India rejects ICC’s proposed reforms

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

New Delhi (AFP): The International Cricket Council’s plans to restructure itself received a setback on Tuesday when the powerful Indian board shot down proposals from a review panel.

The ICC had ordered an independent review, headed by Harry Woolf, former lord chief justice of England and Wales, to find the best way forward for the sport’s world governing body.

The review called for sweeping changes in the ICC’s administration, including the induction of independent members to the executive board to offset the dominance of the Test-playing countries.

The executive board currently comprises the heads of all 10 Test nations, three representatives from the non-Test countries, the ICC’s president, vice-president and chief executive.

Narayanaswamy Srinivasan, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said his board’s working committee had rejected the Woolf report at its meeting in Chennai on Monday.

“The working committee was of the opinion that these recommendations were not acceptable and rejected it,” Srinivasan told reporters.

“It was in particular not agreeable to the changes in the structure of the management of ICC that had been proposed.”

India’s stand is the first time a national board has spoken publicly about the Woolf report which is set to be discussed at the next meeting of the ICC’s executive board in April.

India, the financial nerve-centre of cricket which reportedly contributes almost 70 percent of the revenues worldwide, has often been accused of bulldozing its way in the ICC.

The BCCI’s refusal to accept the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), a technological aid for umpires, has already earned the wrath of many other countries.