The board of Control for Cricket in India has asked the International Cricket Council to remove Clive Lloyd, the former West Indian captain, from his post as chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee following some remarks Lloyd made at a public function in Mumbai recently.
Lloyd had expressed hope that the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League could co-exist, saying, "There's nothing like having a discussion to break the ice. Just like the United States president Barack Obama said 'you have to speak to people'. They [IPL and ICL] both need to understand their agendas and work accordingly."
The former West Indian great, who has replaced Sunil Gavaskar as the head of the ICC's cricket committee, added, "Leagues similar to the IPL and ICL will not only bring young talented players in the national team but will also make their basics clear."
In doing so he has incurred the BCCI's wrath. "When Mr Gavaskar was chairman of the cricket committee, he was told he had to choose between making certain comments, as a television commentator and as a journalist and holding an important ICC post. Why should it be any different with Mr Lloyd," a source in the Indian board observed.
When Gavaskar headed the ICC's cricket committee his trenchant columns attracted severe criticism from Australia and England, who were often the target of Gavaskar's blunt opinions. At the time David Morgan, ICC president, said: "There is a concern that he (Gavaskar) is chairman of the cricket committee and a journalist who has expressed some fairly outspoken comments." With the cries of a conflict of interest growing louder every day, Gavaskar finally had to choose between his ICC post and the freedom to express his views as he pleased. He chose the latter, and now the BCCI is demanding that Lloyd do the same.
The BCCI contends that the issue of the ICL and whether it should be given authorized unofficial cricket is still being discussed by the ICC and its members. Therefore Lloyd really had no right to comment one way or the other on its status. The BCCI will also say that Lloyd, by going public with his statements, is showing a lack of respect to the ICC and to member boards who are working on the issue on an ongoing basis. The other aspect that will have the BCCI up in arms is that the ICL is, essentially, a domestic issue and the ICC has thus far left it to the Indian board to handle. The ICC's cricket committee has no jurisdiction over this and Lloyd making these statements could be construed as interference.
A source confirmed that the BCCI had already made its stand clear, in writing to the ICC.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, and David Morgan, were unavailable for comment on the issue.
Negotiations with the ECB, the tiff with Sri Lanka,the Champions League, the sanctity of Test cricket all pale in comparison with this.
This is going to become the next major showdown between the BCCI and the ICC. And I fully expect this to be bloody.
Fun!
19 comments:
But what was wrong in Lloyd's statements?
This won't sell.
The BCCI believes that they can exert a global gag order on the ICL and believe that if no one talks about it the world will forget it! Far from it, it seems like even BCCi's staunchest allies are slowly starting to give in. Pakistan will cave in first given the paucity of their resources and then there is nothing BCCI can do because Pakistant anyway doesn't get any matches!
can we take out lalit now before he becomes a real big problem ?
wtf is wrong with loyd said. he is absolutely right, bcci are really going over board!
Scorpi,
What is wrong with Lloyd's statements is exactly what was wrong with Gavaskar's - nothing if you look at it as a bystander and everything if you are a part of the crowd.
Cheers,
Prabu,
And that is the ICC headache.. And I haven't seen the ICC do much to remedy the Pakistan situation anyways.
Cheers,
really Damith?
I think Mr Lloyd has as much locus on talking about the ICL as the BCCI has on talking about Guyana's team selection and its cricket administration.
Cheers,
And what about Lloyd being a Stanford groupie before becoming the Chair of the Cricket committee?
Cheers,
BCCI uses the "Gavaskar argument" to state its case against Lloyd. I wonder how Rohan Gavaskar, who plays for the ICL, must be feeling.
Leela,
The "Gavaskar argument" is a valid one, imho.
Rohan Gavaskar made his choices being fully cognizant of the BCCI's antipathy and his father's position with the BCCI.
I respect him for that but other than that, how is he related to the BCCI argument?
Cheers,
Homer I too believe that the argument is a valid one, I agree with the BCCI here.
And I know RG is not in the picture here.
I was simply thinking how all this must be panning out in the Gavaskar household. Again, not BCCI's headache.. just wondering.
Leela,
You guess is good as mine :)
Cheers,
Gavaskar was removed because of a conflict of interest, I don't see any conflict of interest in Lloyd's statement, he just gave a polite suggestion without any scathing criticism there is a huge difference between Gavaskar's case and this one.
Wasim,
What conflict of interest?
Mark Taylor is a commentator, a CA director and a member of the ICC Technical committee.. I dont see people going conflict of interest then.
People did not like what Gavaskar had to say. He had to go.
Not very different from Lloyd's case, no?
Cheers,
Lloyd only said what Haroon Lorgat said, Gavaskar was consistently saying stuff which was in conflict of interest.Two wrongs never make a right. If Taylor while on job is saying stuff which is in conflict of interest he should go. I am a huge fan of sunny but the fact is there is no comparison between the two statements.Sunny while on job with ICC was criticizing ICC "although mostly for the right reasons" Lloyds statement was benign.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. It is unlikely that he will be asked to quit.
Wasim,
Define conflict of interest and contrast that with whistle blower..
If SMG was out of order, so is Lloyd.
Also, since when did the ICC have any locus on commenting on what is primarily a domestic tournament?
Cheers,
RGB,
maybe not, but this wont be the last time Lloyd has an opinion about the ICL and this wont be the last time that opinion raises a stink.
Cheers,
Oh cmon homer,
Not everything is some kind of direct attack on the BCCI.
Lloyd was only saying that he hopes that the ICL and IPL can co exist and work together.
Which is what a lot of the people around the world want.
Its not Lloyds fault that the BCCI got their panties in a bunch over it.
Damith,
If the ICL is a domestic tournament, then the BCCI should be the only one talking about it. If it is not, then let the ICC bypass the BCCI and do all the talking.
This co-exist nonsense is just that - nonsense.
And I am waiting for the day when the Stanford-WICB deal goes sour - I am sure there will be calls by all and sundry for the Stanford tourneys to "co-exist" with the WICB despite Mr Stanford poaching the brightest and the best from the Carib.
Cheers,
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