Samiul Hasan interviews Tim Lamb (ECB) (15 July 1997)

15 July 1997

BAN ON OVERSEAS PLAYERS RULED OUT

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, July 14: The Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Tim Lamb, on Monday evening admitted that the image of the game was being destroyed in the wake of betting and match-fixing allegations.

"I don't know how far the allegations are true as so far no concrete evidence has been provided, I do know that the sport is getting a bad name," Lamb told Dawn in an exclusive interview during his brief stay in the city on way to London from Lahore.

Lamb was of the view that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should step in because cricket is known to be a gentleman's game. Lamb admitted that the Chief Executives of all the cricket boards had a discussion on this subject in London. He, however, refused to reveal the details of the meeting.

Cricket, since February 1995, has been rocked with match fixing and betting allegations. First the Australian trio of Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and Tim May accused Salim Malik of offering them huge money to throw a match, then Aamir Sohail accused his own players of being involved in match-fixing and finally a former Indian star, Manoj Prabhakar, revealed that he was offered $72,000 by his unnamed team-mate to play badly against Pakistan in Sharjah. "All this is doing no good to cricket. I fear that allegations will continue to be levelled if the respective boards don't take strict punitive action. "We (ECB) have no problems and I don't know the details about what has been happening in this part of the world as far as these allegations are concerned but I feel that this issue needs to be settled," Lamb said.

The ECB boss also clarified that it was untrue that his board was planning to ban the recruitment of overseas players in county cricket. "There is no such proposal. However, there is a suggestion that in 1999, no overseas player is allowed because of the World Cup. If we allow, the county teams will have no option but to hire second division players which will be a waste of revenue." Lamb was of the view that if more than one overseas player was allowed, it would stop the opportunity the local boys have of representing county teams. He felt that when three or four county players were allowed, the English team was as good as it was now. "The only difference is that other teams have improved a lot. "Sri Lanka have become world champions and Pakistan won the title in 1992. Cricket is flourishing and going into every nick and corner of the world. Therefore, the competition is also getting tougher."

Lamb stated that the ECB was considering the proposal of continuing the 1999 World Cup games into the reserve day in case of rain. "The suggestion is that there should not be a fresh toss and the match should resume from where it was discontinued the other evening. We feel that it would do injustice to the team to start from the very onset after having reduced its opponent to 65 for nine in 24 overs after scoring 300 in its quota of 50 overs," Lamb said.

According to the present International cricket Council (ICC) rules, the one-dayer has to be replayed if the team batting second fails to play half of its allotted overs. Lamb, an experienced and convincing administrator, was also optimistic that the tally of competing teams may be increased to 16. "It will not be possible in the coming World Cup but I see that it might happen in the 2003 one. "Pressure is mounting for more representation," the tall and soft-spoken Lamb stated.

Commenting on the format of the 1999 World Cup, Lamb said the idea was to have the best four teams qualify for the semifinals. "The format of the 1996 World Cup was designed to eliminate four teams after the initial round. But we have decided that three teams each from two groups of six teams qualify for the second division to make that stage like a grand bowl." Lamb hinted that Bangladesh would be the next country to get into the ICC fold. "It was decided at the recent ICC meeting that there was absolutely no objection to Bangladesh becoming a Test country. But it is necessary that Bangladesh fulfil certain cricketing and financial criteria. "However, no exact deadline has been set for giving Test status to Bangladesh. The cricket committee of the ICC will sit down and after evaluating the progress of Bangladesh, will recommend to the ICC when the Test status has to be awarded."

Asked why Kenya was not being considered as potential Test playing country, Lamb said: "First of all, Bangladesh have 110,000 cricketers and they have a very substantial infrastructure. Kenya is definitely improving and there are 600 cricketers and they have a wonderful win over the West Indies in the 1996 World Cup. "But I think, Kenya has more progress to make. They need a more formidable infrastructure and needs to be more financially stronger. "The whole idea behind giving one-day status to Bangladesh and Kenya is a possible stepping-stone to Test status. I am sure Kenya realises that it is not ready for Test status."

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)