'What can Gray do? He can only talk!'
A committee was once famously defined as a group of men who, individually, can do nothing but collectively, can decide that nothing can be done.
One would, prima facie, think that the ICC is one such committee. But if you watch carefully, very very carefully, you will see forward movement -- at snail's pace perhaps, in fits and starts maybe, but movement nonetheless.
One such instance relates to the ICC's schedule committee. For a while now, we have been hearing talk of regularising, streamlining, the international cricket calendar. The scheduling committee met in Kenya, during the recent ICC Cup, to try and walk that talk.
At the meeting, India was represented by the irrepressible Jaywant Lele -- never mind the fact that on record, Kamal Morarka is chairman of the board's scheduling committee, and thus the person who should logically have attended the meeting.
Lele spoke to rediff.com's Faisal Shariff from his home in Baroda, on the international calendar and other matters. It was apparent, though, that the honorary secretary of the Board for Control of Cricket in India had been told not to discuss match-fixing. Any questions on the subject were met with 'Why do you ask me this, do you want to get me into trouble?'.
How come you represented India at the ICC schedule committee meeting in Kenya, and not Kamal Morarka?
I am convener of the committee, and Morarka is chairman. One of us had to go, and I went. We discussed and fixed up an international schedule for the next ten years, on the basis of reciprocal tours.
So how many times will India tour say Australia over the next decade?
Twice, and likewise, Australia will tour India twice. The same will be the case with South Africa, England, West Indies, all the countries. The entire schedule is based on the reciprocal formula, in the next decade all the Test playing nations will play each other both at home and away.
Could you give us the schedule?
No, I won't. I am not supposed to give out the schedule. We will release it as and when it is necessary.
How about newer nations like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe? Will they also be involved in these reciprocal tours?
Those countries have been taken care of as well, they will get an equal number of games.
You mean that Australia and South Africa will tour Bangladesh twice in the next decade?
What nonsensical things are you asking me? Why should Australia or SA tour Bangladesh? It is our responsibility to promote and help countries in our region. Suppose a country in the South Pacific region is given Test status, then it will be the responsibility of New Zealand or Australia to tour them and host them and give a fillip to their cricket. Similarly, since Bangladesh falls in the Asian zone, it will be the responsibility of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to promote cricket in that country. That is how the ICC's development policy is structured.
You mean that ICC will function on regional basis and not on a global one?
Yes, it will. And why shouldn't it?
And what of the other tournaments, like the triangulars and such?
There is no confusion on that, they have all been slotted into the calendar, the whole thing has been sorted out.
If the ICC is planning the international calendar, then what happens if a tour is called off? Like for instance, India has called off its tour of Pakistan...
There is nothing the ICC can do. What can you or I do about it? If the government has decided that you can't play against some country, then that is it, we have nothing more to say on that.
But the ICC has been talking of imposing punishment on India, Malcolm Gray made a statement the other day...
That is rubbish, what can Malcolm Gray do? He can only talk. There is nothing in the ICC constitution whereby they can impose any punishment on the BCCI. If the government refuses to issue visas to the players, what can we do?
On another subject, the other day I learnt that our contract with the CBFS is to play in Sharjah once a year. How come we keep going more often? What is the attraction for playing in Sharjah?
India will play 15 times in Sharjah, who are you to ask why we are playing there? According to the contract we are supposed to play once, yes, but it is our prerogative how many times we send our team there.
But the problem is that in the process, we do not get such tournaments happening in India. There has been no quadrangular tournament in India after the Independence Cup in 1997, for instance. This means that the local associations lose chances to make money...
India is ready to host quadrangulars and six-nation tournaments, but are the countries ready to come? Can Pakistan come and play here? Will the Indian government permit it? All the other countries are busy with their own schedules. No country wants to take the risk of saying yes and then having to rethink the whole season if the government cancels the tour.
In 1997, the Cricket Association of Bengal celebrated its diamond jubilee with an international tournament. Other associations like the PCA, the Orissa association and others have asked for their own centenary celebrations, how come they haven't materialised? Is the board being partial?
Listen, the BCCI has not turned down any of the requests. In fact, the Board has given permission to the various associations. But do they have it in them to invite the teams, get their okay, and host a tournament? See how well Bengal managed to conduct its diamond jubilee celebrations. It was not the Board which did anything. It was the Bengal Cricket Association and (Jagmohan) Dalmiya who managed to pull it off. Why can't the other associations do likewise? Why should the Board be blamed for everything? We have given permission, it is up to the respective associations to pull it off.
But how are the associations supposed to host tournaments, when the Indian team is playing all the time?
Why, there is a lot of time. A year has twelve months in it. The Indian team has two months off in the year, let the associations organise their tournaments then!
Postscript: Later in the evening, we spoke to Mark Harrison, ICC communications manager, for an update on the international calendar.
Harrison informed us that the ICC's schedule was not region-based, and said the entire schedule, for the next decade, would be released in January.
"The schedule has been devised in such a fashion that over the next five years, all Test-playing nations will play each other home and away. And there is no regional basis to the schedule -- every Test nation will play Bangladesh over the next few years, it is not the responsibility solely of the Asian countries to help Bangladesh develop as a cricketing nation."
Interestingly, Harrison added that the schedule does not budget for tournaments in third party venues. "Besides the ICC Knockout Tournament and the World Cup, the schedule has not provided for any other multi-national ODI tournament," Harrison affirmed.
Asked whether the proposed World Test Championship was likely to materialise, Harrison said the streamlining of the calendar was the first step, and the ICC would discuss the idea of a Test championship at its next meeting. "The ICC appreciates the need to have regular interaction between all the nations, in order to reflect on the standing of the various teams," he concluded.
