ICC makes itself a laughing stock
The Speed affair rumbles on, to the continuing embarrassment of the ICC
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
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The Speed affair rumbles on, to the continuing embarrassment of the ICC. In the Guardian, Mike Selvey cuts to the chase.
Speed's early exit is expedient, an exercise in damage limitation at a time when the ICC is in turmoil. He has been made a scapegoat, just as he once made Hair one. Speed had been at loggerheads with the ICC's South African president, Ray Mali, over the non-publication of an independent forensic audit of the finances of Zimbabwe Cricket, an audit that found evidence of irregularities.
Despite Speed's vehemence that the KPMG report should be published - the obvious course of action, one might have thought - the ICC board voted him down. It was appalling. But it was little surprise: Mali has an especially cordial relationship with Peter Chingoka, head of Zimbabwe's cricket board and a supporter of Robert Mugabe. The ICC's president-elect, England's David Morgan, attempted diplomatically to broker a resolution but Mali's refusal to climb down meant Speed could not continue.
Selvey echoes many in the media with his scathing view of the ICC.
But even by its own standards the sacking of Speed, a mightily efficient, calculating administrator, if a little cold to the touch, has opened it up to ridicule.
"I am hopeful," said Mani, "that, with David Morgan taking over, the ICC will come through this." Plenty to read between the lines there, with the possible unwritten codicil being "when we see the back of Mali". The Zimbabwe issue may resolve itself in the not-too-distant future, but Morgan will still have a tough couple of years if he is to claw back lost ground.
Neil Manthorp writing on the Super Sport site also has little time for the ICC’s handling of Zimbabwe’s finances.
Perhaps the tirades of abuse that ZC have received for their alleged abuse of finances have been unfair. The ICC authorised an audit and, upon receipt of it, aknowledged it. How on earth can people be so cynical about the ICC when they have a) aknowledged the contents of the report and the fact that that are b) taking note of it?
Taking note of things is a gravely underestimated skill. The ICC have 'taken note' that their money is not being spent as it should be. They have have been made aware that the money which is supposed to be revatalising the game in that has been compromised. But at least they have "noted" this anomaly. They can't be accused of doing nothing.
Next to nothing, but not nothing.
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa