Players’ chief attacks cricket’s big three

Former Australia Prime Minister Paul Keating used to warn people to back self-interest in a race because you knew it was always trying.

Self-interest is set to raise its ugly head at boardroom level in world cricket, according to the game’s peak players’ body which is opposing a proposal to place control of the sport largely in the hands of India, Australia and England.

“There are a myriad of issues with this proposal,” Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) chairman Paul Marsh said on Wednesday.

“As board directors of the ICC, the chairmen of the BCCI, Cricket Australia and ECB owe fiduciary duties to the ICC that include putting the interests of the ICC ahead of those of their individual boards, a duty to remain loyal to the ICC and avoid conflicts of interests and to act in good faith to promote the success of the ICC.

“We seriously question whether all of these duties have been met.”

Marsh’s comments follow similar rumblings from Cricket South Africa (CSA).

CSA wants the ICC to take back the draft of new regulations drawn up by a working group of the ICC Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee for more discussion, labelling it as flawed because it hasn’t followed proper procedure.

Marsh says distributing funds from ICC events based on commercial contributions would mean the Test-playing nations that need cash injections the most would receive the least.

He says the proposals relating to scheduling are disturbing.

“The reassurance to the boards outside the ‘Big Three’ that they are guaranteed to earn more in the next rights cycle than they have in the current one ignores the fact they are almost certain to lose more money from a re-shaped Future Tours Programme (FTP) than they will gain from ICC distributions, when the ‘Big Three’ inevitably pick and choose who, when and where they will play,” Marsh said.

“Of significance is the section that offers a guarantee from Cricket Australia and the ECB to play three Tests and five ODIs per cycle to each of the top eight members, yet there is no mention of any such guarantee from the BCCI.”

Marsh says each Test-playing nation relies heavily on revenue from Indian tours.

“What chance do the majority of members have of survival if the BCCI decides not to tour their countries on at least a semi-regular basis?,” Marsh said.

“The result of this is that the gap between the ‘Big Three’ and the rest will get bigger and bigger, which will undermine the competitiveness of future ICC events and therefore the value of rights in future cycles.

“This will affect everyone and it cannot possibly be in the interests of international cricket nor of the health and sustainability of the world game of which the ICC is supposed to be the custodian.”

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