The Bangladesh Cricket Board would prefer to remain silent until the proposal for a massive revamp of international cricket is tabled at the International Cricket Council executive board meeting later this month, a BCB official said. Bangladesh will be one of the worst affected countries if the proposal – put forward by the so-called ‘Big Three’ of India, Australia and England – is approved, as it would deny them Test cricket until 2019 at the earliest.
Clause three in section four of the draft proposal states that from 2015 the number nine and ten Test playing countries will play in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, a tournament to be held every four years.
The winners of the Intercontinental Cup will then be able to challenge the 8th-ranked team in a four-Test home and away series and go on to play against the seven remaining Test teams if they are victorious. The next Intercontinental Cup is scheduled for 2019, which means that, after a series against Zimbabwe in October, Bangladesh’s international commitments will be restricted to limited-overs cricket.
The BCB said it has received the draft proposal and will review it in their executive meeting today. Whatever it decides, the BCB is unlikely to make its concerns public as it faces a double-edged sword at the ICC meeting, where the future of the World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 tournament will also be discussed.
‘We will take the side that will be good for us,’ BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters on Wednesday. ‘Of course, every proposal has a positive or negative side. We will discuss the matter in tomorrow’s [Thursday’s] board meeting.’
‘We will have an opportunity to look at matters and then we will realise our position. The proposal is being reviewed still. I think we should not say anything before the meeting takes place.’
The proposal, which has already been leaked in the media, has taken the cricketing world by surprise, as many cricketing nations said they were not at all aware of it. South Africa opposed it publicly, while some other countries have also reacted sharply.
The acting BCB chief, however, indicated that it was not completely unexpected.
‘The issues that you came to know recently came up for discussions in different ways on different occasions. Our policy-makers will decide how they will handle it. As far as I am concerned, it is a confidential matter,’ he said.
International media reports indicate that it will not be easy for the so-called Big Three to get the proposal approved.
There is a possibility that the draft ‘position paper’ could be treated more than a routine recommendation,’ reports Cricinfo.
Considering the draft has far-reaching changes in administrative structures, financial distribution and the creation of an entirely new commercial wing of the ICC, it could require a ‘special meeting’ to pass what the ICC’s constitution refers to as a ‘special resolution’, said the website.
‘To get a special resolution passed, eight out of the 10 full members will need to back the proposal according to the ICC constitution,’ said the report.
It is expected that South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will oppose the move, while Bangladesh and Zimbabwe also have every reason to be down on the proposal. Cricket officials said Bangladesh’s vote could be crucial, as India and Australia have strong influence on some other cricket playing countries.
However, Bangladesh has hardly opposed any moves initiated by India in ICC meetings. There is no guarantee that the BCB will show some guts this time, said cricket observers.
-With New Age input
