Cricket: PCB blocks change in rotational policy

Proposal was to do away with current trend of appointing ICC president .

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has succeeded in blocking a proposal of doing away with the current rotational policy of appointing the International Cricket Council (ICC) president. The development comes after the ICC gave a green signal to Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two member boards in line to get the top post in 2014, to submit their nominations for the body’s vice-presidency.

Both countries got the go-ahead in the recent ICC Executive Board meeting, which was held in Dubai.

“The ICC Executive Board asked the PCB and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to submit their nomination for the ICC vice-presidency 2012-14,” stated the ICC release issued yesterday.

The Pakistan board had  strongly opposed the plans, which could have seen them lose the chance to hold the top post, in the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong last June. While the new system was unclear, the proposal was aimed at ending the rotational system in appointing ICC presidents.

The post was first created in 1997 when India’s Jagmohan Dalmiya was appointed ICC president followed by Australian representative Malcolm Gray and Ehsan Mani of Pakistan. Percy Sonn from South Africa was the ICC chief before India’s Sharad Pawar, the current president, was appointed.

Pawar will be succeeded by Australia-New Zealand nominee Alan Isaac next year before Pakistan and Bangladesh nominate their candidates.

Ijaz Butt, who attended the meeting as PCB chairman, expressed his delight on the development.

DRS returns to optional state

Meanwhile, after revisiting the status of the Decision Review System (DRS) following objections from the Indian cricket board, the ICC has made its use optional. The system will now be used after mutual consent by the participating boards. However, the ICC announced that the DRS would still be used in all its global events.

“Although the DRS improves correct umpire decisions by around five per cent and corrects any blatant errors, there are some who are not convinced by its reliability,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat. “We will continue to work with interested parties to improve the system while permitting the participating teams to decide if they wish to use it.”

Fate of Test Championship undecided

Meanwhile, the fate of the Test Championship remained undecided with the body admitting that financial challenges posed a hindrance. “It would be unfortunate if the Test Championship is delayed to 2017 but the board needs to balance several objectives,” said Lorgat.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2011.