The majority of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Board members on Saturday voted in favour of a restructured revenue sharing model despite vehement opposition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) representative Vikram Limaye.
According to sources, only Sri Lanka supported India while Zimbabwe abstained when the matter was put to vote. Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, England and Australia voted in favour of change in revenue distribution and governance structure.
The ICC Board met to discuss the changes pertaining to revenue model in which the Big Three -- India, England and Australia -- gets the major share of revenue. The model is opposed by other Test nations including England and Australia.
LIMAYE: 'CAN'T SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL BASE DOCUMENT'
Limaye, who had the first look at the official 'base document', said: "I had clearly told the Board that I cannot support the official base document which is based on faith and equity. The members and chairman were sympathetic that we have just taken charge and I would need time to study the document," Limaye told PTI from Dubai.
"The chairman Mr (Shashank) Manohar said that they have been waiting for months. The matter was put to vote and I have voted against these changes. It has been recorded in the minutes. It won't be appropriate for me to say who all voted in favour," Limaye said.
The ICC will pass the resolution during its April Board meeting.
Even as the BCCI is still expected to gain more than Rs. 2000 crores, it faced stiff opposition from the majority of the board members.
Even if Limaye, a seasoned investment banker, can spot the anomalies in the official base document before April, it is unlikely that the ICC Board, led by Manohar, would accept those changes.
The ICC also issued a statement confirming the "in principle" agreement to the constitutional and financial changes to the world body.
The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) agreed to a consistent use of DRS in all international cricket, including the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the upcoming World T20s. The plan will be considered by the ICC Cricket Committee in May so that it will be implemented from October 2017.
"Agreement in principle to constitutional and financial change, further progress on future international cricket structures and agreement around the consistent use of DRS were just three of the outcomes of the meetings," the ICC said.
MANOHAR: 'PRINCIPLE OF CHANGE IS NOT FOR DEBATE'
ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said: "Today was an important step forward for the future of the ICC and cricket around the world. The proposals from the working group to reverse the resolutions of 2014 and deliver a revised constitution and financial model were accepted by the ICC Board and now we will work collectively to refine the detail for final sign off in April."
"This also allows the new BCCI leadership appropriate time to appraise the detail and contribute."
"I want the ICC to be reasonable and fair in our approach to all 105 members and the revised constitution and financial model does that. There are still details to work through and concerns to be addressed, but the principle of change is agreed and not for debate," he said.
Regarding 'governance and financial model', the ICC said that "the changes recommended by the ICC Working Group to the constitution and financial model have been passed in principle by the ICC Board with a commitment to consider any further representations from the members and completing the detail by the April ICC Board meeting."
The broader principles that have been agreed include: a revised financial distribution ensuring a more equitable distribution of revenues; a revised constitution to reflect good governance, expanding and clarifying of the roles and objectives of the ICC to provide leadership in international cricket.
AFGHANISTAN, IRELAND TO BE FULL MEMBERS
Further constitutional changes proposed include: the potential to include additional Full Members (Ireland and Afghanistan subject to both meeting Membership criteria); removal of the affiliate level of membership and have only two categories: Full Member and Associate Member; introduction of a Membership Committee to ensure ongoing compliance; introduction of an independent female director; equal weight of votes for all Board Members regardless of membership status; all Members to be entitled to attend the Annual General Meeting.
The ICC said progress was made around future structures of bilateral international cricket with a preferred model identified by the Member Chief Executives for all three formats of the sport.
This includes nine-team Test league run over a two year cycle with the remaining three Test teams to be guaranteed a consistent and confirmed schedule of Test matches against all other teams; a 13-team ODI league run over a three year period leading into qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023; regional T20 competition structure to be developed as a pathway to qualification for the ICC World T20.
A scheduling meet will be held in March before a detailed proposal is put to the ICC Board in April.
OTHER KEY PROPOSALS
The CEC agreed to introduce a system of demerit points for poorly-rated pitches and grounds. If a venue accumulates five demerit points (each point will remain active for five years once received), the venue will receive a 12-month suspension. Ten points will force a 24-month suspension.
Playing conditions for both the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and Women's World Cup were approved. It was confirmed that both semifinals and finals would go to a super over in case of a tie.
Afghanistan Cricket Board's Ahmad Shah Abdali Regional 4-day Tournament was awarded First Class Status, and by extension, the Shpageeza T20 League was awarded List A status.
It was also confirmed that the Women's World T20 2020 will run from February 21 to March 8 in Australia.
Regarding integrity, the CEC authorised ICC management to initiate the process of developing an amendment to the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code to permit the use of cell phone data extraction equipment.
This includes exploring the legal aspects of introducing the technology, exploration of the technology itself and liaising with all interested parties.
An update to the ICC Gender Recognition Policy to ensure that it's in line with current scientific thinking was also approved.
The establishment of an ICC Medical Advisory Committee was approved by the ICC. The Committee will consider and advise on sports medicine and sports science issues relating to international cricket and provide inputs to ICC policies and regulations that have a sports medicine or sports science aspect.
Both the CEC and the ICC Board received an update from Director Giles Clarke following his recent visit to Pakistan as Chair of the ICC Task Force. The progress that has been made by the Pakistan authorities was presented and a recommendation that Members take the opportunity to send their security experts to Pakistan to view the current situation was made.
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