Sri Lanka Cricket and Sports News | Videos | Images | Interviews | Schedules

Dubai—The International Cricket Council (ICC) executive board has decided to expand the number of teams in the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh from 12 to 16 to give more opportunities to the non-test playing nations.

“What excites me is the decision to extend the World Twenty20 event, which takes place in 2014 in Bangladesh,” ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat told reporters in Dubai on Monday.

“From then onwards the board has decided to expand the event to 16 teams. I’m sure that is very comforting to all associates and affiliates...it provides them with a greater chance of competing on the global stage.”

Following a Board resolution agreed at the last meeting, the directors confirmed the necessary amendments to the constitution to split the role of the ICC President and Chairman of the Board.

The joint nomination of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the role of vice president 2012-14 is deferred until the amended articles to be considered at Annual Conference in June.

In summary the key changes would give effect to the following:

The role of the ICC President will be reformed after the Annual Conference in 2014 to separate the Chairman of the Board position from that of the ICC President. Until then, the current roles for the ICC President and Vice president will remain, after which the Vice-Presidency will cease to exist and a new Chairman of the Board post created;

The term of office for the new ceremonial role for the President will be one year and will rotate, as it currently does, amongst the Members. The President will not be a voting member of the Board;

The Chairman, who will be appointed by the Board for a maximum of six years (3 x two year terms) will also be non-voting;

Until the President’s role has been confirmed, the joint nomination of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board for the role of vice president 2012-14 was deferred until the amended Articles have been considered by ICC Annual Conference.

The Nominations Committee reported that they have arrived at a shortlist of four candidates who will be interviewed in due course to replace Mr Haroon Lorgat, the current ICC Chief Executive, who vacates his position at the end of the Annual Conference in June 2012.

In relation to the post of Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, the ICC Board decided to review the current terms of appointment. This review will cover potential remuneration and also the current restraints on the chairman in relation to media roles.

In the meantime Mr Clive Lloyd, whose term as chairman had recently expired, will be requested to continue until the ICC Annual Conference in June.

The Board also ratified the following appointments from the Chief Executives’ Committee (“CEC”):

- re-appoint Ms Clare Connor, the current chairperson of the ICC Women’s Committee, for a second three-year term;

- re-appoint Ravi Shastri for a second three-year term representing the media;

- appoint David White, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, as the CEC representative; and

- appoint John Stephenson as MCC’s representative.

The ICC Board received a report of the strategic discussions held at the Chief Executive’s Committee (CEC) in March 2012 and confirmed the following recommendations

- to increase, from 2014 onwards, the number of teams participating in the ICC World T20 from 12 to 16 men’s teams;

- the event should remain a joint men’s and women’s event;

- three additional Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) may be played in the year in which the ICC World Twenty20 is being staged provided there is a corresponding reduction in the maximum number of permitted ODIs (as per ICC Scheduling guidelines-the current regulations permit a maximum of 12 T20Is for each Full Member in any one year).

Having considered several options to deal constructively with the Woolf Report, the ICC Board agreed that, in the first instance, there was a real need for further discussion among the Directors and Members in an effort to build consensus.—Agencies