BCCI worried about repeated funding given to Zimbabwe Cricket by ICC

Players like Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Sikandar Raza have not played for Zimbabwe due to non payment of dues.

Players like Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Sikandar Raza have not played for Zimbabwe due to non payment of dues

Financially troubled Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has again sought help from International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday so that they could pay their staff and players their pending dues. However, this move by ZC has rung alarm bells in Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as it questioned repeated financial help granted to the ZC.

Zimbabwe Cricket has been in dire straits on account of bad governance decisions that has left them debt ridden,” the official explained to CricketNext. “They found themselves in a situation where any income was only being expended in paying the interests for the debt. The political and economic atmosphere in their country was also not conducive to revenue generation. The weakening of BCCI left them without an influential friend to help them in their time of continuing need.”

The BCCI official spoke of how time and again ICC has proposed and approved funding to Zimbabwe in important decision making meetings of the ICC. This includes the time when the BCCI had looked to stop the governance and financial changes in the international body and needed votes from member countries to do so.

The official said, “The BCCI had needed 4 votes to stem the governance and financial changes in the ICC and Zimbabwe had been India’s friend. However, these conditions were too tempting for the ICC governance brass to ignore and therein started the process of offering Zimbabwe greater revenue and such decisions have always been proximate to meetings where an important decision is taken.

What it says for the principles and policies of the ICC is not very flattering. If you will notice, this decision had been taken on the same day when the decision to change the format of the Champions Trophy was considered,” the official added.

It is interesting to note that as per the ICC Financial Statements of 2017, loans to full members stand at US$10,609,000 and though the details have not been given in the statements, the members here would definitely include Zimbabwe and West Indies. Post that, another loan is being advanced,” he said.

ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar had announced after the annual conference in Dublin on July 2, that ZC would receive financial assistance.

“I am satisfied we have mapped out a way forward to enable Zimbabwe Cricket to get back on track,” he had said. “It will require significant change to their financial, managerial and cricketing operations, along with support from the ICC, but we saw the latent potential of cricket at the recent ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and this gives us the opportunity to build on that.

The financial mess in Zimbabwe Cricket has seen cricketers like Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Craig Irvine, and Graeme Cremer refusing to play for the national team.

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 25 Jul, 2018

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