World Cup, Super Series, Player Associations, Illegal Deliveries and Umpire Performance addressed at ICC Meeting

The meeting of the ICC's Cricket Committee - Management concluded today with a number of decisions and recommendations to the ICC's Executive Board made by the Chief Executives and Secretaries of the leading cricketing nations.

The two-day meeting in India considered a range of issues in the game including:

At a media briefing this afternoon ICC President, Ehsan Mani, addressed the ICC's position on the inability of India to play Pakistan at the elite level before he and ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed discussed the outcomes of the meeting.

"Like the rest of the cricketing world, the ICC would like to see the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan at the elite level but this is essentially a bi-lateral issue between the two countries.

"At the invitation of the Pakistan Cricket Board, the ICC has previously met with Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and he has stated to us his desire to re-establish these ties.

"The BCCI have indicated to the ICC that it believes that it is best placed to deal with its own government on this issue at this time. The ICC respects this decision by the BCCI and recognises that it is an issue which the Indian Board is seeking to resolve as quickly as possible for the benefit of the game."

Mr Speed then went on to address the main issues that were discussed at the meeting.

The Committee agreed to recommend a format to the Executive Board that would see a shorter tournament with fewer games than this year's event.

Should this proposed format be adopted by the Executive Board it would see 16 teams divided into four groups of four at the group stage of the tournament followed by a "Super Eights" stage before moving on to semi-final and Final stage.

Mr Speed said that the ICC would now consult with a number of stakeholders on this proposal before it is presented to the ICC's Executive Board for its decision in October.

"This proposal is the current thinking of the Chief Executives of the countries," said Mr Speed.

"ICC Management will now consult with a number of stakeholders including the players and player representatives; our commercial partner, Global Cricket Corporation; and the West Indies Organising Committee on this issue before presenting a final proposal to the Executive Board at its next meeting in October."

The Committee discussed the proposal to stage an ICC Super Series featuring the number one ranked team in the ICC Test Championship table against a Rest of the World team in a Test match and the number one ranked team in the ICC ODI Championship table against a Rest of the World team in a three ODI match series.

This proposal has previously been agreed in principle and the meeting's discussions focused on the financial and contractual aspects of this event.

The meeting agreed to continue with the planning for this event.

Should it proceed, the Super Series would take place in 2005 at the earliest with South Africa the preferred host of this tournament.

Mr Speed stressed that this event still remained in the planning stages.

"While the idea for an ICC Super Series has been agreed, there remains much work to be done to see if this idea can become a reality. At this stage we are continuing to look at the considerable financial, planning and logistical issues that go along with such an event to see if it is practical to stage this tournament," said Mr Speed.

The Committee has agreed to recommend to the Executive Board a proposal by ICC Management that the ICC recognises and deals with player associations on common player issues where the player associations are recognised by the individual Boards.

The common player issues are:

Where no player association exists or where it is not recognised by the relevant Board, the ICC would continue to deal with respective Board directly on these issues.

Mr Speed again stressed that this was a proposal from CC-M that would require the approval of the Executive Board before it could be implemented.

"What the ICC is seeking to find is a way that allows us to deal with the variety of different Board and player relationships that exist in international cricket and this proposal will be put before the Executive Board at its next meeting in October for its approval," said Mr Speed.

At the request of the Cricket Committee - Playing, the meeting considered alternatives to the current two-stage process used by the ICC to deal with players reported by umpires for suspected illegal delivery actions.

Under the current process the player has six weeks following the initial report to undergo any necessary remedial work under the direction of his home Board and is permitted to continue playing during this period. If a second report is lodged within 12 months of this period the player must then appear before the ICC's expert panel for decision and may be suspended from the game.

Mr Speed said that CC-M examined whether this process should be reduced to a single stage but recognised that given the complexities of this issue that a two step process should remain in place. This matter has now been refereed to the Cricket Committee - Playing (composed of former international players and officials) for its next meeting.

"This is a very complicated and difficult area. After discussing the issue in great detail, the view of the Committee is that the current process strikes the best balance in dealing with complexities of this issue," said Mr Speed.

The Committee received a report on the performance of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and discussed the on-going development of umpires in the game.

ICC Management highlighted that the performance management system now in use focuses on developing consistency across the Emirates Elite Panel. CC-M subsequently agreed with a proposal to appoint a High Performance Manager for umpires and two additional Umpires Assessors to assist in the training and development of elite umpires.

It was agreed that where countries identified exceptional talent in their umpiring ranks they could seek permission from the ICC to expand its group of supplementary umpires from two to three to assist with the development of new umpires that may progress to the Emirates Elite Panel.

Mr Speed also reaffirmed the ICC's position on the use of technology in the game.

"Cricket is a game played by humans and the ICC believes that it should be umpired by humans," said Mr Speed.

"We do not want our umpires to become coat racks and, at this time, we believe that the use of technology in international cricket has gone about as far as it can go at this stage.

"We will continue to examine the options that technology provides but it will not be introduced into the game where it diminishes the role of the umpire, cannot provide definitive answers or when it cannot be used across the cricket world."

ICC media contacts:

In India:

Brendan McClements
General Manager - Corporate Affairs
Mob: +44 (0) 7786 194 974

In England:

Jon Long
Project Officer - Corporate Affairs
Tel: +44 (0) 207 266 7912
Mob: +44 (0) 7946 545 090
Email: jon.long@icc-cricket.com