ICC Event Technical Committee rule on Super Six Qualification

The ICC Event Technical Committee (ETC) met on 1st March to adjudicate on applications put forwarded by the Kenyan and Sri Lankan teams on the interpretation of the Tournament Playing Conditions covering criteria for qualification to the Super Six Stage.

The ETC did not uphold Sri Lanka's request stating the proper interpretation of the relevant clause in the case where more than two teams have equal points and equal wins is clear and is the same as the one used in the previous World Cup .

Clause 21.8.1. in the World Cup playing conditions read as follows.

21.8.1. Group Matches

In the event of teams finishing on equal points in either Group, the right to play in the Super Six stage will be decided in the following order of priority:

· The most wins in the group matches.

· When two teams have both equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of the Group Match played between them will be placed in the higher position.

When more than two teams have equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of most number of matches played between those teams will be placed in the higher position.

· If still equal, the team with the higher net run rate in the group matches will be placed in the higher position

· If still equal, the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in the Group Matches in which results were achieved will be placed in the higher position.

· In the highly unlikely event that teams cannot be separated by the above this will be done by drawing lots.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) subsequently lodged an Appeal against the decision by the Event Technical Committee (ETC), on the interpretation of clause 21.8.1 in the Playing Conditions of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.

Upon receipt of the BCCSL's Appeal the ICC Legal Counsel Urvasi Naidoo appointed Justice Ahmed Ebrahim to act as ICC Appeals Commissioner.

The process for conducting a hearing is left entirely at the discretion of the Appeals Commissioner. In this instance, Justice Ebrahim decided to make his decision based on written submissions provided to him by the ICC Event Technical Committee and the BCCSL.

According to an ICC Media release this morning :- ICC Appeals Commissioner, Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, yesterday upheld the decision of the ICC Event Technical Committee, in its interpretation of clause 21.8.1 of the Playing Conditions of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.

In doing so Justice Ahmed declined the Appeal lodged by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), which disputed the Event Technical Committee's (ETC) interpretation of the criteria used to decide which teams progress to the Super Six stage of the tournament.

The summary of Justice Ebrahim's decision follows below:

" Clause 21.8.1 outlines in the clearest of terms the criteria for qualification for the Super Six stage in the event of more than two teams finishing the Group Stage on equal points. Various stages have been laid down on how a determination is to be made. The words are clear and unambiguous. Nowhere does the approach suggested by the Sri Lankans appear in that Clause.

I have no difficulty in interpreting what appears to me to be the clear and unequivocal meaning of the wording of the clause, which in my view accords with the interpretation of the ETC.

The point was also made by Sri Lanka that New Zealand should have been penalised as far as their net run rate is concerned for forfeiting the match against Kenya. There is no provision within the regulations to penalise a team which has forfeited a match in the way that New Zealand did. Therefore the ETC had no right to do anything more than recognising that the match be awarded to Kenya"

The judgment has now been formally passed to ICC Legal Counsel, and forwarded to the Sri Lanka team, the Event Technical Committee and ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed.