International Cricket Council

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the governing body for international Test match and One-day International 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 97 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 32 Associate Members, and 55 Affiliate Members. The ICC is responsible for appointing the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches and One-day Internationals. The ICC derives most of its revenue from the rights to the Cricket World Cup. It promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct [1], which sets professional standards of discipline for international crickets, and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

The current President is Percy Sonn of South Africa who replaced Ehsan Mani on 7 July,2006.

The current CEO is Malcolm Speed

1 History
2 Commercial focus
3 Umpires & Referees
4 Anti-corruption and security
5 Disciplinary action
6 Controversy
7 Members
8 Regional bodies
9 Competitions and awards
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] 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.

In 2001, the ICC established an office in Monaco to ensure that its commercial income would remain free of tax. After 96 years of being based at Lord's Cricket Ground, the ICC moved its main administrative offices to Dubai, United Arab Emirates in August 2005. This move enabled the ICC to bring together its staff from London and Monaco into the same new Dubai office, whilst continuing to allow their commercial activities to be in a tax-free environment (as they had been in Monaco). The move to Dubai had been made after it was said that the ICC would be moving to be close to Emirates, who sponsor the ICC's main umpires.

[edit] 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 of the World Cup brought in US$550m between 2000 and 2007, by far the ICC’s main source of income. The ICC has no income streams from other international cricket matches (Test matches and One-day Internationals) so it has sought to create other new events to augment its World Cup revenues. These include the ICC Champions Trophy and the so-called ICC Super Series played in Australia in 2005. However this 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[2]. The Champions Trophy 2004 event was referred to in Wisden 2005 by the editor as a "turkey of a tournament" and a "fiasco".

[edit] Umpires & Referees

The ICC appoints international umpires and referees who officiate at all sanctioned Test matches and One-day Internationals. The umpires are sponsored by Emirates Airline, whose sponsorship contribution pays for the umpires' fees and costs. 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 (and will be heavily involved in the umpiring of the 2007 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. 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 82 Associate and Affiliate Member countries. As of January 2005, it has 10 members (none of whom umpire first-class cricket) from countries such as Nepal and Fiji. It is planned that these umpires will officiate at the ICC Trophy and the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup and could even be invited to be involved in the ICC Champions Trophy and ICC 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.

[edit] Anti-corruption and security

Following the coming to light of serious corruption 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 and other South African cricketers 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 Indian player 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.

[edit] Disciplinary action

The ICC 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 2004 the ICC imposed 35 penalties on players, including the captains of most of the national teams. [3]

[edit] Controversy

The nature of its role is such that the ICC has courted controversy frequently, in particular where sport and politics come into conflict. This has been particularly so over the issue of Zimbabwe, with the ICC's insistence that fixtures with the Zimbabwe national team, both inside and outside that country, be fulfilled despite the difficult political circumstances in the country and the overtly discriminatory selection policy of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union against white Zimbabweans. [4].

On Zimbabwe the ICC chooses to define its role as being solely about cricket issues, a stand that it recently reiterated despite the resignation of the young Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu. [5]. Despite the circumstances of Taibu's resignation, which was symbolic of the collapse of civil order in the country, the ICC is proceeding with the holding of a meeting of its full "Executive Board" in Harare in March 2006.

Fingers have been pointed at the integrity of ICC occassionaly and from different quarters. ICC has been criticized by many for practising racisim and double standards against the third world countries (particularly India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). It is claimed that the third world countries are not represented at all in the management, though they contribute majority viewership and finance [6]. A number of cases have been reported with biased fines for the Asian players [7]. Some of the recent cases involved Virender Sehwag [8] [9] [10], Mohammed Azharuddin [11], Inzamam Ul Haq [12] and other noteworthy cases [13] [14].

The ICC has also had to deal with drugs and bribery scandals involving top cricketers.

[edit] Members

Image:ICC-cricket-member-nations.png

Main article: List of International Cricket Council members

The ICC has three classes of membership: Full Members, the ten governing bodies of teams that play official Test matches; Associate Members, the 32 governing bodies in countries where cricket is firmly established and organised but which do not qualify for Full Membership; and Affiliate Members, the 55 governing bodies in countries where the ICC recognises that cricket is played according to the Laws of Cricket.

[edit] Regional bodies

These regional bodies aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket:

[edit] Competitions and awards

The ICC organises various first-class and one-day cricket competitions:

First Class
- ICC Test Championship
- ICC Intercontinental Cup
One Day
Twenty20
- ICC Twenty20 World Championships

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.