Move over or I’ll wag my tail

That Malcolm Speed should be compared to Kofi Annan surprises me little. Both are front men for organisations intent on managing perceptions rather than outcomes. That Michael Atherton has written an unyielding article identifying the similarities between the UN and the ICC comes as little surprise either. Athers has for a long time been an astute and poignant observer of the game.

What does surprise me is some of the support the BCCI is getting outside of its own boundaries for flexing its elbow well beyond an acceptable fifteen degrees. There is a bigger picture to the BCCI exercising its muscles and reshaping its itineraries beyond analysing the merit of the tours and competitions the Indians have excluded themselves from. I sense that when Michael Atherton speaks of the “big beast” he understands these all too well.

Allowing a single cricket board, any board, to selectively brush aside aspects of its schedule that it has deemed unsuitable, for whatever reason, hugely undermines the already shaky status of a governing body apparently uncertain of its own capabilities and jurisdiction.

A process was followed to initiate the Future Tours Program. A process that all the Test playing nations quite literally signed up to. A process culminating in a written agreement that contained defined dispute resolution guidelines that seem to be have been ignored or at the least not enforced by the ICC.

When Atherton speaks of Malcolm Speed needing support, he understands the implications of member nations directing outcomes and the risks to the global game this dynamic represents. He also understands the inherent weakness in the ICC in standing its ground in the face of powerful opposition.

India’s actions have demonstrated that they are capable of usurping to protect and serve their own interests and it is ultimately remiss of the ICC to have allowed this to happen. The longer term consequences of the tail wagging the dog may yet prove to be more significant.