ICC urged to investigate vote

Governing body responds to allegations of ballot ‘fixing’.

SYDNEY: Australia’s Tim May, ousted from an International Cricket Council panel amid allegations of pressure from India, says it is time someone ‘stood up to the cancer of stand-over tactics’ that define the governing body.

May, chief executive of The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), was recently replaced as a players’ representative on the ICC cricket committee by India’s Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.

Fica this week called on the ICC to investigate charges of ballot ‘fixing’ after the former Indian leg-spinner was elected to the committee amid accusations that voters had been put under pressure.

Fica, which has no Indian affiliate as there is no Indian players’ union, has claimed what was, in effect, a run-off between May and Sivamarakrishnan was not conducted fairly, with some national boards exerting undue pressure on their captains to back the Indian. May said in a report he would not comment on the specifics of his non-election because he has a vested interest, but he pointed to the ICC’s failure to enforce its own standards of governance.

“The only thing that I can say and reinforce is that this issue isn’t about whether Siva or I got elected or not but it’s about was the process compromised?” the former Australian off-spinner told Fairfax newspapers.

“Did Boards interfere and make threats to captains to change their votes?. It’s time someone stood up to this cancer of stand-over tactics that defines the ICC these days.”

ICC issues statement

Meanwhile, the ICC said that the re-vote occurred ‘according to the determined procedure’ and that the governing body saw no evidence that supported allegations of captains being put under pressure by their Member Boards.

In a statement, the ICC added, “The ICC can confirm that it has received a written request from Fica to refer the matter to the Ethics Officer. This request is being considered but, the ICC wishes to state for the record that the re-vote took place according to the determined procedure and that the ICC has seen no evidence that supports these allegations.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.