Dave Richardson lauds Shashank Manohar’s stand on conflict of interest

The International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Dave Richardson on Wednesday lauded Shashank Manohar for his stand against conflict of interest. He said the ICC chairman, who also heads the BCCI, is a principled man and is trying to reform the governance structure in both the bodies.

The BCCI, under Manohar’s presidency, has been forced to undertake structural reforms after the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retd) RM Lodha committee suggested wholesale changes in its administration.

“Any improvements on the governance of any country, as far as the ICC is concerned at this stage, is fair enough. I know that our new Chairman Mr. Manohar is a very principled man and seems to be interested or trying to at least adhere to the principles of no conflict of interest when it comes to governance of the game,” Richardson said at a promotional event in Chennai.

“I think he is quite keen that the ICC should also look at those aspects of governance. Certainly, the ICC will be encouraged to work with countries having good governance and good administration and good performances,” he added.

About the Decision Review System he explained, “DRS has been very useful and obviously we would like to get many umpiring decisions correct. We assess decisions of matches that are telecast or broadcast. The assessment has been remarkable that the umpires have awarded about 93 per cent of the decisions correctly. And, what DRS has been able to do is that it improves it from 93 percent to say 98.”

He stated, “Now India for various reasons had not favoured the use of DRS. Number one, they often say that as a matter of principle, they like the idea of the umpire making the decisions and the spirit of the game is not to question the decision of the umpire.

“The other reason is that they do not have the confidence in the technology used for DRS. Now the DRS system is being assessed at the M.I.T (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in USA on accuracy…I do not think we would get to a stage that there will be 100 per cent clarity on each and every case. Whether we can persuade India in the long run, I cannot be sure.”

India is set to host the World T20 Championship in March-April this year and Richardson brushed aside suggestions that security would be a concern.

“The fact is that the world has become more complicated today and security has become more challenging. That is not in India alone and it includes many ICC-recognised countries around the world. We are at it and we make sure that every team and its players whether it is Pakistan or Sri Lanka, we provide the best security possible,” he said.

On the ICC’s bid to make cricket an Olympic sport, Richardson said, “We held a discussion with the IOC in November last year. There are lots of pros and cons to consider so we are not in a position yet to say yes that we want cricket to be a part of Olympics. It is also not that easy to get into the Olympics. Perhaps during middle of this year, we would be able to give a clearer direction on this matter.”