International Cricket Council
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| International Cricket Council | |
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| Formation | June 15, 1909 |
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| Headquarters | Dubai, UAE |
| Membership | 101 member countries |
| Acting President | Ray Mali |
| Key people | Malcolm Speed (CEO) |
| Website | ICC.cricket.org |
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.
The ICC has 101 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 33 Associate Members, and 58 Affiliate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organization and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. It promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for international crickets[1], and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).
The acting ICC President is Ray Mali following the death of Percy Sonn on May 27, 2007, after complications from recent surgery. The current CEO is Malcolm Speed. It was announced on June 27, 2007, that David Morgan the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, would fill the role of ICC President from 2008, until 2010, when he will be replaced by Sharad Pawar, the current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
History
On June 15, 1909 representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord's and founded the Imperial Cricket Conference. Membership was confined to the governing bodies of cricket within the British Empire where Test cricket was played. India, New Zealand and West Indies were elected as Full Members in 1926, doubling the number of Test-playing nations to six. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was given Test status in 1953, becoming the seventh Test-playing nation. South Africa resigned from the ICC in 1961 due to apartheid.
In 1965, the Imperial Cricket Conference was renamed the International Cricket Conference and new rules adopted to permit the election of countries from outside the Commonwealth. This led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members. Associates were each entitled to one vote, while the Foundation and Full Members were entitled to two votes on ICC resolutions. Foundation Members retained a right of veto.
Sri Lanka was admitted as a Full Member in 1981, returning the number of Test-playing nations to seven. In 1989, new rules were adopted and International Cricket Conference changed its name to the current name, the International Cricket Council. South Africa was re-elected as a Full Member of the ICC in 1991, after the end of apartheid; this was followed in 1992 by the admission of Zimbabwe as the ninth Test-playing nation. Bangladesh was admitted as the tenth Test-playing nation in 2000.
Location
From its formation the ICC had Lord's Cricket Ground as its home with offices in the "clock tower" building at the nursery end of the ground. However as the commercial element of the Council's operations became prominent the ICC sought ways to avoid tax liability on commercial income. This led, in 2001, to the establishment of an office in Monaco to which all of the commercial staff relocated. This move successfully removed the Council's tax liability however there was a disadvantage in that the Council's cricket administrators, who remained at Lord's, were separated from their commercial colleagues who had moved to Monaco. The council decided to seek ways of bringing all of their staff together in one office whilst protecting their commercial income from tax.
The option of staying at Lord's was investigated and a request was made, through Sport England, to the British Government to allow the ICC to have all its personnel (including those working on commercial matters) in London - but be given special exemption from paying UK corporation tax on its commercial income. The British Government was unwilling to create a precedent and would not agree to this request. As a consequence the ICC examined other locations and eventually settled on the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In August 2005 the ICC moved its offices to Dubai, and subsequently closed its offices at Lord's and Monaco. The move to Dubai was made after an 11-1 vote by the ICC's Executive Board in favour.[2]
Whilst the principal driver of the ICC's move to Dubai was the wish to bring its main employees together in one tax efficient location, a secondary reason was the wish to move offices closer to the increasingly important new centres of cricketing power in South Asia. Lord's had been a logical venue when the ICC had been administered by the MCC (a situation that lasted until 1993). But the growing power of India, and to a lesser extent Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in world cricket had made the continued control of international cricket by a British private members club (the MCC) anachronistic and unsustainable. A direct consequence of the changes and reforms instituted in 1993 was eventually to be the move away from Lord's to a more neutral venue.[3]
Rules and regulation
The International Cricket Council overlooks playing conditions, bowling reviews, and other ICC regulations. Even though the ICC doesn't have copyright to the laws of cricket and only the MCC may change the laws, nowadays this would usually only be done after discussions with the game's global governing body, the ICC. The ICC also has a "Code of Conduct" to which teams and players in international matches are required to adhere. Where breaches of this code occur the ICC can apply sanctions, usually fines. In 2006 the ICC imposed 27 penalties on players.[4]
Commercial focus
The ICC has a strong commercial focus and it has a duty to its members to maximise the value to them of its primary "property" the Cricket World Cup. Sponsorship and television rights of the World Cup brought in over US$1.6 billion between 2007 and 2015, by far the ICC’s main source of income.[5] The ICC has no income streams from other international cricket matches (Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals). It has sought to create other new events to augment its World Cup revenues. These include the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Super Series played in Australia in 2005. However these expansion has not been as successful as the ICC hoped. The Super Series was widely seen as a failure and is not expected to be repeated, and India called for the Champions Trophy to be scrapped in 2006[6] The Champions Trophy 2004 event was referred to in Wisden 2005 by the editor as a "turkey of a tournament" and a "fiasco"; although the 2006 edition was seen as a greater success due to a new format.[7]
Umpires and referees
The ICC appoints international umpires and referees, sponsored by Emirates Airline, who officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. The ICC operates 3 panels of umpires: namely the Elite Panel, the International Panel, and the Associates and Affiliates Panel.
As of April 2006, the Elite Panel includes ten umpires. In theory, two umpires from the Elite Panel officiate at every Test match, whilst one Elite Panel umpire stands in ODI matches together with an umpire from the International Panel. In practice, members of the International Panel stand in occasional Test matches, as this is viewed as a good opportunity to see whether they can cope at the Test level, and whether they should be elevated to the Elite Panel. The Elite Panel are full-time employees of the ICC, although do still, very occasionally umpire first-class cricket in their country of residence. The average, annual, officiating schedule for Elite Umpires is 12 Test matches and 15 ODIs, a potential on-field workload of 75 days per year.
The International Panel is made up of officials nominated from each of the ten Test-playing cricket boards. The Panel Members officiate in ODI matches in their home country, and assist the Elite Panel at peak times in the cricket calendar when they can be appointed to overseas ODI and Test matches. International Panel members also undertake overseas umpiring assignments such as the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup in order to improve their knowledge and understanding of overseas conditions, and help them prepare for possible promotion onto the Elite Panel. Some of these umpires also officiates in the Cricket World Cup. Each of the Test cricket boards nominates a "third umpire" who can be called upon to review certain on-field decisions through instant television replays. All third umpires are first-class umpires in their own county, and the role is seen as a step onto the International Panel, and then the Elite Panel.
The newest panel of umpires, set up in February 2005, is the Associates and Affiliates Umpires Panel. It was designed to offer a pathway to top level umpiring for officials from the ICC's 87 Associate and Affiliate Member countries. As of January 2005, it has 10 members from countries such as Nepal and Fiji. These umpires will officiates at the ICC Trophy and the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup.
There is also a Panel of Elite Referees who act as the independent representative of the ICC at all Test and ODI matches. As of January 2005, it has 7 members, all highly experienced former international cricketers. The Referees do not have the power to report players or officials (which has to be done by the umpires), but they are responsible for conducting hearings under the ICC Code of Conduct and imposing penalties as required at matches, ranging from an official reprimand to a lifetime ban from cricket. Decisions can be appealed, but the original decision is upheld in most cases.
Members
The ICC has three classes of membership: Full Members, the ten governing bodies of teams that play official Test matches; Associate Members, the 33 governing bodies in countries where cricket is firmly established and organised but which do not qualify for Full Membership; and Affiliate Members, the 58 governing bodies in countries where the ICC recognises that cricket is played according to the Laws of Cricket.
Regional bodies
These regional bodies aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket:
- Asian Cricket Council
- European Cricket Council
- African Cricket Association
- Americas Cricket Association
- East Asia-Pacific Cricket Council
Defunct Bodies
Competitions and awards
The ICC organises various First-Class and One-Day cricket competitions:
- First Class
- One Day
The ICC has instituted the ICC Awards to recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months. The inaugural ICC Awards ceremony was held on 7 September 2004, in London.
Anti-corruption and security
The ICC has also had to deal with drugs and bribery scandals involving top cricketers. Following the corruption scandals by cricketers connected with the legal and illegal bookmaking markets, the ICC set up an Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) in 2000 under the retired Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Lord Condon. Amongst the corruption on which they have reported was that of former South African captain Hansie Cronje who had accepted substantial sums of money from an Indian bookmaker for under-performing or ensuring that certain matches had a pre-determined result. Similarly, the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were investigated, found guilty of match-fixing, and banned from playing cricket (for life and for five years, respectively). The ACSU continues to monitor and investigate any reports of corruption in cricket and protocols have been introduced which for example prohibit the use of mobile telephones in dressing rooms.
Prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed warned against any corruption and said that the ICC would be vigilant and intolerant against it.[8]
See also
References
External links
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