Mani speaks out on contracts crisis

Ehsan Mani, the new ICC president, has taken a hard line in the ICC contracts dispute. Mani said that all member countries had agreed to the terms of the contract that ICC had signed with the Global Cricket Corporation, which represents the event sponsors of the World Cup.

"What happened was that the ICC entered into contracts with the GCC which were agreed to by all," said Mani, speaking to an Indian news agency. "The problem arose when Indian players objected to it."

Mani added that the ICC was working "very hard to resolve [the problem]. We have to make sure that each and every member is in agreement of their obligations -- that is the only way forward."

Mani insisted that it was not a mistake selling the rights of the players to the GCC. He said that all the boards had agreed to it, conveniently ignoring the fact that the boards did not own the players' commercial rights any more than the ICC did.

On a tangential note, Mani added that the ICC was concerned about the amount of international cricket being played. "We need to address the issue of volume of cricket," he said, "as there are complaints, particularly from countries like India, that too much cricket is being played."