Tough decisions for the ICC

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed © Getty Images

When the ICC executive meets in New Delhi this week there will be a few pressing matters on the agenda.

Zimbabwe's dire performances in South Africa have raised the whole tricky issue of the integrity of international cricket, and in today's Independent David Morgan, the ECB's chairman, said that there was a belief that change was needed.

The ICC's review of Test cricket, announced in 2003 and undertaken by external consultants, was originally intended to sort out its structure and involved the chairmen of all Test-playing countries. However, as the review progressed, the remit shifted and became concerned not only with the amount of cricket, but also the dreadful standard of some of the participants. Zimbabwe's Test performances against Sri Lanka last April and now South Africa have led to increasing calls for something to be done. These questions over Zimbabwe have probably given Bangladesh, until now the country in the spotlight, much-needed breathing space.

Publicly, the ICC has remained resolute that there was not a question of suspending any country from Tests. But it can no longer ignore the obvious. Crowds in South Africa could be counted in the hundreds, showing the public cannot be fooled, and even television commentators, who can usually be relied on to put a positive spin on the most one-sided encounter, gave up pretending. And if TV starts to shun games, then their primary support - money - is threatened.

South Africa took the recently-completed Tests less than seriously, and if New Zealand and India use the forthcoming series in Zimbabwe to rest senior players it will be another body-blow to Test cricket.

The ICC will need to make some difficult decisions. If it ignores the objections and allows Zimbabwe to continue unfettered, then it could have to underpin them financially, given that TV companies might not want to bid for such one-sided series. It is likely that there will be a compromise which results in a reduction in the number of series countries have to play against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. That won't please either country who need the income they get from playing the big boys, nor the purists who argue it will do nothing for the game's reputation.

While those discussions will take centre stage, there are also major problems to be resolved involving Kenya and the USA.

Kenya, who it should be remembered were World Cup semi-finalists in 2003, are in total chaos as the Kenyan Cricket Association clings to power despite having no grassroots support, no money and the government calling for its executive to resign. The ICC has chosen to keep its distance and officially refuses to recognise the new board - Cricket Kenya - which has the support of all stakeholders. Some suspect that if the crisis is not resolved soon then Kenya could lose its one-day status, but the KCA appears to have enough friends inside the ICC to survive for the moment, to the chagrin of the Kenyan cricketing community.

Meanwhile, there are even bigger problems Stateside. The USA Cricket Association is, by the ICC's own admission, a shambles, a situation which Malcolm Speed is on record as saying is largely as a result of its existing executive. Last month, the ICC suspended the multi-million-dollar Project USA, a move which many hoped would trigger a clearing of the decks inside the USACA. Instead, Gladstone Dainty, the USACA's president, has done little until this weekend when he suspended the board's secretary who also happened to be his main critic. There appears to be a view inside the USACA that the ICC needs it more than it needs them. Time will tell.

There is also a motion to extend the president's term of office from the current two years to three, and also to review the way in which the president is chosen. That would mean Ehsan Mani remaining in office until June 2006. Percy Sonn was due to take over this June.

Other subjects under the spotlight are the format of the ICC Champions Trophy and the proposed amalgamation of the ICC and the International Women's Cricket Council.

It promises to be an entertaining couple of days.