India to push for lion's share of revenue at ICC Board meet

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have its task cut as the richest cricket Board in the world pushes for lion's share of revenue from International Cricket Council's (ICC) earnings along with England and Australia at the two-day executive board meeting of the governing body here on Tuesday. It will be a 'three versus seven' fight at the meeting with BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) having prepared a 'Position Paper' which will allow these three Boards to control the parent body's functioning. In fact BCCI has already made it clear that their participation in the future ICC events (50 and 20 over World Cups) would be decided subject to approval of the 'Position Paper'.

As per ICC rules, seven of the 10 Board members (Test-playing nations) need to approve the controversial proposal but the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have already publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the contents of the 'Position Paper'.

It has been learnt that BCCI also wants an ICC event every two years in India and also wants to overrule the ICC's FTP (Future Tours & Programme) by engaging into direct discussions with respective cricket boards for bilateral series. (Read: PCB to oppose any change)

Also there would be discussions on creating a post of ICC chairman, which would rotate between the BCCI, CA and ECB with N Srinivasan being the hot favourite to become the first chairman. It would also effectively turn the ICC president into a virtual 'rubber-stamp'. According to BCCI sources, Srinivasan has already promised the members of his affiliated units, a bigger grant if BCCI happens to get the lion's share.

There have been series of meetings till Monday -- Chief Executives' Committee meeting that included meeting of Working Groups on DRS and Anti-Corruption, followed by the meeting of both the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee and Governance Review Committee -- at the ICC Headquarters in Dubai Sports City. But come Tuesday, the focus will solely be on the proposal of the 'Big Three' -- India (BCCI), Australia (Cricket Australia) and England (ECB) -- when they officially table their bid to take over world cricket. This plan of overhaul would effectively shrink the power of the world body significantly. (Also read: BCCI backs structural overhaul plans of ICC)

Miffed with the changes being proposed in the ICC's administrative structure, ex-ICC top officials Malcolm Gray and Malcolm Speed, former West Indies captain Clive Llyod, along with former Pakistan Cricket Board presidents Shahryar Khan and Lt Gen (retd) Tauqir Zia, and former ICC chief Ehsan Mani have already expressed their displeasure and opposed it. Gray, a former ICC chief, and Speed, a former ICC CEO, have broken away from their national board's position by taking the stand against the proposal. Lloyd was a one-time chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee as well as ICC match referee. According to reports, the former top officials have signed a formal letter and sent to the ICC and member nations requesting that the 'Big Three' proposal be immediately withdrawn.

All signatories agreed that the ICC needed to re-examine the conclusions of the 2012 Woolf Report into ICC governance, which recommended, among other things, an improvement in governance standards, the appointment of independent board directors and greater transparency. The letter was accompanied by Mani's analysis of the proposal, which raised many concerns about the conflicted interests of its authors -- the BCCI, CA and the ECB -- and the revenue modelling they are suggesting. (Related: FICA chief Paul Marsh slams ICC reforms)

Most of the member Boards though haven't yet made their stance clear on the working paper and proposals, but there have been some indications that they might resist the takeover bid of world cricket by the three nations.

The ICC Board consists of the chairman or president from each of the 10 Full Members, plus three elected Associate Member representatives. The ICC president, who chairs proceedings, the ICC chief executive and the ICC vice-president will also be present at the crucial meeting. (PCB should accept working proposal of 'Big Three', says Rameez Raja)