ICC chief executive Dave Richardson has admitted that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) engaged in gamesmanship and were 'in the driving seat' during the controversial restructuring of the governing body.
The national boards of India, England, and Australia had proposed a radical overhaul of the ICC – including increased shares of global revenue for all three and powerful positions on a new executive committee – which were voted through in modified form at the annual conference.
Richardson did not confirm – when asked by the BBC on Friday – nor did he deny that the BCCI had played a forceful hand.
“India were saying, ‘We need to have more of a say, we need more money’. So it was a negotiation; it turned into a negotiation,” he said.
“There was gamesmanship, certainly some people have more influence than others and more authority.”
Richardson also played down fears that the three boards had arranged to dominate decision-making in the ICC, suggesting their new status was merely a formalising of a pre-existing pattern.
“The reality is, although there’s been a lot of talk about change, it is the people who were having the most influence on the ICC board in the past that will still have the most influence going forward,” he said.
Agencies
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