Borde: Big trio already running cricket

India, Australia and England are already running world cricket and with the impending vote on the proposal they have put forward coming up, it is just a matter of making it official, Red Steel manager Colin Borde says. The former West Indies ‘A’ team and T&T senior team manager made the comment yesterday, in response to the recommendation that Test cricket be changed to a two-tier system which would put the three heavyweights in one major grouping and the others teams in another. Borde said if one looks at the current situation in world cricket, it is easy to see that India, England and Australia do whatever they want and are allowed to because of their financial standing. “They are already running cricket. Anyone following this sport closely will realise that they get away with anything they do and the others are just there staying quiet,” he said.



There is currently a “working paper” on the matter which will go before the International Cricket Council at their quarterly meeting in Dubai next week. The proposal is that India, England and Australia control the ICC by having their officials take principal positions and that Test cricket be played in a two-tier system. This has sparked heated debate across the world, with former players and officials voicing concern that once cricket is controlled by these three countries, it will lead to its death in many regions. The well-respected Borde, who has been very closely associated with cricket, said: “If you look at the Future Tours Programme (FTP), India, Australia and England are allowed to change it at will. They don’t want to play this one and that one, or not at this time and all this is allowed to go on by the current ICC. “I am not bashing Indian cricket, because I am fully aware of the contribution that they have made, but they are allowed to get away with not using the DRS (decision review system) when they play international cricket.”

For the proposal to see a green light, the big three must gain the support of at least four of the other seven full members. The other full members are the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC), Cricket South Africa (CSA), New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the Zimbabwe Cricket Board (ZCB).
The CSA has already said they are not supporting it, while the Sri Lankans seem heading in their direction. It is understood that the WICB also will not support the move, but the others are undecided. “England just got a ‘whitewash’ in Australia and you are telling me that they cannot be demoted,” Borde said, referring to a part of the proposal which states that India, England and Australia cannot be demoted from the top-tier flight.

“This is very wrong and the others must stand up against this. If, for instance, the West Indies play in the second tier and it takes them a few years to get into the top flight, they would go in there broke and then once they are demoted the cycle would continue. “A lot more information needs to come out and the different boards must make this public because everyone is a stakeholder in this. We don’t know if the second-tier teams would be allowed to play in World Cups in order to gain revenue or not, or whether they would be able to play against any of the big guns in any form of cricket. “This proposal as it is, from what is revealed so far, cannot work for the betterment of cricket and would surely lead to the death of West Indies cricket.”
guardian.co.tt/sport/2014-01-25/borde-bi...eady-running-cricket