3 cricket boards call for deferral on position paper

In a late development on Monday night, three cricket boards wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC) asking that the discussions on the proposal referring to the restructuring of the ICC’s administration and financial distribution model be deferred. After Cricket South Africa called the proposed revamp “fundamentally flawed”, this is the first official sign of disagreement about the nature of the document and the speed with which it is being pushed through by the three boards - the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB – which are behind it. The three opposing boards are seeking more time to look through and internally discuss the radical changes being recommended in the “position paper”. While there has been disgruntlement among some of the other seven Full Member nations about the extent of the powers and financial advantages to be gained by the Big Three via the proposal, there had been no sign of any concerted or unified opposition to the document before the three letters were sent to the ICC the night before its two-day executive board meeting, which begins on Tuesday. There is a possibility of a fourth board joining in their request to have the discussion delayed. The BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB were expected to present, to the other Full Members, a set of re-drafted “resolutions” around their radical “position paper” at the ICC meeting in Dubai on Tuesday. The request by three boards to ask for a deferral has altered the situation with regards to the number of countries that are backing the Big Three: while most changes in the executive board require a minimum of seven boards to be in agreement, significant constitutional changes – which the proposals are recommending in executive and financial matters – require eight votes, according to UNB.