Calcutta: The International Cricket Council (ICC) proposes, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) disposes. That, precisely, has been the case for quite sometime now as far as the ICC's wish to universally implement the Decision Review System (DRS) is concerned.
It was not different this time as well, at the ICC's Annual Conference week in Kuala Lumpur. The Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) had recommended the mandatory use of the DRS in International cricket. The BCCI, as always, had opposed the idea, questioning the technology and contesting outgoing ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat's claim that the mandatory use of DRS was an unanimous decision.
But whoever expected it to be approved by the apex body at its Board meeting, which was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, was far from reality.
The ICC Board approved CEC's recommendations regarding the inclusion of Hot Spot cameras in DRS and amendment of the LBW protocol. But then it said that the implementation of DRS will depend on the two competing nations in a bilateral series, thereby declaring the BCCI the winner in this bout. So, things will remain unchanged.
"Whilst approving the recommendations of the CEC relating to the inclusion of Hot Spot cameras as part of the minimum specifications for the Decision Review System (DRS) and the amendment of the LBW protocols regarding the "margin of uncertainty", the ICC Board agreed to continue with the present arrangement where the two competing nations in a bilateral series decide on the use of DRS," the ICC statement said.
The ICC Board also agreed to continue the informal discussions surrounding the ICC Independent Governance Review and the role of the ICC. These informal discussions will continue and a further detailed debate will take place at the ICC's next Board meeting in October in Sri Lanka.
The Board also approved a $500,000 per annum grant from the Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP) to both Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland in the expectation of matched funding.
The ICC Board consists of the chairman or president from each of the 10 Full Members plus three elected Associate Member representatives. Also present at ICC Board meetings is the ICC president, who chairs proceedings, the ICC chief executive and the ICC vice-president, as well as, by invitation of the president, the ICC principal advisor.
The other decisions made at the two-day meeting were:
m Promotion of Cricket ' The Board agreed with the CEC that there should be continued and consistent emphasis placed on the promotion of the three formats of international cricket, particularly 50-over cricket. When considering the appeal of the 50-over format, the Board approved the recommended regulation changes including that Powerplays be restricted to the first block of 10 overs and a batting Powerplay of five overs to be completed before the start of the 41st over. It was also agreed that a maximum of four fielders will be allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the non-Powerplay overs and the number of permitted short-pitched balls should increase from one per over to two. There was also no objection to the introduction of Day/Night Test cricket, depending on the agreement of both participating teams.
m Integrity issues ' Following the recent decision of the ECB's disciplinary panel in the anti-corruption proceedings brought against Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield, the ICC Board unanimously acknowledged and agreed that the ICC and every Full, Associate and Affiliate Member should recognise and respect the sanctions imposed by the ECB's disciplinary panel on those players, including by enforcing and giving effect to them within their own jurisdictions to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Also, both Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), who have yet to implement a domestic anti-corruption code, said that they would have such a code in place by August 15, 2012.
The Board received the annual report from Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chairman. Flanagan repeated the desire for governments to put in place criminal legislation to protect against deliberately under-performing for personal gain and noted that progress had been made in this area in Australia.
