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Dubai: The two-day International Cricket Council Board meeting to be held in Dubai from Monday will decide the successor to Malcolm Speed, the Chief Executive of the world cricket body.
Speed is set to step down soon after the ICC Annual Conference to be held in June/July. The Board meeting will consider a recommendation from a four-member subcommittee made up of Ray Mali, the ICC president, and vice-presidents David Morgan, Sharad Pawar and Creagh O'Connor of Australia and finalise the successor.
Best players
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), wanting to have a strong hold in the ICC, is keen to have an Indian as the next chief executive.
It is understood that former BCCI president I.S. Bindra, backed by Pawar, may get the post. However, two strong candidates from South Africa are also in the fray.
The two-day meeting will strongly debate the impact of the Indian Premier League and Indian Cricket League.
Top players from different countries have signed up to take part in the IPL and all the cricket boards are likely to demand what would they gain for releasing their best players to play in India. Many cricket boards feel that some of their top players have announced their retirement only to join IPL and hence they may ask for compensation from the BCCI.
Poor standards
There is even talk that some may ask ICC to stop IPL to prevent players' burn out due to excess cricket.
Pawar is likely to face a tough time during the two-day meeting which will also discuss the format of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup which is to take place in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the light of the poor umpiring standards during the Australia-India series the board will discuss whether more technological help should be provided to the umpires in future.
The future of Zimbabwe cricket will also be discussed during the meeting. The board will study if there has been a misappropriation of funds by Zimbabwe cricket authorities, based on a study by KPMG, an accountancy firm from South Africa.
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