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No problems with India over MPA: ICC

The International Cricket Council feels that the issues raised by the BCCI were not substantial and could be resolved through discussions.

Published on: Nov 2, 2006, 24:06:00 IST
None | By , Mohali
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The International Cricket Council does not foresee any major problem in addressing India's concerns on the contentious Members Participation Agreement, as the issues raised by the BCCI were not "substantial" and could be resolved through discussions.

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HT Image

"I don't believe that there are any substantial issues with the BCCI. We will work through their problems and see what can be done," ICC's Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed told a press conference at Mohali.

"We have reached an agreement with most of the countries. Some of these countries had problems with some of the clauses which we have amended in the subsequent drafts.

"It is a normal procedure and we regret that the Indian board had not dealt with in April."

Speed said five or six drafts have already been prepared taking into account the concerns of all the member countries.

"We will talk with the BCCI officials in this regard," he said.

All the ICC member countries are required to sign the MPA, a document which imposes certain marketing and endorsement restrictions for the teams, to be eligible for participation in ICC events from 2007 to 2015.

On whether the BCCI was eligible to bid for rights for ICC events to be held from 2007-2015, Speed said the matter would come up for discussions during the Executive Board meeting in Mumbai on November 3-4.

"The correspondence between the ICC and BCCI on these issues have been made available to all the Executive Board representatives and they will decide on the matter," he said.

Speed said a decision on umpire Darrel Hair will also be taken up by the Executive Board along with with issues like the Pakistan Cricket Board's letter seeking investigation into Hair's conduct during the Oval controversy.

"We have received a letter from PCB asking for an investigation into Hair's conduct during and after the Oval incident. The PCB is entitled to lay a charge but I can't comment on the likely outcome at this stage.

"We want to resolve the Hair issue once and for all in the next three days. He still has a contract with the ICC and we would like to find a way so that he can continue," he said.

On the compensation dispute between the PCB and the England Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Speed said there was a procedure in place to handle such issues.

"We have a ICC Dispute Resolution process. We have not received a formal request yet. In case such a request comes, we will appoint a three-member committee which will be empowered to take decisions".

Asked what the ICC had learnt from the Oval fiasco which saw Pakistan forfeit their match against England after the ball-tampering charge, Speed said the game's governing body will take corrective measures to ensure that such incidents were not repeated.

"We reflected on it and we are awake now. We have to see whether the rules are appropriate to deal with such situations or we need to make certain adjustments".

On reports that World Anti-Doping Agency officials were not provided with proper facilities during the Champions Trophy, the ICC Chief Executive said, "There are no issues with WADA. They are not familiar with cricket and the problems could have arisen because of that. I have met the WADA officials and everything has been taken care of".

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