ICC looks determined to lead the game out of the mess

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, MAY 2. The world will have to wait for another 24 hours to learn what action the International Cricket Council (ICC) proposes to deal with match-fixing but the signs are promising.

The ICC chief executive, David Richards, summed up the first day of the two-day meeting by saying, ``We have made great progress'', and suggested that we would all approve of the decisions that had been made. We will see. The suspicion is that a life ban for cricketers who get involved in betting and an amnesty for those who admit past sins is the most likely news but maybe ICC has, for once, stirred itself to greater action.

Three clear points emerged from Tuesday's session which lasted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a break for lunch; a typical day's work in the city of London for instance, just five miles down the road from the meeting place at Lord's. At least the ICC has put in the hours.

The first decision was that all the 18 delegates to the special meeting of the executive board of the ICC sign a declaration - put forward by Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board - that ``they have no financial interest, direct or indirect, in the game of cricket other than those which have been declared to, and/or are known by, their domestic board and which are in the public domain.''

It is a rather pompous way of saying that they are whiter than white, and have no truck with bookmakers and that ilk. Who ever, for a single moment, thought that the ICC board was behind all the naughty boy behaviour of their players?

``They all signed willingly and immediately,'' said Richards, looking positively triumphant.

They have also issued a long rebuttal of the influence of their president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, in assigning the contract for the 1998 ICC knock-out in Dhaka.

Essentially the board declares that ``Dalmiya was not involved in negotiations with any of the four bidders - Doordarshan, TWI, World Tel and CSI - all of whom made a buy-out tender.

Finally, they have written to Inderjit Bindra, who had come to London independently hoping he would be asked to submit his evidence to the meeting.

It is a step in the right direction and Richards added a strong plea that anyone who had evidence should bring it into the open. As Raj Singh Dungapore, at the meeting in place of Dr. A. Muttiah, who withdrew when he heard of the death of his mother, said: ``We have a good day.''

When delegates arrived at Lord's they had already been told in no uncertain terms that they would be attending a talking shop, that their deliberations would be of no value and that the whole operation was a waste of time and space.

We will hear at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday what they have achieved but my impression is of a group of men determined to show they can lead the game out of the mess.

It was the need for a strong solution which made Lord MacLaurin go on the radio early in the morning to insist that the ICC should show the way forward. ``If we do not,'' said MacLaurin, the only representative of the England and Wales Cricket Board, ``people will be asking if we are fit to lead.''

He thought the cancer of match-fixing might be rife throughout the game and it is hard to argue with that belief.

His words have had their effect and his suggestion that they should declare their lack of financial interest in the game was readily seized on by all the delegates.

Matthew Fleming, chairman of the Professional Cricketers Association, added his weight to the remarks, making it clear that the average cricketer wanted nothing left under wraps. ``It must all be brought out into the open,'' said Fleming, who is also the Kent captain and, incidentally, a son of the banking firm that also claimed Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond adventures, as a relative.

Perhaps cricket needs a Bond figure to solve its present crisis. Perhaps - and as MacLaurin said today ``don't hold your breath'' - they will bring forward such a figure tomorrow.

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