Tag: ICC

Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Mendis appealed Sunday for the governing International Cricket Council (ICC) to lift its suspension of the country over alleged political interference in the local board.

“This is our profession and we can’t be staying at home doing nothing,” Mendis told reporters in the capital Colombo.

“We want to start practising as there are a few tours to happen next year.”

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The ICC said on Friday that Sri Lanka Cricket was “in serious breach” of its obligations as a member, highlighting “the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that there is no government interference”.

The suspension came a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament asked the board to resign over allegations by sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe that it had syphoned off millions of dollars.

“As players we had no control over that,” Kusal Mendis said. “As the captain I only hope for its (the ban’s) removal so that we can resume our game.”

It was not immediately clear if the indefinite suspension would affect Sri Lanka hosting the Under-19 World Cup in January.

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The crisis involving the cricket board — the richest sporting organisation in the bankrupt island country — came to a head after Sri Lanka’s humiliating World Cup defeat by India earlier this month.

Team manager Mahinda Halangoda said Sri Lanka’s players had been told to try and carry on as normal.

“The team management had a discussion with the players and asked them to focus on cricket,” he said.

READ: India ease past Netherlands to stay unbeaten in World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Sri Lanka’s cricket board Friday, saying it had failed to ensure there was no government interference in its affairs.

The game’s world governing body said it had found that Sri Lanka Cricket was “in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that there is no government interference”.

The suspension came a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament asked the board to resign over allegations of financial corruption.

Watch ICC World Cup 2023 Live on ARY ZAP

The conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC board later, it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the indefinite suspension would affect Sri Lanka hosting the Under 19 World Cup in January.

The crisis involving the cricket board — the richest sporting organisation in the bankrupt island country — came to a head after Sri Lanka’s humiliating World Cup defeat by India last week.

The Sri Lankan parliament unanimously asked Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected board members to resign on Thursday, accusing them of unprecedented corruption involving millions of dollars.

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The board has not yet responded to the parliament’s non-binding resolution.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said Thursday’s move was a “historic resolution that sends a message to the world that Sri Lankan legislators have united to defend cricket and restore the integrity of the game”.

The board is now locked in litigation after it was sacked by the sports minister on Monday, only to be restored the following day by the Court of Appeal pending a hearing in two weeks.

The ICC has rules against political interference and has suspended Sri Lanka before.

READ: New Zealand crush Sri Lanka to diminish Pakistan’s semi-final hopes

DUBAI: England and Australia had points deducted from their tally due to a slow over-rate in the Ashes series, which affected the World Test Championship (WTC25) standings.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday, announced that it will receive “more than two times” revenue from the new International Cricket Council (ICC) financial model.

ICC Board, Committee meetings and the Annual Conference took place in Durban, South Africa, from 10-13 July 2023. PCB’s delegation represented Pakistan at these meetings during which Equal prize money for men’s and women’s teams at ICC Events, ICC Financial and Distribution Model 2024-27, Amendments to the ICC Sanctioning Regulations and Modifications to the over rate sanctions in Test cricket amongst other matters were discussed.

The new ICC financial and distribution model envisages the largest-ever investment to go into global cricket and provides a huge opportunity for the game to grow further.

In determining the distribution share to members, the model considers on and off field performance including cricket rankings, performance at ICC events, and commercial contribution to the ICC Events.

PCB, in accordance with it’s constitutional right, has over the past few weeks and at the ICC Meetings, consistently sought additional information to better understand the rationale behind allocation of weightages to each of the criteria and the calculation of the distributions. The PCB felt in the absence of all relevant information, data and formulae, such a significant decision should not be taken in haste.

The PCB, therefore, proposed that this item may be deferred to the next ICC meeting.

Ultimately, majority of members did not find it feasible to defer this item and voted in favour of passing the Model, while the PCB recorded its dissent as a matter principle.

Consequently, due to the Pakistan cricket team’s performance in men’s ICC events and in bilateral cricket, the PCB’s own huge fan-base, which leads to significant commercial value, the PCB was ranked amongst the top-four nations in this Model. As such, the PCB will receive more than two times the revenue when compared to the last cycle.

This increased share of revenue will mean that a far greater investment can be made in developing cricketing skills and will be beneficial in taking Pakistan Cricket to new heights. This was a welcome news for the Pakistani fans and our great nation.

A number of fruitful meetings were held by Mr Zaka Ashraf, Chair of the PCB’s Management Committee, with fellow cricket board officials on the sidelines of the ICC meetings where collaborations and mutually beneficial programs to further cricket development and growth were discussed.

On Saturday, 15 July, a meeting was held between the PCB and ACC officials in respect of finalising the schedule of the Asia Cup 2023, logistical and organizational arrangements and marketing campaigns.

The finalised schedule is likely to be announced during this week. With the opening match scheduled to kick off in Pakistan, the PCB, as the event host, looks forward to welcoming cricket fans from across the world to experience Pakistan’s renowned hospitality.

READ: Qasim Akram’s six-fer leads Shaheens to thump UAE in Emerging Asia Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to take action against the franchise leagues around the world in a bid to prevent Test cricket, English media outlet The Telegraph reported.

According to the details, the ICC expressed concern about the players prioritizing franchise cricket over international assignments and thus wants to control the leagues.

In a bid to retain the integrity of international cricket, the cricket governing body is looking to impose certain changes to the franchise leagues.

Consequently, the ICC will limit the number of overseas players in a team’s Playing XI and will bind the franchises to pay national boards for each of the players they sign.

Thus ICC will then be able to protect the interests of various national cricket boards thanks to the decrease in the number of foreign players per side.

Recently, the chief executive of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Richard Gould raised concerns over the fast-growing numbers of franchise leagues.

“The difficulty for ECB and our revenues is that we have so many mouths to feed, whereas the franchise tournaments can take the cream off the top, they don’t get charged for the players,” Gould told The Final Word this month.

“They are very efficient models at getting money back into the players’ pockets, but they are not funding the pathway. We need to fund the pathway. We will always do that. Having a really strong, healthy pathway is the secret to long-term success,” he added.

Recently, a similar controversy emerged in the cricketing world after England’s hard-hitting opener Jason Roy terminated his ECB central contract to partake in the lucrative franchise league Major Cricket League (MCL) in the United States of America (USA).

Later, Roy shared his statement to address the long-going speculations about him leaving and expressed his hope to continue playing for England for “many more years”, while also sharing that the ECB has allowed him to play in MLC after “clear and supportive conversations”.

“Following a bit of unwanted speculation over the last 24 hours, I wanted to clarify that I am not and never will ‘walk away from England’,” said Roy in a tweet.

“Representing my country continuous to be my proudest moment as a professional cricketer. I hope to play for England for many more years, that remains my priority.”

READ: Umar Akmal ‘ready’ to represent Pakistan again if given chance

LAHORE: ICC Chairman Greg Barclay and Chief Executive Geoff Allardice will reach Lahore on Tuesday morning on a two-day visit to meet the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) top officials. 

According to the details, International Cricket Council’s high-ups will meet the Chair of the PCB Management Committee Mr Najam Sethi (also an ICC Director), PCB Chief Operating Officer Barrister Salman Naseer and other board officials during the visit.

“While Mr Allardice has regularly visited Pakistan, first as ICC General Manager – Cricket and then as ICC Chief Executive, this will be Mr Barclay’s first visit to Pakistan.” said the PCB media release on Sunday.

“Mr Barclay will be the first ICC Chairman to tour Pakistan since ICC President Ray Mali’s visit in 2008. This will also be the first time since October 2004 that both the top two ICC officials will together visit the Pakistan cricket headquarters,” it added.

READ: Pakistan hold India to 1-1 draw in Junior Asia Cup

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday, made major tweaks to the Playing Conditions, including Free Hit rule, effective from June 1, 2023.

Following the Chief Executives’ Committee’s approval of the suggestions made by the Sourav Ganguly-led Men’s Cricket Committee and the Women’s Cricket Committee, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced modifications to the Playing Conditions.

The changes involved a minor yet prominent change to the Free Hit rule; allowing the batters to attempt for runs after being bowled.

“There was also a minor addition to the Free Hit rule with any runs scored off a Free Hit when the ball hits the stumps counted as runs scored from now,” said ICC in a statement.

“This would mean that batters can now be bowled off a Free Hit and attempt a run for the same,” the statement added.

A controversy sparked after crucial runs were awarded to India despite Virat Kohli being bowled out on a free-hit delivery in the nerve-wracking game against Pakistan in the last year’s T20 World Cup.

Furthermore, the cricket governing body scrapped the soft signal rule, with umpires no longer required to give a soft signal when referring decisions to the TV umpire.

“The on-field umpires will consult with the TV umpire before any decisions are taken,” the ICC confirmed.

“Soft signals have been discussed at previous cricket committee meetings over the last couple of years,” Ganguly said.

“The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing since referrals of catches may seem inconclusive in replays.”

Another major announcement saw the usage of helmets being made compulsory at high-risk positions by the ICC.

• when batters are facing fast bowlers
• when wicketkeepers are standing up to the stumps
• when fielders are close to the batter in front of the wicket.

“We also discussed player safety, which is very important for us.,” Ganguly said. “The committee decided that it was best to make the use of helmets mandatory in certain positions to ensure the safety of players.”

It is worth mentioning here the changes will come into effect on June 1, 2023 with the Lord’s Test between England and Ireland, a four-day one-off Test match.

The following World Test Championship final between India and Australia, starting June 7,  will also follow these new Playing Conditions.

READ: England’s Anderson suffers groin injury ahead of Ashes

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday clarified the position taken by its Chairman Management Committee Najam Sethi regarding the holding of Asia Cup 2023 at a “neutral” venue instead of in the host country Pakistan.

Referring to Sethi’s media talk in Rawalpindi/Islamabad on Thursday, the board said the PCB chief briefed the reporters on the hybrid model he had presented to the ACC officials for the ACC Asia Cup to end the impasse that had been created following the BCCI’s decision not to send its team to Pakistan.

“This proposal – to play India’s matches at a neutral venue and the rest in Pakistan – is under discussions within the ACC.” said Sethi.

“At no stage during Thursday’s media interaction, did I give any reference to the ICC or make any remarks on the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which is scheduled in October. This matter has not been mooted or discussed at any ICC forum so far.” he maintained

Moreover,  the PCB expressed its disappointment over misquoting, misinterpreting and misrepresenting Sethi’s comments by a leading English-language newspaper.

“(It) gave the impression that PCB’s hybrid model was presented and discussed at the ICC, which is factually incorrect. At this stage, the PCB is only in discussions with the ACC over the hosting of the ACC Asia Cup and no discussions regarding the World Cup have taken place with the ICC.” said the PCB statement.

“This is not to say that the hybrid model will not be advocated at the proper ICC forum at the right time.” it concluded

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DUBAI: The long-running conflict between Pakistan and India regarding their participation in this year’s Asia Cup and Men’s ODI World Cup will take centre stage in the International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting this weekend.

The upcoming edition of the Asia Cup and Pakistan’s participation in the Men’s ODI World Cup has been in jeopardy after the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) refused to tour Pakistan for the aforementioned tournament on political grounds.

The BCCI has maintained their stance of not touring Pakistan for the Asia Cup, while the PCB is adamant that if they do not, then Pakistan might not travel to India for the World Cup in October-November.

Meanwhile, the first quarterly meeting of the year got underway on Thursday with the women’s cricket committee and continued on Friday with the men’s committee.

Yet the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) meeting on Saturday will be the focus of attention before the ICC Board and Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee convene on Sunday and Monday as one of the most pressing topics – the prevailing deadlock between Pakistan and India – will be under discussion.

The chairman of the PCB management committee Najam Sethi is likely to raise Pakistan’s concerns about India’s hesitance in touring their country as the nation is poised to host ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 apart from this year’s Asia Cup.

“We have complex issues on hand but for me when I go to the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) and ICC meetings I have kept all options open for us and we have to take a clear position now,” said Sethi at a press conference earlier this week.

“There are two different matters, one is of ICC and the other is of ACC. This is not only about Asia Cup because we also have to host the Champions Trophy. I will go and talk with both ICC and ACC on this matter,” he added.

However, the final decision regarding Pakistan’s participation in ODI World Cup in India will be taken by the government, Sethi confirmed on Monday.

“I have approached our government to take their point of view on this matter. If our patron [PM Shehbaz Sharif] asks us to go and play World Cup in India regardless of whether they come here to play Asia Cup or not, we will have to consider it,” he said.

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LONDON: International Cricket Council (ICC) will discuss Afghanistan’s international status in its upcoming meeting amid the ongoing exile of the country’s women’s cricket team, reported BBC on Thursday. 

According to the news report, Afghanistan women’s side escaped the country after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. They fled to Pakistan before most of them were issued emergency visas to Australia.

As a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Afghanistan ought to have a women’s side in place. The ICC board meeting, taking place on Monday in Dubai, will discuss the matter.

The report suggests that members of the Afghanistan women’s team say they have still had no contact from the sport’s leaders, despite previous appeals for support.

“They wrote to the ICC in December but the global governing body have said it is an issue for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB),” it claimed.

The report added that the women’s players were hoping the ICC would take action to enable them to represent Afghanistan from their base in Australia.

It may be noted here that Afghanistan became a full ICC member in 2017, which comes with an obligation to develop a national women’s team.

However, Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) awarded the central contracts to 25 female cricketers for the first time in 2020. 

ACB also received a $ 37 million grant from the iCC to be invested in the development of the game for both men and women.

The contracted female cricketers were paid for the first six months before the Taliban came to power and they stopped receiving their salaries.

After seizing control, the Taliban government banned women from participating in sports, visiting universities and working for NGOs.

In light of the women’s restrictions, Australia pulled out of three-match ODI series against Afghanistan to be played in the United Arab Emirates in March.

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