Major changes on cards as ICC gets ready for annual conference
Jun 28, 2016 at 1:25 PM
With the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) annual conference just around the corner, one can expect a few revamps from the game’s supreme governing body. In the years gone by as well, the ICC has made some startling revelations in their annual conferences in a bid to add more excitement to the game and make it a globalized sport.
This time around as well, one can expect the stakeholders within the body to announce some innovative changes. Ahead of the conference to be held in Edinburgh, ICC Chief Executive Dave Richardson confirmed that the upcoming meet would give rise to a few changes. In his interaction with the press, the South African added that the functioning of ICC tournaments could also be altered.
“It is quite an important meeting for the ICC,” Richardson said. International cricket is on the verge of some tremendous opportunities but a lot of water needs to flow under the bridge.” “Realistically, with existing television and sponsorship agreements in place, a Test Cricket League would probably be difficult to implement before 2019,” he said. “There is a realization of the need to introduce competition structures that provide more context,” said Richardson, when quizzed about the emergence of an ICC Test Championship.
The ICC chief executive also divulged details about his views towards the current ODI setup. “We want to try to make ODI cricket more than just rankings, but to make it more equal for teams,” he mentioned. “The Champions Trophy is very successful – cricket and financial – so there is reluctance to get rid of it,” he said. “It is challenging keeping each format going but that is what we’re trying to achieve. We want to give the formats more structure and context, so makes the matches more meaningful.”
In a rather optimistic move, Richardson backed Pakistani pacer Mohammad Aamir to redeem himself putting his dark past behind him. “He has served his time,” Richardson said. “He’s a young guy who has shown penance right from the start. People make mistakes and he has done his time. Six years is a long time in a young cricketer’s life. Fortunately he was young enough to still have a cricket career after that.”