Published: Jul 01, 2016, 10:59 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 01, 2016, 10:59 AM (IST)
At the current six-day annual conference which is being held in Edinburgh, it seems highly unlikely that International Cricket Council (ICC) will make major changes. The conference, which began on June, 27 will commence tomorrow. The widely anticipated topics like expansion of T20 World Cups, revival of Tests and ODIs and the much criticised ‘Big Three’ haven’t seen much of a light shed on them. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia was elected as the 39th Associate member of ICC. Barring this, no other official announcement has been given by ICC on other talked about issues. ALSO READ: Saudi Arabia unanimously elected as ICC’s 39th Associate Member
It was expected that the much criticised ‘Big Three’, founded in 2014 by then ICC Chairman N.Srinivasan, would be scrapped off. To add to that, in order to revive Test and ODI cricket, ‘Two-Division Tests’ and ‘One-Day League was thought to be on the radar of ICC. Another important thing which was much awaited was the decision to be taken on T20 World Cups. It was earlier expected that a call will be made to let the tournament happen every two years. Also, ‘Super-12’ was expected to be introduced in ICC T20 World Cup 2018.
Cricbuzz quoted an delegate speaking about the discussions in the conference. “I didn’t like the negative feel last year… there was so much tension. This year there is more energy and aspirations. It is foolish to think (change) is a light switch and can happen instantly. It is wise to take time and really consider this.”
“The ‘big three’ might have been the best thing that has ever happened because it was the reality check the sport needed to start change. Too much work has gone into this for change not to go through. It is a matter of ‘how and when’ not ‘if’,” he added.
