Future Tours Program adopted, ICC events discussions to continue in April

The ICC Board today adopted a six-year Future Tours Program, had extensive discussions on the scheduling and hosting of forthcoming ICC events and approved a shorter eight-team format for ICC Champions Trophy events from 2008 on the second and final day of its meeting in Dubai.

The Board confirmed that there would be a major ICC event every year as part of its new package of events from 2007-2015 but stopped short of finalising the events to be included in this package or awarding hosting rights to Members.

Two issues were addressed in the meeting in relation to these future ICC events:

As a way forward to help resolve these issues a series of steps have been agreed:

- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been provided an extension to 21 April 2006 to produce an ICC Cricket World Cup hosting submission that is compliant with the requirements specified by the ICC in December 2005 for the 2011 or 2015 tournament.

- Twenty20 World Championship events will be included in the next package of ICC events through to 2015. The package will start with an invitational Twenty20 event in 2007 followed by a 2009 event in which participation will be mandatory.

- Should a compliant submission from the four countries be received and accepted by the Board, England will withdraw its submission to host the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and it will be proposed that it be awarded the right to host the Twenty20 World Championship in 2009 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 at the ICC Annual Conference in July 2006.

- Should the compliant submission be received and accepted, the Board will then determine the hosts of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and 2015 with Australasia and Asia being the two submissions to be considered.

The Board will meet on 30 April to consider these issues. In the event that a compliant submission is not forthcoming, Australia and New Zealand's joint bid will be the only compliant submission for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 while England's 2015 submission will stand.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said that after extensive and productive discussions on Twenty20 cricket and the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 the Board had decided that this was the most effective way of moving forward.

"There was potential for an impasse on these two issues with several of our members holding strong views but this approach has allowed us to map out a way forward on these important topics to try and reach consensus. The programme of ICC events from 2007 to 2015 will now be considered again in April," said Mr Mani.

The Board confirmed that a shorter eight-team ICC Champions Trophy will be part of the package of ICC events with the first of these scheduled to take place in 2008.

The Board also approved revised financial formulas for hosting ICC Cricket World Cups, ICC Champions Trophies and Twenty20 World Championships from late 2007 onwards. The formulas will be pegged to inflation and the one that relates to the ICC Champions Trophies and Twenty20 World Championships will be reviewed again after the ICC Event to be held in 2010.

After two years of analysis and review and 10 drafts the Board has approved a new six-year FTP for the ICC's 10 Full Members. This six-year program of reciprocal touring obligations will replace the current five-year program from May 2006. The new FTP will require all of the Full Member sides to play home and away series against each other within the six year period.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said the new FTP would help provide certainty of scheduling for all of the Full Member countries through to 2012.

"The drafting of a new FTP is an exceptionally complex task that requires collaboration and compromise from across the membership base," said Mr Speed.

"It is very pleasing that after two years of discussions we have been able to produce a new FTP that is supported by all ten of our Full Member countries.

"A regular programme of home and away international cricket for all of our members is an integral component of a healthy global game. This FTP protects the status of Test cricket, ensures that prestigious historical Test series can continue to be contested over four or five matches and provides certainty of planning for our members."

As well as the Full Member series, One-Day International matches involving Associate Members have been confirmed as part of the formal FTP.

It also provides opportunities for the following series to take place on a more frequent basis: Australia v England, Australia v India, Australia v South Africa, Australia v West Indies, Bangladesh v Zimbabwe, England v India, England v West Indies, India v Pakistan, India v South Africa and Pakistan v South Africa. As with the present five-year FTP, tours are required to contain a minimum of two Test matches and three ODIs.

The final details of the six-year FTP will now be updated and forwarded to the Members before publication.

The Board accepted a request from the BCCI to expand the number of venues for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 from three to four.

The Board confirmed that any additional costs as a result of this change will be met by the BCCI. The schedule of the event will now be finalised.

The full schedule will be announced shortly after the participating teams have been confirmed by 1 April 2005.

The Board reviewed an extensive independent written report from India's Solicitor General Goolam Vahanvati into incidents of racist crowd behaviour in Australia.

Mr Vahanvati's report drew three main conclusions. They were that:

- racial abuse of South African players took place during the tour of Australia

- it would be wrong to attribute the racial abuse only to South African expatriates or explain it away as being the result of drunken behaviour. It was pre-meditated, co-ordinated and calculated to get under the players' skins.

- there is a grave problem in Australia relating to crowd behaviour particularly drunken spectators

He further noted that the issue must be taken very seriously.

After noting Mr Vahanvati's conclusions which included an assessment that Cricket Australia's approach following the incidents had been appropriate, the Board appointed a three-man committee to provide recommendations to the next Board meeting on 30 April.

This committee will comprise ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed, Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland and United Cricket Board of South Africa Chief Executive Gerald Majola.

The ICC appointed Mr Vahanvati to conduct the report following a complaint from the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

On day one of the meeting the ICC Board addressed the following issues: ending of super-sub trial, pitch-monitoring process adopted, anti-doping policy endorsed, Zimbabwe progress report received, minimum matches for LG ICC ODI table confirmed and USACA recognition restored. Full details of these issues can be found here.

The ICC Board comprises the Presidents/Chairmen or designated nominees of the 10 Full Members and three representatives from ICC Associate Members.

Attendees at the meeting were:

Ehsan Mani (Chairman) - ICC President
Percy Sonn - ICC Vice-President
Malcolm Speed - ICC Chief Executive Officer

Full Members

Creagh O'Connor - Australia
Mahbubul Anam - Bangladesh (as an alternate for Mohammad Ali Asghar MP)
David Morgan - England
Sharad Pawar - India (replaced by alternate I S Bindra during course of meeting)
Sir John Anderson KBE - New Zealand
Shaharyar Khan - Pakistan
Jayantha Dharmadasa - Sri Lanka
Ray Mali - South Africa
Ken Gordon - West Indies
Peter Chingoka - Zimbabwe

Associate Members

Stanley Perlman - Israel
John Cribbin - Hong Kong (as an alternate for HRH Tunku Imran - Malaysia)
Mazhar Khan - United Arab Emirates

Decisions of the Board require the support of the majority of Full and Associate Member representatives including at least seven of the 10 Full Members.