Fishier by the day

Pointing the finger at The Big Three, and particularly the BCCI, at the ICC board table is an honourable exercise.  But before we get too carried with that fun in New Zealand we might like to take a really long look in the mirror first.

Take this report coming out of Dubai.  It looks like we may be more than a little complicit in all of this.  They key paragraph is this:

“Four of the smaller boards – from South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan – have formed a loose opposition to the changes. That opposition, according to one official from the big three, would appear to have drawn some concessions”

Spot the missing country in there.  To paraphrase GW Bush “If you’re not against us you’re with us”.  By the process of elimination it is not difficult to work out which country is being referred to here:

“Over the last three days, led by the BCCI, the big three have been busy trying to bring on board as many of the smaller boards as possible, in a bid to push through the resolutions. In preliminary meetings on Saturday broad stances were laid out, that boards would have to sign on the resolutions to obtain future benefits, particularly in playing against India”.

And then “But the pressure has, according to some boards, been ratcheted up over Sunday and yesterday. By early evening yesterday, at least one board had been offered fairly detailed plans of playing India over the next eight years”

Count the pieces of silver there.  It is also worth noting that all of Martin Snedden’s five objectives prior to leaving for Dubai are covered in the article.  So we now have an idea who is in the thick of this.

Whatever short-term gain is there, we should remember that this proposal is just wrong, and contrary to the best interest of the global game.

It is a high-risk game, and not one that remotely sits comfortably.