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'GCC's damage claims fictitious'

By Our Special Correspondent

Mumbai Sept. 19. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told the International Cricket Council (ICC) that the Global Cricket Corporation's claims for damages suffered during the World Cup 2003 in South Africa from the ICC Development Ltd. is `fictitious and frivolous'.

The BCCI officials provided substantial evidence on this issue to the ICC on Thursday and Friday, but the matter is likely to be resolved only after the GCC reverts with convincing answers to the queries raised by the IDI Ltd.

This means that the BCCI will have to wait to receive the participation money of US $6. 10 million from the ICC.

After the two-day sitting of the ICC cricket committee (management) the ICC president Ehsan Mani said that the position was `status quo' and a resolution towards a settlement can be approached only after the IDI receives replies on certain issues with regard to the claims made by the GCC.

The BCCI is convinced that GCC's claims of US dollars equivalent to Rs. 230 crores is all `created'. A Board source said that the claims cannot exceed Rs. 10 crores or thereabout and that the BCCI has asked the IDI to remit an amount of US $6.10 million. The BCCI will be able to put across its point of view in a friendly atmosphere on Friday evening at a party it would be hosting.

Mr. Mani said that all decisions of the ICC were taken in the full knowledge of the representatives of the Test playing nations. "The ICC enjoys an excellent relationship with the GCC and its commercial partners. I don't see any reason why the ICC should have problems with member countries for the conduct of the future ICC banner events.''

The ICC chief executive officer Mr. Malcolm Speed said that the ICC was consulting the full members on `player terms'. The BCCI has made it clear that its players have agreed to the ambush-marketing clause from five days before the commencement to five days after the completion of ICC events like the Champions Trophy and World Cup.

Mr. Speed said that CC-M has agreed in principle for a 16-team format for the 2007 World Cup. "It will be shorter event with 42 matches played over 40 days and in seven islands in the West Indies. Four teams in four groups will play a round robin to begin with, followed by a round of Super 8, semifinals and final. This proposal will have to be approved by the ICC executive board meeting at the West Indies in October.''

According to Mr. Speed the ICC has drawn terms of reference to review the present structure and volume of cricket played. "We want to investigate whether the present structure is correct and whether it can be improved upon and place recommendations before the executive board next June.''

"We have decided to recognise the player associations. It's the prerogative of the respective boards to recognise their player associations. We will be consulting these associations on issues like playing conditions, volume of cricket, illegal delivery, code of conduct for players, players' safety and security, anti-doping policy and players' equipment and clothing (advertisement).

We will listen to them, but it's not necessary for us to accept their views. The idea is to recognise their associations. They have a role to play. Ideally we would like the respective boards to recognise such associations. ICC would not interact with associations that are not recognised by their Boards.''

At present the Boards of Australia, West Indies, England, South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe have recognised their player associations.

The ICC has also decided to appoint an umpire's coach and a high performance manager (umpires) to assess the performance of the elite and supplementary panel of umpires. Now the umpires are assessed by captains, match referees and an international assessor based in London and at Lord's.

"In the first year, the results were not as good, but in the second year of the inception of full time umpires in the elite and supplementary panels, there has been improvement,'' said Mr. Speed.

The CC-M decided to return the CC-Playing's proposal for a one-stage process to deal with bowlers with suspect action. The CC-P headed by Sunil Gavaskar had recommended to do away with the two-stage process wherein the bowler concerned is sent for remedial action under the supervision of the home board and then referred to the ICC he is called again.

Mr. Speed said that lessons have been learnt from the explosive incident involving Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan during the Antigua Test early this year. "The two umpires were downgraded. Now the umpires know that they have to report incidents to the match referee.''

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