Head of Communications at West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Imran Khan, has said that the draft proposal presented by the ICC’s Finance & Commercial Affairs committee could both benefit and/or work against WICB. The proposal, which gives control of Test cricket to England, India and Australia, also includes the formation of a two-tier structure of Test cricket, with those three nations immune from relegation. Khan said the draft, if accepted, could affect the FTP (Future Tours Programme), which regulates Test series across the world. “This is very good for us because we no longer would be obligated to host New Zealand and Zimbabwe and those loss-making tours. We can only look to host India, England and Australia where we know we will make money,†he said. “However, the flipside to that is that England, Australia and India may very well look upon West Indies and say, ‘well, we really don’t have to host West Indies because Sports Max and CMC don’t really give us much money for when they come.’ So that is where you have to balance the issue out and it is a very sensitive issue.
“I don’t know we can say with absolute certainty at this stage that one is greater than the other where that specific issue is concerned,†he added. Khan also explained how the FTP operates, saying that teams will now have more leeway to choose which teams they play based on television rights. “What the FTP lays out is that Australia will play England in March of 2014, West Indies will play England in February and March of 2015 and so on and so forth, and it does that for all the countries and the proposal from the working committee is saying that’s not really working because you are forcing countries to host series that are unprofitable to them and that is a real issue in West Indies cricket because when we host New Zealand, when we host Zimbabwe and sometimes even when we host South Africa, those tours are not financially viable for the West Indies. We lose money from them,†he said. The plans will be discussed at an International Cricket Council executive board meeting next week and WICB will present a report on the proposal during the gathering.
guardian.co.tt
