The International Cricket Council (ICC) board met on Saturday to discuss controversial proposals to hand wideranging powers to the “Big Three” of India, England and Australia, following strong opposition from some members.
The full board went into talks at a luxury hotel in Singapore to debate the revamp of the world cricket body’s structure and governance.
There was no word on whether the board would vote on the measures, which need the support of eight of the 10 full ICC members. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa have all expressed dissent.
The proposals include setting up a powerful, five-member executive committee with seats reserved for India, England and Australia, the sport’s most influential boards.
The big three would also control the distribution of a Test cricket fund to other members, while the future tours program, designed to give all teams a chance to tour other countries, will be scrapped.
Sri Lanka has called the revamp illegal, saying an equal share in revenues among all boards is enshrined in the ICC constitution, while Pakistan great Imran Khan described it as colonial.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said it was not in line with the principle of equity nor in the interest of game of cricket.
And British peer Lord Harry Woolf, whose review of the ICC’s governance recommended a watering down of the big countries’ powers, called it “a really alarming position for the future of cricket.
“I don’t see how if we had this to consider, we could see it as anything but a retrograde step,” the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
“It is giving extraordinary powers to a small triumvirate of three people, and everybody else has got no power to say anything or do anything.”
The big three have insisted their scheme will benefit other leading nations, with England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke saying: “All countries earn more through this proposal. How can that be bad for cricket?”
And New Zealand board member Martin Snedden described it as pretty good for New Zealand Cricket, saying the body stood to receive a significant boost to its finances.
Board members would not give an update during the talks, but an ICC spokesman said the meeting should be concluded by early afternoon – although he declined to give any clues about its outcome.