ICC: Clive Lloyd For ICC President? (19 Jun 1996)

19 June 1996

Clive Lloyd for ICC president? Not really, says Gavaskar

Prem Panicker

Some wag once said that when a public personage seeks to `clarify` an earlier statement of his, it means that the statement was understood only too well in the first place.

The quip comes to mind in context of a clarification issued by the Professional Management Group, in Bombay, which says that Sunil Gavaskar`s proposal that former West Indian captain Clive Hubert Lloyd be appointed chairman of the International Cricket Conference should be seen merely as a tribute to a great player, and not as a vote-catching appeal.

Gavaskar had touted the `Lloyd for ICC president` line at a press conference in Bombay last week, arguing that the ICC, under incumbent chairman Sir Clyde Walcott, had found itself totally incapable of handing issues such as ball tampering, bribery, the Australian boycott of World Cup games, and such with any measure of firmness.

What was required to give teeth to the ICC, Gavaskar (seen, left, with Mohammad Azharuddin) said at the press meet, was someone who had the respect of the cricketing fraternity, and who had the guts and the ability to take hard decisions and make them stick.

Someone like Clive Hubert Lloyd, in fact.

And now comes the clarification, that the statement was merely Gavaskar`s way of paying tribute to Lloyd, and that it should not be interpreted as being in any way an appeal for Lloyd`s election as ICC chairman.

Why the rethink? Simple - the ICC will elect its next chairman in the second week of July. And the front-runner for the post is none other than Jagmohan Dalmiya, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and recently named one of the six most powerful figures in international sport.

Contesting the post along with Dalmiya are the likes of Kris Mackerduj of South Africa, and Sir Alan Gray, former president of the Australian Cricket Board. Mackerduj, in fact, created enormous controversy a couple of weeks earlier when he accused Dalmiya of indulging in `dinner diplomacy` and of attempting to wine and dine his way to the coveted post.

Gray is seen as the weakest of the three contenders, thanks to the fact that he has been out of cricket administration for well over a decade now. Insiders indicate that Gray is at best likely to get the votes of England, New Zealand and, of course, Australia.

Mackerduj, thus, is the only candidate with a serious chance of giving Dalmiya a run for his money. However, the Indian candidate is expected to emerge a runaway winner - if only because he has always maintained an enviable rapport with the 22 associate nations who, along with the nine Test playing nations, will elect the ICC chairman.

It is Dalmiya`s rapport with these associate members of the ICC, and the perception among the latter that they are more likely to have a square deal with an Asian heading the ICC, that makes the Indian cricket boss a serious candidate for the post. And Gavaskar`s advocacy of Lloyd for the post of ICC chairman could have dealt a serious blow to those prospects - and hence the hasty `clarification`.

Source :: Rediff On The NeT (http.//www.redifindia.com)