Cricket: Marketing stoush queers Champions Trophy pitch

Malcolm Speed

A decrease in hostilities between the Indian and International cricket boards has proved to be a temporary ceasefire.

Just when they should be celebrating the updated Champions Trophy competition (now on in India) they've instead become embroiled in another row, the intensity of which threatens to upstage their own tournament.

Indian board vice-president Lalit Modi stands charged with throwing the first rocket-propelled grenade, accusing the International Cricket Council of suffering from a "colonial hangover", and calling for the head of its chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Speed yesterday wasted little time in responding, saying in a statement he was disappointed in Modi's "inflammatory and provocative comments", as they distracted from the Champions Trophy tournament.

Modi's complaints, published in yesterday's Times of India, centered around India's reluctance to sign the ICC's Members Participation Agreement, designed to protect tournament sponsors from ambush marketing.

The Indian board (BCCI) had an acrimonious stand-off with the ICC over the same issue before the 2003 World Cup, and is scheduled to co-host the 2011 event.

Modi believed India should be left to run the tournament in its own backyard, because it was familiar with the territory whereas the ICC - and it's third-party organising firms - were not.

In comments made later to website Cricinfo, Modi insisted that India needed to run the tournament for the greater good.

Modi said: "I don't think they [the ICC] have the wherewithal and understanding for running the game of cricket in a country that's so diverse and so unique, with so many problems.

"Every state Government has its rules, every police association has its rules, there's logistics to be understood. We can't put up a show for the world with our hands tied behind our backs.

"At the end of the day the Indian cricket board is not going to lie on its back and get shafted."

Modi further slammed the ICC executive for perceived threats to India's right to co-host the 2011 World Cup, claiming that nothing but a majority of the member nations would be allowed to overturn previous decisions.

The chairman of the BCCI's marketing arm, said the entire ICC structure needed a shake-up, starting with the chief executive.

"It's time we had a chief executive who comes from Afro-Asia, someone who understands the problems of a majority of ICC members and doesn't heed just the affluent alone," he said.

Speed replied in his statement that the ICC remained committed to excellence in terms of the 2011 World Cup, and was determined to do whatever was best for the game and all of its participating members.

"Rest assured, despite such regrettable comments, the ICC remains focused on delivering a world-class event in India, something that will benefit all of our 97 members by helping to grow the game worldwide. We will continue to act, as always, in the best interests of the sport."

Speed could not resist a sly dig at Modi, saying there were better ways of addressing an issue than making an outburst in the media, and that "the international cricket community has in place processes through which concerns can be raised".

"If Mr Modi has any genuine issues then he can ask one of his senior colleagues at the BCCI, who will be in attendance, to raise these concerns at the ICC's next board meeting, set to take place in Mumbai in early November."