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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Malcolm Gray said that Hemaka Amarasuriya, the head of the Board of Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) interim committee was congratulated at the two-day ICC board meeting which was concluded in Colombo yesterday.

"It's not very easy as head of the national board to have the international body coming over on top of you and placing restrictions that are new and different from what you have been used to," said Gray at a press conference held at Colombo Hilton yesterday.

"The ICC and the Board are extremely pleased with the Champions trophy in Sri Lanka. It has been a marvellous event. Unfortunately, the last two evenings, rain has put a damper on it, which was a pity. But from a cricket and commercial point of view it has been excellent," he said.

Gray admitted that there were a "few hiccups" at the start of the tournament which he said were "ironed out easily and amicably" and said: "We congratulate the Sri Lankans for having us here".

Gray also said that Paul Condon, head of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) was very happy the way the tournament was conducted.

"There has been great co-operation from Sri Lanka and the preparations that were put into place for the tournament worked and were effective. Some months before, we were a little bit concerned because this was the first tournament where all the countries were coming together since the problems (match-fixing) started two years ago. At the end of the tournament we were quite happy," said Gray.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that Sri Lanka was one of the few countries that had benefitted immensely by the introduction of the ICC Test championships.

"Sometime ago Sri Lanka hardly played any Tests during a calendar year. Now they have a minimum of 10 per year," said Speed.

Gray said that the ICC had also put in a mechanism in place how points are to be awarded if any World Cup matches are disrupted in Kenya, Zimbabwe or in South Africa.

"If the match cannot be played for safety reasons and both teams agree to that, the points will be shared. If both teams disagree, the matter will be heard by one of our ICC commissioners who will make a decision as to whether the points should be shared or be awarded to the team that is prepared to play," said Gray.

"We don't want to get into a situation like in 1996 in Sri Lanka where we were all arguing whether there should be points or no points awarded," he said. On that occasion Australia and West Indies refused to play their World Cup matches in Colombo citing security reasons.

He said a decison was taken that there won't be reserve days for the first round matches of the 2003 World Cup.

World Cup matches in Zimbabwe

With regard to concerns over playing World Cup matches in Zimbabwe, the ICC on the recommendation of its cricket committee management, has decided that in late November an inspection team will visit Zimbabwe to carry out a final safety and security inspection prior to the World Cup. The inspection team will consist of a representative from the ICC (the CEO or his nominee), a CEO or his nominee from the six countries that are playing in Zimbabwe, a representative of the players, a representative of the commercial partners of the cricket corporation and a representative of the insurance industry.

"This committee will prepare a report which will be considered, and a decision will be taken whether matches will be played there," said Gray.

"We are very hopeful that the matches will go ahead as scheduled. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union is very strong that the matches should stay in place," he said.

Zimbabwe are due to host six of the 54 World Cup matches scheduled to be played in February-March next year. The countries scheduled to play in Zimbabwe are England, India, Australia, Pakistan, Holland and Namibia.

Limiting Tests and ODIs

The ICC also decided to limit the number of Tests and one-day internationals played by a country during a calendar year to 15 Tests and 30 one-day internationals. This has been done in consultation with the ten Test-playing captains and the ICC cricket management.

Speed said that there should be a minimum of one or two breaks six weeks per calendar year.

"Where there are overseas tours there should be a break of 10 days between tours. Back to back one-day internationals should be discouraged wherever possible and there should be a two days break between matches," said Speed.

"We've reached a stage where we needed to put the breaks on the number of matches that are being played in a calendar year," he said.

ICC getting closer to players

Speed also said that the board had put in place a committee to review any issues arising in respect of the player terms with regard to sponsorship which saw India deciding to participate in the Champions trophy only in the eleventh hour.

"With our partners Global Cricket Corporation, the players will seek to resolve any outstanding issues well ahead of the World Cup. We want the issues resolved by mid-November," said Speed.

He said a committee consisting of the ICC chairman, vice president Ishan Mani, himself, Bob Merryman, chairman of Australian Cricket Board and Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of Indian Cricket Board had been formed and on behalf of the board have been empowered to take a number of decisions.

"Hopefully, we don't want to see the sort of issues that we saw in this event (Champions trophy) as we move closer to the World Cup," he said.

He said the general focus of the two-day meeting was for the ICC to get closer to the players. As a first step he said a player's representative had been included on the inspection tour to Zimbabwe and also one of the major committees - the cricket playing committee had been restructured to include five elected members picked by the captains of the ten Test playing nations. He said the criteria for the five members is that they should have played international cricket at the highest level.

"From the various decisions that have been made, there is certainly an intention and willingness and desire on the part of the ICC to have player involvement throughout all their activities," said Speed.

"We think this will give us a better player representation than we had previously. This committee deals with most of the playing issues," he said.

Pakistan stand

Speed said that Pakistan had made a firm decision that the forthcoming Test series against Australia will be the last they will play at a neutral venue. The first Test which starts on Thursday will take place at the Saravanamuttu Stadium and the next two Tests will be played at Sharjah.

Pakistan had said the revenue lost playing at a neutral venue was insignificant and that they wanted to play international matches at home. India, one of the countries who have ceased playing countries are due to tour Pakistan three times in the next six years. 

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