COA releases money due to South Africa, West Indies cricket boards

THE COMMITTEE of Administrators (COA) have decided to release long-pending payments to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which the BCCI had kept on hold for more than a year. The CSA were due Rs 14 crore as the last installment (final 10 per cent) of their overall participation fee for the now defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20) that was last held in 2014.

It’s learnt that when the COA inquired about the reasons for holding back the payment to CSA, they were informed by a BCCI employee that the erstwhile top brass of the board had done so since the South African board hadn’t supported them in getting the ‘Big Three’ model approved in the ICC. The reason given during a meeting held at the BCCI headquarters on February 25 doesn’t seem to have gone down too well with COA member Vikram Limaye, and it was decided to go ahead with the payment.

Limaye represented BCCI at the ICC’S meet and later had said that the overriding sentiment in the world body was that India had been “high-handed” in their approach.

“The second was that a lot of trust building needs to happen because I think the relationship between the BCCI, ICC and member countries needs to improve. It’s important for us to adopt a more collaborative approach rather than having a combative approach, because at the end of the day we have only one vote,” he had told The Indian Express.

The BCCI had scrapped the Champions League after the two other boards who were part-organizers of the tournament, CSA and Cricket Australia, had mutually agreed to discontinue the tournament. The Indian board received Rs.1,607.58 crore from the broadcasters Star Sports following the cancellation. As per agreement between the three boards, the BCCI had a 50% share in CLT20 whereas South Africa and Australia held 20 and 30 per cent respectively. The refusal to pay the WICB, however, was the continuation of the BCCI’S stance against them for the ignominy and financial loss caused by their team’s decision to leave the 2014 tour mid-way.

Kumble to make presentation

It is also learnt that COA held a meeting with India coach Anil Kumble and asked the former India captain to make a presentation in three weeks’ time. Kumble will have to chart down a roadmap for Indian cricket, and one of the issues that will be discussed is the salary of the support staff. The committee has asked Kumble to make a comparative study of the salaries that the BCCI pays for its support staff as compared to the other national boards and make a separate presentation about it.

The COA will also approach the Supreme Court for direction with regards to the issue of state associations asking them for money to host IPL matches with the 10th edition of the T20 extravaganza less than a month away. The Supreme Court had ordered last October that no state association should be paid till they comply with the Lodha reforms.

As per norms, the BCCI has to pay each state body Rs 60 lakh per IPL match that is held at their centre.

COA chief Vinod Rai.