International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Annual Conference gets underway in Colombo today and the opening day will see meetings of the Associate Members, Regional Representatives and Non-Voting Associate Members. The Associate Member Directors election are also scheduled and the battle for three positions will be keenly watched as it will have a say on the look of the ICC board.
As many as 11 candidates have thrown their hat in the ring and the three incumbents Imran Khwaja, Neil Speight and Pankaj Khimji are likely to face stiff competition from the likes of Sankar Renganathan and Mubashshir Usmani. While Renganathan enjoys good connections with administrators of almost every nation, Usmani is already on the all-important Chief Executive Committee (CEC) of the global body and played a key role in launching the ILT20 in UAE.
The new directors will be elected for a term of two years through a ballot system where all the Associate Members and Regional Representatives will cast their vote.
The second day will witness meetings of the Associate Member Committee in the morning and a four-hour meeting of the CEC. Chaired by CEO Geoff Allardice, it will be attended by top officials of all Full Members and the Associate Member Representatives.
Indian Premier League Governing Council Chairman Arun Singh Dhumal will be representing India in the meet scheduled from 1 pm to 5 pm.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who reached Colombo yesterday, will be chairing the Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee meeting on the third day, and the two-hour slot is likely to witness a lot of questioning on the overshooting of budgets during the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Khimji, who is part of the committee, has already written a letter to all members calling for an extensive and thorough audit of the expenses, and is expected to push for it in Colombo.
If the audit happens, roles of many ICC employees, who were very active right from the planning stage of the World Cup, especially the USA leg, will be scrutinised. Some members are expected to raise the concerns around formation of T20 World Cup USA Inc too and the staff hired to run affairs in the region.
“A lot of drama is in store because the members are going to question the budgeting of the event and how affairs were carried out especially in the USA. Formation of a separate firm featuring people handpicked by ICC employees hasn’t gone down too well with the members and USA Cricket, after they were not allowed to do any work because of their internal administrative mess, made it a point to apprise all board members about ICC’s functioning in the USA during the matches in New York,” says a well-placed source.
Champions Trophy 2025 discussions?
It’s not an official agenda but some informal discussions on the sidelines of the four-day affair are likely between representatives of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The ninth Agenda of the Annual General Meeting on the final day reads “Any other business” and if any member wishes to discuss/seek clarity on the multi-nation event, they can explore this route.
Will a decision be reached in Colombo? Very unlikely.
More than the Champions Trophy, the four days will involve discussions around the recently concluded T20 World Cup and how mismanagement of the multi-nation event led to overshooting of budgets.
As CricketNext reported, two top ICC officials have already submitted their resignations and some suspensions pending completion of audit, if it gets members’ nod during the Annual Conference, are likely in the coming weeks.
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