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Mani to take over presidency at ICC`s annual meeting
London, June 14: The International Cricket Council will see a change of guard next week with Pakistan`s Ehsan Mani taking over as the new president during the nearly week- long annual meeting starting here tomorrow which is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues.
London, June 14: The International Cricket Council will see a change of guard next week with Pakistan's Ehsan Mani taking over as the new president during the nearly week- long annual meeting starting here tomorrow which is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues.
Mani, permanent representative of Pakistan Cricket Board at ICC, will take over from Australia's Malcolm Gray at the annual conference on June 19. Mani, a London-based accountant who will be the third ICC president after a new constitution was put in place in 1997, will have a two-year term.
Mani's ascendancy is likely to give a fillip to India-Pakistan bilateral cricket ties which is slowly moving towards normalisation after a three-year hiatus due to strained political relations between the two neighbours.
The Pakistani administrator is known to enjoy a close relationship with Indian cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya and is expected to provide momentum to the process of resumption of bilateral cricket matches between the two countries. Among other important issues directly concerning India would be the compensation claims likely to be filed by the Global Cricket Corporation, rights holders for ICC events till 2007, for losses it suffered during the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year on account of inability of some of the cricket boards to honour their contractual obligations.
The Indian cricketers did not abide by the original players' terms for the World Cup, which put restrictions on their personal endorsements to protect the rights of the official sponsors. The official sponsors have claimed for damages from GCC on this account and GCC, in turn, is likely to pass on the liability to ICC at this meeting.
Having anticipated such claims, ICC had withheld the World Cup guarantee money of India -- and also of England and New Zealand who had forfeited a match each during the tournament.
The meetings will also discuss the increasing number of cricket matches being played which has led to players complaining of fatigue and early burn-out. Proposals on increased interaction between administrators and player representative bodies and applications for membership from five new countries will also come up for discussion.
Bureau Report
Mani's ascendancy is likely to give a fillip to India-Pakistan bilateral cricket ties which is slowly moving towards normalisation after a three-year hiatus due to strained political relations between the two neighbours.
The Pakistani administrator is known to enjoy a close relationship with Indian cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya and is expected to provide momentum to the process of resumption of bilateral cricket matches between the two countries. Among other important issues directly concerning India would be the compensation claims likely to be filed by the Global Cricket Corporation, rights holders for ICC events till 2007, for losses it suffered during the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year on account of inability of some of the cricket boards to honour their contractual obligations.
The Indian cricketers did not abide by the original players' terms for the World Cup, which put restrictions on their personal endorsements to protect the rights of the official sponsors. The official sponsors have claimed for damages from GCC on this account and GCC, in turn, is likely to pass on the liability to ICC at this meeting.
Having anticipated such claims, ICC had withheld the World Cup guarantee money of India -- and also of England and New Zealand who had forfeited a match each during the tournament.
The meetings will also discuss the increasing number of cricket matches being played which has led to players complaining of fatigue and early burn-out. Proposals on increased interaction between administrators and player representative bodies and applications for membership from five new countries will also come up for discussion.
Bureau Report