JOIN USThe mushrooming of lucrative Twenty20 leagues all over the world has been giving sleepless nights to the ICC Anti Corruption and Security Unit, which is concerned about the “lack of transparency” in the ownership patterns of the franchises across the globe.
ICC ACSU chief Yogendra Pal Singh expressed these apprehensions during a board meeting in January this year. Not only this, Singh was also concerned about Cricket Australia’s bid to have internet access in the dressing room — a move that was supported by BCCI president N Srinivasan.
These discussions took place during ICC Board Meeting held in Dubai on January 29 this year.
Singh had expressed his concern about the identity of the owners of certain domestic franchises and the manner in which they procured those teams as well as their sustenance capability. Singh’s concern is documented in the section 7.1.2 of the minutes of that particular meeting.
The section titled as ‘Domestic T20 Leagues-Working Group Update’ has a portion which states, “Mr Clarke (Giles) reported that Mr Singh (Y P) had explained in a meeting the previous day that his biggest concern was in respect of the identity of the owners of certain domestic franchises, and lack of a transparent process around how those franchises had been awarded and how they could financially be sustained.”
The ICC also expressed “anger and disappointment” at FICA Executive Chairman Paul Marsh’s allegations that no action had been taken for “six weeks” by the ICC on the issue of vote of player representatives.
The ICC stated that senior executives and leading board members of cricket’s governing body had met with Ian Smith on June 25 in London where it was mutually agreed that “major progress” had been made to resolve and end perceived deficiencies in the ICC Cricket Committee election system.
ICC termed Marsh’s statement “a breach of trust” as he had issued a press release without reverting to the world body.