatives from the relevant authorities in Australia as well as players and team officials from Australia and South Africa. The ICC appointed Mr Vahanvati to conduct the report following a complaint from the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

The Chief Executives' Committee meeting in Dubai in February proposed the introduction of a formal pitch-monitoring process. This process would include potential sanctions ranging from a formal warning to a fine or even suspension of international status for venues that produce substandard pitches.

The recommended process would be based on the initial report of the Emirates Elite Panel Referee at the ground followed by a review conducted by the ICC General Manager - Cricket, David Richardson, and the Chief Match Referee, Ranjan Madugalle (or the Chairman of the Cricket Committee, Sunil Gavaskar, if the Chief Referee produced the initial report). An appeals process would also be available to the relevant member.

The Board has the authority to adopt this process with immediate effect.

The Board will consider a recommendation from the Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) to end the trial ODI playing condition in relation to replacement players or `super-subs'. The trial was originally scheduled to last for 10 months but the CEC reviewed the playing condition in February following feedback from stakeholders, including current and former players. The Board has the power to end the trial with immediate effect.

The Board will consider a request from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to amend the venues to be used for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 in India.

The proposal requests an increase in the number of tournament venues from three to four. The ICC Board has previously indicated that should the BCCI seek to increase the number of venues, the extra costs would be borne by the BCCI. The change would require amendments to the schedule but the tournament duration would remain the same.

The ICC Board comprises the Presidents/Chairmen or designated nominees of the 10 Full Members and three representatives from ICC Associate Members.

Attendees at the meeting will be:

Ehsan Mani (Chairman) - ICC President
Percy Sonn - ICC Vice-President
Malcolm Speed - ICC Chief Executive Officer

Full Members

Creagh O'Connor - Australia
Mahbubul Anam - Bangladesh (as an alternate for Mohammad Ali Asghar MP)
David Morgan - England
Sharad Pawar - India
Sir John Anderson KBE - New Zealand
Shaharyar Khan - Pakistan
Jayantha Dharmadasa - Sri Lanka
Ray Mali - South Africa
Ken Gordon - West Indies
Peter Chingoka - Zimbabwe

Associate Members

Stanley Perlman - Israel
John Cribbin - Hong Kong (as an alternate for HRH Tunku Imran - Malaysia)
Mazhar Khan - United Arab Emirates

Decisions of the Board require the support of the majority of Full and Associate Member representatives including at least seven of the 10 Full Members.