ICC act to protect the 'integrity' of Test cricket

The International Cricket Council has reacted swiftly to the news that Malcolm Speed, its chief executive, had flown to Zimbabwe only to be snubbed by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. The ICC announced that it would hold an emergency board meeting, in the form of a telephone conference, this Friday (May 21), to decide whether the two scheduled matches between Zimbabwe and Australia should be stripped of their Test status.

The ICC's press release was couched in diplomatic terms, but the anger at the conduct of the ZCU was clear. It referred to the refusal of the ZCU to defer the matches "as proposed by the ICC and agreed by Cricket Australia", the first official acknowledgment that such a step had been planned: less than 24 hours ago suggestions to that effect were said not to be part of the discussion.

"The decision by the ZCU to withdraw its invitation to Malcolm Speed was unfortunate," said Ehsan Mani, the ICC's chairman. "Instead, he met with Peter Chingoka [the ZCU chairman] and Vince Hogg [the chief executive] on the understanding that they would relay to the full board the view of the international cricket community on the importance of preserving the integrity of Test cricket at its meeting today.

"The ZCU has now indicated that it intends to proceed with these matches as Test matches," Mani continued, "and I have called a meeting of the ICC executive board to establish clearly if the ICC directors believe that affording these matches Test status is appropriate."

Mani added that the issue at stake was the integrity of Test cricket, not the internal dispute which has dogged Zimbabwe for the last seven weeks. "It's up to the directors to determine if these matches should have Test status or not and to exercise their judgment as to what course of action best protects the integrity of the international game."

Mani chairs the executive board, which includes Speed, but neither of them has a vote. Seven of the ten directors have to agree on a motion for it to be carried. The directors, representing the Test-playing countries, are Bob Merriman (Australia), Mohammad Ali Asghar (Bangladesh), David Morgan (England), Jagmohan Dalmiya (India), Sir John Anderson (New Zealand), Shaharyar Khan (Pakistan), Mohan de Silva (Sri Lanka), Ray Mali (South Africa), Teddy Griffiths (West Indies) and Peter Chingoka (Zimbabwe). There are also three representatives of the associate-member countries: Rene van Ierschot (Holland), Jimmy Rayani (Kenya) and Tunku Imran (Malaysia).