BOMBAY, 18 January — Bitten by the oft-repeated remark that it is nothing but a toothless body, the International Cricket Council has suddenly grown teeth as big as those terrifyingly brandished by dracula.
The world body had been awakened from deep slumber in 2000 by the storm raised by the betting and match-fixing controversy. It was again shaken to its very roots, at the end of the year just gone, by India’s, or rather Jagmohan Dalmiya’s dogged confrontation on the notorious ruling of ICC match-referee Mike Denness against six of our players in South Africa.
On both these occasions, and even otherwise, critics around the world were quick to dub the ICC a body too weak to act on its responsibilities. The sting has activated the apex body for the game as never before.
The game, as it is played, has itself been propped up by some widely welcomed decisions. The first is the use of artificial lights at any time of the day during the course of a Test match, to make up for loss of play due to the elements.
The ICC has not stopped short of assuring that wherever possible, the lights provided must be as good as those in use for day-night one-dayers. The recent India-England Test at Bangalore would have been a total washout, due to bad light and rain, but for this new proviso in the playing conditions.
An even more rational move is for the ICC to give its approval to holding of Test series and one-day matches at third-country venues, in case of unforeseen circumstances. The forthcoming Pakistan-West Indies series will now be held at Sharjah and will thus be saved from falling through.
Although the parties to the cause of tension, which threatens to escalate into a major conflict at any time, are both India and Pakistan, it is the latter who have had their entire program of matches cancelled. First New Zealand and then Sri Lanka refused to visit Pakistan and the latest withdrawal was by the West Indies.
Pakistan were thus left with only Bangladesh to play against. This exchange, as everyone knows, is overdone. So, it must come as a great relief to the Pakistani players that they will not be idling their time. In view of the peculiar format of the World Test Championship, it would have been terribly unfair to Pakistan to have their series canceled one after the other. Having said all this in favor of the ICC and their new-found enthusiasm for being pro-active, one cannot help but feel whether the world body is not perhaps over-staying its authority.
This refers to the decision of the International Cricket Council to appoint an anti-corruption coordinator and five security managers, following Lord Condon’s report into corruption in cricket.
It is proposed to appoint five security managers to work, under the over-all control of the anti-corruption coordinator, in following countries: a. England and West Indies; b. Bangladesh and Pakistan; c. India and Sri Lanka; d. South Africa and Zimbabwe; e. Australia and New Zealand.
One of the reasons cited by the ICC on its helplessness to tackle the many shady deals involving players and bookmakers was that it had no jurisdiction on such matters.
It was mainly due to the Anti-Corruption Bureau in India, the Qayyum Commission in Pakistan and the King’s Commission in South Africa that the guilty could be brought to book, with five of them being banished from the game for life.
Even now, it is each country that issues the code of conduct to its players, making him punishable for a violation of any of its provision. The ICC does not have a direct jurisdiction, save and except those referred to it by the ICC match-referee, whose brief, anyway, does not cover cricket corruption like betting and match-fixing.
So, what good are these security managers? Their duties have been defined as being watchdogs and keeping a tag on each and every player, who he meets and who he talks to. Will any cricket-playing country’s team tolerate the presence of such a man in their midst?
And what if the so-called security manager assigned to a country acts with such blatant bias as displayed by Mike Denness?
And wait a minute, if India play against the West Indies, or elsewhere, Pakistan play England will there be two security managers on duty at each place.
