India shot down Test championship - WICB chief

Julian Hunte, the West Indies board president, has said that the Indian cricket board shot down a proposal mooted by the ICC to organise Test cricket around the four-year Test championship cycle.

Hunte's revelation - the first official disclosure by an ICC board member following reports that the Test championship plan had faded - came in his report at the annual general meeting of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) this month.

"Initially, the ICC attempted to change the structure of the FTP beginning from 2012 in which international cricket would have more content and would play more as a Super League with a 4-year structure resulting in a World Cricket Championship [but this] failed when the BCCI rejected that proposal," Hunte said. "This meant a return to the old practice of full members agreeing to a schedule of tours, which in effect places the power in the hands of the four biggest commercially valued members."

Hunte does not mention who those four are, but it is common knowledge that the boards of India, England, Australia and South Africa enjoy a dominating presence in the ICC boardroom. India earns a bulk of its revenue from TV rights and hence is not keen on a championship model that would lead to the setting up of a common broadcast cash pot. It has, consequently, successfully pushed for the existing model, where members arrive at bilateral agreements with the danger of those at the bottom of the table being marginalised.

The post-2012 FTP is currently being finalised by the ICC, and Hunte said that the WICB "will seek to ensure that it is not disadvantaged" in the new schedule.

Hunte also claimed, in a section of the report that deals with IPL, that some ICC full members remain suspicious of the motives of private promoters in the game, and concluded by saying that world cricket is at the crossroads and much depends on decisions that will be taken by the ICC.

Hunte's report deals extensively with the WICB's dispute with its players that forced West Indies to name a second-string squad for the series against Bangladesh and the forthcoming Champions Trophy. But those comments are on expected and previously stated lines and Hunte blames the players for choosing not to represent the team and showing the "highest form of disregard and disdain for West Indies cricket". What is surprising, though, is that the document, which is essentially a report on West Indies cricket, contains significant comments on the FTP and IPL.

He lists a set of concerns related to the rise of Twenty20 cricket while also admitting that players have "embraced" the BCCI's IPL with its auctions and high-profile owners.

"The emergence of private promoters in cricket has been much debated and some Full Member countries retain their inherent suspicion of the real objectives of such promoters. The ICC has drawn the line in relation to other leagues such the as ICL, which are not recognised by their home boards. Conversely, decision-making at the ICC affecting the IPL is often seemingly under the influence of some Full Members. The WICB remains convinced that Full Members should in some way benefit financially from the IPL and expect to see a general tightening up with respect to the issuance of Non-Objection Certificates. With many challenges to be faced and overcome, the future of world cricket is now at the crossroads and much depends on the decisions which will have to be taken by ICC in the near future."

Hunte's concerns about the IPL are not surprising given that one of the roadblocks in the dispute between the West Indies board and players is the question of participation in the IPL. Many of the West Indies players, including Chris Gayle, had wanted to be part of this year's IPL but were forced to fly to England midway to take part in a Test series that they claimed was arranged without obtaining prior consent from their association.

The IPL - which comes under the BCCI - has since clarified that players who have retired and even those not on central contracts with their national boards need to get a two-year NOC from their boards to be eligible for the IPL. The Champions League Twenty20, of which the BCCI is a founding partner, has also invited Trinidad and Tobago, the West Indies' domestic toppers in the format, to participate in the tournament starting October 8 with total prize money of $6 million and a guaranteed fee of $500,000, apart from an unspecified payment for the respective national boards.

ICC should try your suggestion and see how big their common broadcast pot will be. It will be all of ECBs broadcast pot and a few dollars more (from CA and SA). The rest of the pot will be empty. ECB will be quick to jump out of that deal because basically you are taking all of their broast cast revenue and a few pennies more and dividing it by 7 (assuming as you say India is out). It will be a financial bonanza for the rest. Why do you think ECB is opposing it along with BCCI? There are huge disparities among revenues earned by different teams and unless those are resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, there is little incentive for boards that contribute significant money to the pool to share it equally with boards that contribute nothing. We already redistribute all the revenues from ICC events to all boards equally.

Posted by leifedling on (August 29 2009, 03:58 AM GMT)

Being an Indian, I feel embarassed to say this but it's no secret that BCCI's sole motive is profit for itself rather than the benefit of cricket, two prime examples being the oppposition of the T20 format and opposition of the Test Championship format. Cricket will go nowhere with such an oligarchial setup.

Posted by BangaloreKid on (August 29 2009, 03:51 AM GMT)

Nice to see some commenters here advocating "socialism"! Lets pool all our incomes into one giant pool and distribute it equally no matter what each among us earns! The next thing we know we are back advocating old soviet-style socialism where there is no incentive to go get your rear end out of a couch, and actually attract advertisers and promoters to sponsor teams. While some can do that, the rest can sit and enjoy the dinner at the table while being "suspicious" of the motives of the same sponsors. While we are at it, why not ask united nations to pool the gdp of all nations and redistribute the wealth equally? I thought we pool all the money from ICC events and distribute it equally even though only a few of those nations attract all that money. Now we want to do that to all other revenue streams as well? If you don't agree to redistribution, you are "evil", "selfish", "greedy". Socialism at its worst!

Posted by dcgx on (August 29 2009, 02:09 AM GMT)

I'm sorry Mr Hunte but the way you and you 'Board' have managed West Indies Cricket, especially in the last year, have all but guaranteed that we will be marginalized in any future FTP calender. Especially if you all persist on using inflammatory rhetoric with your striking players and plan to field that 'pick up side' you call the West Indies Cricket Team if they don't pay obescience to 'your holiness' and the board. However cudos for taking on the BCCI, I can definitely see them wanting to send their 'Lucrative TV broadcast deal' Indian Cricket team to the WI after you basically discussed board matters in the public domain which put them in a bad light. Your management skills are a wonder to behold, keep it up, while we all go down!

Posted by atulcricket on (August 29 2009, 01:46 AM GMT)

If some strategy could be worked out about revenues then India should be ready to have world test championship. profit of telecast rights in the home countries should remain with the home boards. ICC's share can be decided with proper financial planning. Obviously India should not agree when it has to share its telecast rights revenue with other countries. I urge BCCI to work on some strategy and make the world test championship a possibility. We want our board to be strong but at the same time we want to see more test matches too. Why should India give IPL revenues to other boards?? its a joke....

Posted by santhoshkudva on (August 29 2009, 00:46 AM GMT)

money speaks a lot louder. is it the first time that we see the BCCI throw its weight around?

Posted by Da_Punjabi on (August 29 2009, 00:29 AM GMT)

There are one too many proposals out there, as to what is going on, and whose proposal is getting support of which board, is all "fog of war." West Indies players do not get enough money, but when you really start hitting their pockets, with delayed salaries, and creating a fixture out of FTP, without even consulting the players, whom have already signed the IPL contract, and are to make big money by playing there, you are asking for troubles. By not picking up the players for Champions trophy, is just a one more slap on cricketers whose protest was justifiable. Didn't WICB arrange that hurried series with England for the sake of money? ICC should take away west indies participation, and instead hand them to Ireland/bangladesh/Afghanistan.

Posted by Gwyll on (August 29 2009, 00:07 AM GMT)

Does anyone need reminding that 2020 is rubbish cricket? It may spin rupees for a bunch of Bollywood actors who the world at large has never heard of, but the stats are flawed and the game is too short to be called cricket. It should be called "Sloggo" or something. I, for one, mourn the death of one day cricket and eventually test cricket. You change the format, you change the history, you destroy all that is good for this great and vibrant sport.

Posted by zainhilal94 on (August 28 2009, 23:50 PM GMT)

This is sick. I mean India is refusing to take up the best way to keep test cricket alive. But I again think that a 4 year tournament is too long. Maximum 2 years should be the limit. ICC and the BCCI should talk it over and come to a decision that is best for the health of test cricket.