The ICC has dismissed the Federation of International Cricketers' Association's claims that the governing body is unpopular with players, saying a sample survey cannot provide a real picture.

A FICA poll, conducted on 45 cricketers from the nine Test-playing nations, revealed that 56 per cent of players were not satisfied with ICC's governance and its ability to conduct big events like recent World Cup.

But an ICC spokesman said FICA only represented players from five Full Member countries and none of the Associates.

"Given that 240 players, plus replacements, took part in the event it would be interesting to know how many of them were polled to produce this result," he was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.

"Does the survey take any account of the fact that players' attitudes to the game, its administrators and the tournament are almost certainly bound to be affected by their own and their team's performance at the World Cup?

"... Thanks to the way the game is being administered the players were able to share in a prize pool of US $5 million, including US $2.24 million for the winners," he said.

The spokesman also said FICA should have informed the ICC about its findings to work through any potential issues.

"It is interesting that Tim (May) chose to release the findings of his survey to the media but, despite the fact it is critical of the ICC, he chose to not to share the information with the organisation or provide a right of reply before that release, something that would have allowed the two groups to work through any potential issues he or his members

may have in a sensible and reasoned way," he said.

But FICA Chief Executive Tim May said the ICC had been informed prior to the release and that Dave Richardson, the ICC's General Manager - Cricket, had been sent all questions and replies, according to Cricinfo.

May also said, "The prize money relates to about 2 per cent of total revenue produced. The ICC should not be deluded that their performance by others is only going to be judged by reference to commercial considerations. Administration is far more than the dollar value of contracts that you sign. It involves decisions."

The ICC spokesman also pointed out that the release had not highlighted the positive aspects of the survey.

"Eighty-six per cent of those surveyed felt the anti-doping education they received was appropriate, 84 per cent felt the same about anti-corruption matters and 82 per cent were content with the ICC Anti-Racism Code information they had to hand.

"Despite FICA's perspective of those figures, we believe most people would regard those sorts of figures as very positive and a testament to the hard work in terms of education that the ICC and its members carry out in this area."