Big Three plan to counter ICC
ECB acknowledge holding talks with BCCI after Ganguly spills beans on proposed tournament
THE IDEA, IT IS UNDERSTOOD, IS BEING MADE PUBLIC TO CREATE A FLUTTER IN ICC , WHICH HAS FORMER BCCI PRESIDENT SHASHANK MANOHAR AS THE CHAIRMAN FOR SUCH A TOURNAMENT TO FRUCTIFY, GREEN SIGNAL FROM ICC WOULD ALSO BE REQUIRED
MUMBAI: In a move seen as an attempt by the ‘Big Three’ of world cricket—the cricket boards of India, England and Australia—to counter the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) plans to add an additional 50-overs world event to the next ICC Future Tours Programme, plans are afoot to organise an annual quadrangular limitedovers series involving India, England, Australia and another team, from 2021 onwards
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly had revealed plans for such a tournament last week The England and Wales Cricket board (ECB) confirmed the move on Monday “We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport A fournation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop,” ECB said in a statement
ICC had proposed to add another world event, apart from the T20 and 50-over World Cups, in its meetings held in October This would mean its next eightyear cycle (2023 -2031) will have one ICC global event every year—two 50-over World Cups, four T20 World Cups and two 50-over tournaments
BCCI and ECB have opposed ICC’S plans as they feel it would eat into their bilateral calendar, which holds significant commercial value
“Australia, England, India and another top team will feature in the Super Series, which begins in 2021, and the first edition of the tournament will be played in India,” Ganguly had said in Kolkata
Initially, ICC’S move to introduce another tournament had received widespread approval The ICC member boards had been promised they would receive extra revenue from
ICC’S rights cycle However, those plans were made when BCCI was under the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators The elected representatives took charge towards the end of October and opposed the plan
Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Arun Dhumal held talks in London earlier this month with ECB officials, led by chairman Colin Graves
Plans to stage a four-nation ‘Super Series’ was explored in that meeting The plan being made public could cause a flutter in ICC, whose chairman is former BCCI president Shashank Manohar
The current BCCI officials are unhappy with the Manoharled ICC administration as it had annulled the controversial ‘Big Three’ revenue plan that was put in place under former BCCI president N Srinivasan in 2014, giving a large slice of the world body’s revenues to the influential Indian, England and Australian boards
To stage any tournament with more than three teams will need ICC clearance “It will depend on what kind of time is available in our calendar, their (other boards’) calendar We will try and explore the possibility of the series If it works in the interest of BCCI, we will go ahead,” Dhumal told HT Dhumal said BCCI was looking to cement ties with other influential cricket boards again and “regain lost ground in ICC” He added: “ECB and BCCI had a very good chat The idea was to interact because of the impasse that was there for three years, with no communication as such
“BCCI being one of the most important cricketing boards in ICC, it was important to interact with our contemporaries and all the important boards They also felt, with the situation prevailing in ICC, BCCI has not been given its due, and so is the case with ECB These are the two most important boards So, definitely there is some kind of resentment with the way things are happening in ICC,” Dhumal added
BCCI officials are also slated to have talks with senior Cricket Australia officials in January, on sidelines of the team’s oneday series in India