Wilson resignation understandable and inevitable - ICC

Des Wilson's resignation from the England and Wales Cricket Board was understandable and inevitable the International Cricket Council said today.

ICC President, Ehsan Mani, said that Mr Wilson's position had become patently intolerable since he deliberately leaked his paper on international cricket tours which was intended only as a discussion paper for the ECB Directors.

Mr Mani said given Mr Wilson's inability to persuade any of his peers or anyone within any other Board to support his views his resignation was inevitable.

"It is not for the ICC to say if a director of the ECB should resign or not but given the position Mr Wilson has placed himself in, his action today is entirely understandable," said Mr Mani.

"It has never been clear to the international cricket community just what Mr Wilson as an ECB director was attempting to achieve by conducting clandestine briefings of English journalists on what was clearly a matter that had neither the support of his own Board or of any other Test playing country.

"As well as we can guess this was an attempt to force the issue within England.

"Mr Wilson's attempts to pressure people were naïve and ill-considered. It should have come as no surprise to him that the net effect of his leaking was to damage the relations between the ECB and other Boards.

Mr Mani also said that Mr Wilson's attack on the ICC was ill informed and out of touch.

"I find it surprising that Mr Wilson is so confident in his own abilities that he believes he has the right to become the self-appointed instant expert on complex issues relating to international cricket.

"Mr Wilson is a man who has never attended a meeting of the International Cricket Council; who has had limited - if any - exposure to the leaders of cricket Boards from other countries; and who has sadly lacked the capacity to listen to or appreciate the views of the nine other countries which make up the ICC's Full Members.

"The paper he leaked at the outset of this issue highlighted the fact that while he sought to force his own view of the world on others, he lacked the ability or willingness to listen and understand the views of people who did not share his perceptions. His comments today will only reinforce this perception amongst other Boards.

"Despite Mr Wilson's ill-informed comments, the fact remains that all countries, including England, support the position that safety and security are the factors to be taken into account when assessing whether a tour is to proceed.

"It is unfortunate that one of the directors of the ECB leaves the role with such bitterness and with such a jaundiced view of the world.

"However, given the way Mr Wilson has handled this issue from the outset, it should be of no surprise that he has sought to blame others for his own failures, rather than take a much more difficult path and reflect on his own actions and the reactions that they have caused."

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