Results of ICC Board meeting in Mumbai

The ICC Board met in Mumbai, India, on 3 and 4 November ahead of this year's ICC Champions Trophy final. Among items covered over the two days were the following:

The Board discussed the events surrounding this Test match that took place in August, which resulted in the match being awarded to England when Pakistan was deemed to have refused to play. This is the first time such a result has occurred in 129 years of Test match cricket.

The Board agreed the following:

The Board also expressed serious concerns over the role of umpire Darrell Hair and the enforcement of the Law on the fourth afternoon, concluding with the match being awarded to England.

ICC President Percy Sonn said: "It was clear from discussions that the ICC Board has lost confidence in Mr Hair.

"As such, it was resolved that he should not be appointed to international matches involving ICC Full Members."

The Board received a report from ICC President Percy Sonn following the fact-finding visit he and ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed made to the country in late July and early August.

The Board decided a return to Test cricket for Zimbabwe in November 2007 is realistic providing it re-establishes a credible domestic first-class structure and secures competitive cricket for its best players against high-class A sides in the next 12 months.

It also resolved that Zimbabwe Cricket's Board, when constituted, must be inclusive rather than exclusive; the ICC Board noted the divisions created by in-fighting have clearly contributed to disenchantment and disenfranchisement felt by players and administrators who still have much to offer the game in Zimbabwe.

ZC Chairman Mr Peter Chingoka reported that a new draft Constitution would be circulated on 6 November and a Special General Meeting would be called for 18 November to adopt it. Mr Chingoka also reported the new Board would be constituted on the same day. He reported the audit was nearing completion.

The Board was asked to review and, if it was deemed appropriate, endorse the determination of an Official Enquiry following an application by the Pakistan Cricket Board for the reinstatement of a banned player, Atta-ur-Rehman.

The Official Enquiry was carried out by Michael Beloff QC (Chairman), Richie Benaud and Ajmalul Hossain QC, all of them ICC Code of Conduct Commissioners.

Mr Rehman was banned for life and fined 40,000 rupees following the conclusion of the Qayyum Report in May 2000.

The judgment concluded:

"No one doubts that match fixing was and is a scourge which threatens the dignity of cricket, and indeed imperils the game itself. It is not easy to detect; and only severe sanctions can deter. However exclusion from the ICC Approved Players List for life could have grievous implications for some cricketers. Atta ur Rehman has already been deprived of exploiting what would have been likely to be the best years of his cricketing life; whatever our verdict he is unlikely ever to resume a Test Match career of any kind.

"Accepting, as we do, that Judge Qayyum's findings of guilt are impregnable, we note that Atta-ur-Rehman was at the time of the offence a young man - only 20 years of age, that he did not initiate the plan to fix a match, and that he was no doubt easily influenced by persons far senior to him in the team.

"He has had his hopes raised by two findings in his favour in internal Pakistan appeals, (although we should make it clear that we are not to be taken as endorsing the conclusions or the reasoning which underlay them). He has suffered adverse family circumstances.

"He has not, as far as we know, been guilty of any material misbehaviour since 1994. A reduction of the kind we contemplate is not likely to encourage others to fix matches: the deterrent force of a lengthy ban will remain unimpaired.

"While respect rightly continues to be paid to the judgments of sports regulatory bodies as to what are appropriate penalties for offences against sports codes, especially where dishonesty is involved, there is a concomitant recognition that penalties should be proportionate i.e. no more severe than is required by the object at which they are directed.

"Taking all these circumstances into account, some of which by definition could not have been in the mind of Judge Qayyum, we recommend that the life ban be reduced and that Atta-ur-Rehman be reinstated on the ICC Approved List from 1 May 2007."

The Board was keen to stress that this decision does not represent a precedent in respect of other banned players and any subsequent applications for reinstatement would be considered on their individual merits.

The Board achieved a successful resolution of the outstanding issues involving the MPA with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

ICC management will now write to the Full Member Chief Executives to confirm the new draft of the agreement.

Additionally the BCCI has agreed to withdraw its bid for the broadcast rights for ICC Events from 2007 - 2015 after a legal opinion that indicated it would be a conflict of interest.

The Board received a presentation from the ICC Global Cricket Academy Director of Coaching Rodney Marsh. The ICC GCA is expected to open early in 2008.

At the ICC Europe World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 Championships in Scotland in August 2006, Greece fielded two ineligible players in all 3 Preliminary Round matches.

In line with the ICC Player Eligibility rules, the event organisers stripped Greece of all its points which saw it fall from top to bottom of its Group of 4 teams in this 8 team event, and suspended the players concerned for the rest of the tournament.

Greece then refused to play its seventh/eighth placed play-off in the tournament, the loser of which would be relegated to Division 3.

The Board examined the issue and resolved to suspend all funding support from the ICC Europe Regional Development Program for a period of 12 months. Greece Cricket could be welcomed to fund its own way into any Regional activity, if desired. Greece will also be relegated to Division 4.

The Board received a request from the United States Cricket Association for an extension towards the fulfillment of National Body elections under a new Constitution.

The original deadline for elections under a new constitution was 30 November 2006 and the Board agreed to extend that deadline to March 2007, the time for the next ICC Board meeting. However, it resolved to offer no further extensions.

The ICC Board meets three times a year. This meeting was attended by the following Directors:

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

Creagh O'Connor - Australia
Mahbubul Anam - Bangladesh (alternate for Mohammad Ali Asghar MP)
David Morgan - England
IS Bindra - India (alternate for Sharad Pawar)
Sir John Anderson KBE - New Zealand
Dr Nasim Ashraf - Pakistan
K Mathivanan - Sri Lanka (alternate for Jayantha Dharmadasa)
Ray Mali - South Africa
Ken Gordon - West Indies
Peter Chingoka - Zimbabwe

Samir Inamdar - Kenya
Stanley Perlman - Israel
HRH Tunku Imran - Malaysia