DUBAI–The ICC's independent governance review, headed by Lord Woolf, has called for sweeping changes in the administration of cricket and the functioning of its governing body. It starts with a restructuring of the ICC's executive board to make it more independent and less dominated by the bigger countries and also recommends a re-examination of the rights and benefits of the Test-playing Full Member nations, calling for measures to increase transparency in dealings by the ICC and its members. The review looks at cricket's growth over the past decade and the effect of that growth on the ICC and the various member nations, noting the perception that the bigger nations look after their own interests and not those of the game per se. "The ICC reacts as though it is primarily a Members club," the review notes; "its interest in enhancing the global development of the game is secondary."
Much of its vision of a revamped ICC is aimed at redressing this imbalance between the cricket-playing nations. The most important recommendation concerns revamping the ICC's executive board, its top decision-making body, to reduce the numerical strength of the Full Members and to offset their influence by bringing in independent directors, in keeping with best corporate governance practices. The board currently comprises the heads of all Full Member nations, three representatives from the Associates and Affiliates and the ICC's president, vice-president and chief executive. Woolf's plan incorporates five independent directors - three from within the game and two from outside to bring in diversity of opinion and experience - with voting rights and the additional stipulation that they should not be in a minority. It suggests that the Full Member nations eventually have four representatives, and the Associates two, with the chairman, president and chief executive making up the desired dozen.—Agencies
