After pummeling 178 to help South Africa surge to a big win over Australia, Quinton de Kock said it was a good wicket to bat on and it was simply his day

Daniel Brettig01-Oct-2016Quinton de Kock believes he’s played better innings than the brutal 178 that destroyed Australia’s bowlers to deliver victory for South Africa in the first ODI at Centurion.On a friendly pitch, de Kock was able to capitalise on Australia’s failure to mount a truly intimidating score after a fast start. He also took advantage of a visiting bowling attack that had been weakened by the resting of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.”It was the most free [flowing] knock that I’ve played,” de Kock told reporters after the match. “But I’ve played a couple of other knocks that I’ve enjoyed more, where I’ve had to work hard for the runs.”Those are the type of knocks that I enjoy. I had to work hard for the runs today, but it was just my day I guess. The wicket was quite nice to play on, it allowed me to play my natural game. Hopefully there will be a couple more wickets like that in the series. Then we can have some more fun.”Though he conceded the bowling was not up to scratch, Australia’s captain Steven Smith was more concerned by the way his batsmen were unable to mount a large enough total. In the absence of Starc and Hazlewood, Smith is aware big scores are required.”I thought we started off quite poorly with the ball, we gave him a few freebies to get away,” Smith said. “We were a bit too short and a bit too wide at times. And from there it just looked like he got in a rhythm, and it felt like every ball was going to the boundary at one point.”We got a nice wicket to bat on and we gave some opportunities away.
We got a lot of starts and nobody was able to go on and get a big score like Quinton de Kock did. So going forward it’s the responsibility of one of our top four to post a big total, and if we do that then the team total is going to be big as well.”

Batsmen Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson have been included in Australia’s Test squad for the second Test against South Africa, which begins in Hobart on November 12

Daniel Brettig at the WACA07-Nov-2016Shaun Marsh has been ruled out of the rest of the South Africa series with a broken finger, meaning Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson have been included in Australia’s Test squad for the second Test in Hobart, which begins on Saturday.The injury occurred when Marsh was fielding on the first day of the Perth Test, a re-break of the same finger he injured during the limited-overs leg of the tour of Sri Lanka in August. However Cricket Australia kept the injury in-house until after the match.This was partly due to Marsh being undecided about whether he was going to submit to surgery that will rule him out of the remainder of the series and put him under pressure to be fit in time for the start of the Pakistan Tests in mid-December.On Monday, Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley said of the injury: “Shaun re-injured his left little finger on day one while fielding. Subsequent x-rays have shown a similar break to the previous one and he will now require surgery to stabilise the bone fragment. At this stage, all going according to plan, we expect Shaun to be available for selection [for the Pakistan Test series].”However it was also the product of indecision among the selectors about who was to be called into the squad, a call not made until Monday afternoon when the panel settled on Burns and Ferguson. There is also doubt over the fitness of Adam Voges due to a hamstring strain, while the allrounder Mitchell Marsh is under severe pressure to hold on to his place in the team following a string of underwhelming scores.Before play on Sunday, the coach Darren Lehmann had denied there would be any changes to the team for Hobart, when asked on ABC Radio by the broadcaster Gerard Whateley.”Just to clarify, is the squad for Perth the squad for Hobart, as that’s how it was selected?” Whateley asked.”Yes,” replied Lehmann.”So the 12’s the 12?” Whateley pursued further.”The 12’s the 12,” concluded Lehmann.Ferguson, 31, is yet to debut in Test cricket, and although he has played 30 ODIs and three T20Is, he has not appeared for Australia since April 2011. He has had a mixed start to the Sheffield Shield this season, scoring a century and a duck in two games for South Australia. His longest run in the ODI team took place in 2009, ending when he suffered a serious knee injury while fielding in that year’s Champions Trophy final against New Zealand.Burns, who was dropped during Australia’s Test whitewash in Sri Lanka, was Man of the Match for his 170 and 65 against New Zealand in Christchurch in February – Australia’s previous Test assignment to the Sri Lanka tour. He too, like Ferguson, has one century in his first two Sheffield Shield games this season. In his 12 Tests, Burns, has 872 runs at 41.52 with three centuries and four fifties.Marsh, who made 63 and 15 in Perth, also had hamstring trouble before this Test series, and had to prove his fitness before being picked for the first Test.Australia are 1-0 down in the series, having lost the Perth Test by 177 runs after a poor showing with the bat. Fast bowler Joe Mennie, named 12th man in Perth, will again link up with the squad in Hobart.Squad for Hobart: David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Joe Mennie, Nathan Lyon

The BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke has requested the ECB to bear the expenses of its team during England’s upcoming tour of India

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2016The BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke has requested the ECB to bear the expenses of its team during England’s upcoming tour of India. Shirke said the BCCI was unable to sign the MoU with the ECB at this time because the board could not enter into contracts without directions from the Lodha Committee.”Dear Phil, I warmly welcome you for the upcoming cricket series. I am however at great pains to inform you that the BCCI is at present not in a position to execute the MoU between the Indian Cricket Board and the ECB,” Shirke wrote to the England team’s operations manager, Phil Neale, according to the . “This is due to restrictions on execution of contracts imposed on the BCCI by a Court order.”Certain courtesies such as hotel, travel and various other arrangements have been extended to you on arrival of the team in India. However, till the MoU is executed, the BCCI is not in a position to commit to paying for the same. Please make arrangements to remit such payments. The BCCI will inform you as and when further instructions are received by the BCCI from the Lodha Committee. I apologise on behalf of the BCCI for inconvenience that is being caused.”While the BCCI had contacted the Lodha Committee seeking approval for the MoU, the Lodha Committee in its response to the board said forming cricket policy was not part of its remit, but that directions regarding payments could only be given after the BCCI provided more information about the transactions involved.It is understood that Shirke then sent the committee the unsigned MoU via email late on November 3 evening, but despite being asked for details the email did not contain what the Lodha Committee wanted.However, there is a larger issue between the Lodha Committee and the BCCI. On October 21, the Supreme Court had directed the BCCI not to distribute funds to state associations until they agreed to comply with the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, which the court had approved in an order on July 18. The court also asked Shirke and Thakur to meet the Lodha Committee in two weeks’ time and placed several restrictions on the board’s ability to enter into contracts, which forced the IPL broadcast and digital rights tender process to be put off indefinitely and prevented the BCCI from signing the MoU with the ECB.The Lodha Committee then asked the BCCI for an undertaking from Thakur that the board would implement the Supreme Court order of October 21, a step that would indicate that the BCCI was willing to implement the recommendations of the Lodha Committee. As of November 3, Thakur had not given such an undertaking and he and Shirke had not met the committee either.The Lodha Committee – comprising former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran – was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.

Parthiv Patel is set to retain the wicketkeeping gloves for India’s fourth Test against England, which begins on Thursday in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-20161:02

By The Numbers: Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel is set to retain the wicketkeeping gloves for India’s fourth Test against England, which begins on Thursday in Mumbai. Wriddhiman Saha, who strained his left thigh during the second Test in Visakhapatnam, missed the third Test in Mohali, and is still recovering from the injury. According to a BCCI release, Saha has been advised rest.Fast bowler Ishant Sharma, whose wedding coincides with the Mumbai Test, has been released from the squad. Ishant, who was recovering from a bout of the mosquito-borne disease chikungunya, was not part of the squad for the first Test, but returned for the second and third Tests, though he could not edge either Mohammed Shami or Umesh Yadav out of the XI.Returning to the Test team after a gap of eight years, Parthiv opened the batting in Mohali, in place of the injured KL Rahul, and enjoyed a fruitful match, scoring 42 in the first innings and an unbeaten 67 in the second, to help India chase down their target of 103.

Weekend rain had seeped through the covers and rendered the practice pitches unusable and there is a chance both teams’ training sessions on Tuesday will be affected

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Firdose Moonda09-Jan-2017Sri Lanka were forced to train indoors at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday, after weekend rains had seeped through the covers and made the outdoor practice pitches unusable.Though there was no rain, overcast conditions did little to aid the drying of the surfaces on Monday, and there is a chance both teams’ training will be affected on Tuesday as well. The South Africa squad does not officially convene till Tuesday, and as such, have not trained yet in Johannesburg.”Our guys are working on it,” Greg Fredericks, CEO of the Lions, the franchise based at the Wanderers, told ESPNcricinfo. “We had a lot of rain from Friday and through the weekend but we are doing our best.”Groundstaff did provide a centre track for Sri Lanka’s bowlers to train on – no one batted there – and will also aim to provide one for South Africa on Tuesday. Additionally it is hoped one of the practice pitches will have dried sufficiently to conduct a nets session on.Sri Lanka were briefly dismayed at the prospect of training indoors on surfaces they felt may be slower than the outdoor practice pitches, and indeed the Test-match surface. But after talking to groundstaff they are hopeful facilities will improve in the approach to the game.

Even as the ICC meetings proceed in Dubai, there remains doubt over who will represent the Indian board at the Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) meeting and the ICC Board meeting given the administrative flux at the BCCI

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Feb-2017Almost exactly a year ago – on February 19, 2016 – the BCCI held a special general body meeting (SGM) in Mumbai. The meeting was chaired by then BCCI president Shashank Manohar and in attendance were board secretary Anurag Thakur, former BCCI and ICC president Sharad Pawar, and other senior BCCI and state association offiicials. The most important point on the agenda was the amount of revenue the BCCI would earn from the ICC’s commercial and broadcast rights deal for the 2015-2023 cycle.In the Big Three model, the BCCI was set to earn about $571.25 million if the ICC secured a rights deal worth $2.5 billion. The BCCI, Cricket Australia and ECB, constructors of this model, worked out the BCCI’s share to be 20.3%, the highest of all members, in recognition of the BCCI’s financial clout. The ECB and CA would also be due a bigger share than the others.Manohar, who took over as BCCI president in November 2015, also replaced N Srinivasan as ICC chairman (the BCCI representative would be ICC chairman for the first two years under the Big-Three governance structure revamp). And almost his first pronouncement as ICC chief was to criticise the Big-Three model, especially the financial inequality of its revenue distribution. He was said to have spoken of a 6% cut in the BCCI’s share, according to a Bangladesh cricket official.With Manohar as the chair, the ICC set up a five-man working group to review the Big-Three governance structure and recommend a new model after consultation with all Full Members and the major Associates.According to an official who was present at that SGM last February, the BCCI members agreed that the percentage of the BCCI’s share could be scaled down to 16-17%. Manohar and Thakur were authorised by the BCCI to negotiate this at ICC meetings. “But it was clearly decided that they would report back to the BCCI before any final decision was taken,” the official said.A year on, with the ICC’s working group’s report ready and containing recommendations for a new financial model and governance structures, leave alone the final decision – the BCCI currently does not even know who exactly will represent it at the important Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) meeting on Friday and the ICC Board meeting on Saturday.On Monday, the Supreme Court of India had appointed a four-member committee of administrators to run the BCCI till fresh elections can take place, having already removed Thakur as BCCI president and Ajay Shirke as the board secretary on January 2.On the same day the court also approved two BCCI office bearers, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and joint-secretary Amitabh Choudhury to accompany Vikram Limaye, who sits on the court-appointed committee of adminstrators, to attend the ICC meetings, which began in Dubai today.On Tuesday, however, confusion began as the committee of administrators, in its first meeting, tasked Rahul Johri, the board CEO, with attending the ICC’s Chief Executive Committee’s (CEC) meeting and Limaye to do likewise at the F&CA and Board meetings. This was communicated by the BCCI to the ICC.The following day, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association – Srinivasan’s home base – went to court to intervene against the choice of representatives made by the committee of administrators. The court said the three men it had approved to travel to Dubai on Monday enjoyed “equal status” and should travel to Dubai.On Thursday, as the two-day CEC meetings began, Choudhury attended as the BCCI representative. Johri travelled to Dubai, but it is understood he was not in the meeting, as only one person can represent a member board.There is no clarity yet on who will represent the BCCI at the F&CA and Board meetings. The ICC constitution states that a Full Member may send one representative, not three. But an observer from the member board is allowed to sit in on the meeting, although he can have no say in the meeting itself. Ultimately, how many attend from the BCCI will be decided by senior ICC management, including Manohar.The committee of administrators believes Limaye will attend and that if the ICC insists on just one or at best, two, out of the court-approved three, then Limaye will have the authority to decide on who attends the meetings.Despite having been forced out of office in 2015 as BCCI president and then as TNCA president, Srinivasan continues to cast a shadow over the BCCI. On Tuesday, it has emerged, Choudhury forwarded the minutes of the first meeting of committee of administrators to him.That meeting was attended by Vinod Rai (chairman) along with Limaye and former India women’s captain Diana Edulji. Johri and Chaudhry were present and briefed the panel on various matters including the ICC meetings.Chaudhry sent the minutes to Choudhury, who then forwarded them to the TNCA treasurer. It is understood both the Lodha Committee and the committee of administrators are aware of this. Srinivasan, through his supporters within the BCCI, has been an objector to Manohar’s Big-Three rollback measures. Chaudhry is said to be the solitary voice who opposed Manohar during last February’s SGM, arguing that the BCCI would suffer a massive loss from a repeal of the Big-Three model.Regardless of who participates in the F&CA and Board meetings, the committee of administrators has made it clear no decision can be taken by the representative(s). “It is an unusual situation and we are waiting to hear back from ICC how many can attend,” one of the committee of administrators told ESPNcricinfo. He would only say that the main aim of the representative(s) will be to “appropriately” deal with the matters.

A round-up of the Group B matches on the opening day of the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2017Dinesk Karthik’s 118 off 97 balls took Tamil Nadu to 314 for 8 and set up their eventual 42-run win over Delhi at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. After being put in, Tamil Nadu’s openers Kaushik Gandhi (41) and Ganga Sridhar Raju (33) came good, which took the team to 94 for 2 when Karthik came out. Karthik began by adding 58 for the fourth wicket with Vijay Shankar, before sharing a 105-run fifth-wicket stand with B Indrajith. Karthik was bowled by Ashish Nehra with the score on 276, having struck 13 fours and three sixes. Thereafter, Indrajith, and Antony Dhas’ late cameo ensured a strong finish. Nehra finished with 4 for 39 in nine overs.Shikhar Dhawan dominated the early part of Delhi’s chase, scoring 23 in an opening stand of 32 with Gautam Gambhir. Following Dhawan’s dismissal, Gambhir added 86 with Dhruv Shorey. Both batsmen struck half-centuries, but Delhi slid from 118 for 1 to 136 for 4. A late half-century stand for the seventh wicket between Milind Kumar and Pawan Negi brought the chase back to life. But Delhi’s hopes came crashing down with Milind’s dismissal for 68, with 49 still needed. Delhi were bowled out shortly thereafter for 272.At the KIIT Stadium, Gurinder Singh’s career-best 61 at No. 7 took Tripura to a tense two-wicket win in a slow-scoring thriller against Kerala. After electing to bowl, Tripura restricted Kerala to 233 for 9, helped new-ball bowler Abhijit Sarkar’s 3 for 41. In reply, Tripura made 235 for 8 in 49.2 overs to win with four balls to spare.That Kerala were lifted to 233 was down to captain Sachin Baby and Salman Nizar, who helped them recover from 60 for 5. The duo shared a 120-run stand before Baby was bowled for 77 by Sanjay Majumder. But Nizar carried on and remained unbeaten on 82 – his best List A score – as Kerala scored 53 runs in the last nine overs. Like Kerala, Tripura were helped by a sixth-wicket partnership. Gurinder, who walked out at 86 for 5, took them to 161 in the company of Yashpal Singh before the latter was caught behind off Sandeep Warrier. Sanjay Majunder then dominated a seventh-wicket stand of 49 before both batsmen fell on the same score. But Sarkar and Dwaipayan Bhattacharjee fought nerves to see their team through.Maharashtra won a run glut against Himachal Pradesh by 25 runs in Tangi. After being inserted, Maharashtra put up 376 for 7 on the back of debutant Ruturaj Gaikwad’s maiden List A century. Likewise, Prashant Chopra struck a century opening the innings in Himachal’s chase, but left-arm spinner Jagdish Zope’s 4 for 60 on List A debut ensured Himachal were bowled out for 351.Gaikwad set up Maharashtra’s platform with a 167-run opening stand with Vijay Zol (62). He added 53 more for the second wicket with Ankit Bawne before being bowled by Bipul Sharma’s left-arm spin. Naushad Shakih then took charge of proceedings, and along with Shrikant Mundhe, punished Himachal. Naushad struck 72 off 39 balls with eight fours and three sixes, while Mundhe’s 42 came off 20 balls and with the help of three fours and as many sixes.Chopra’s even 100 in the chase came off 85 balls. He began by putting on 98 with his opening partner Ankush Bains (38), before following it up with 68 with Robin Bist (46) for the second wicket. With Bist falling for 46, caught off Anupam Sanklecha, Himachal were in a bit of a wobble at 227 for 6. But Ankit Kaushik mounted a late fightback, and along with Bipul Sharma (20) and Pankaj Jaiswal (24), took Maharashtra close. But Zope, who had taken out the openers, returned to dismiss the last two batsmen. Kaushik was unbeaten on 59 off 34 balls, with five fours and four sixes.

England eased to a 117-run victory in their first warm-up match in West Indies, but the batting was more impressive than the bowling

George Dobell in St Kitts25-Feb-2017
ScorecardBen Stokes was in the runs, but the bowling wasn’t quite so successful•Getty Images

What a great leveller this game can be.A few days after becoming the most expensive overseas player in the IPL’s history, Ben Stokes saw his only complete over of England’s first warm-up match in St Kitts thrashed for 23 by a 20-year-old playing only his eighth List A game.To be fair to Stokes, who had earlier made a half-century, the 20-year-old is some talent. Shimron Hetmyer, the former captain of the West Indies side that won the Under-19 World Cup, timed the ball beautifully and, having clipped Stokes’ first ball for six over square leg, laced a couple of boundaries through the off side before finishing the over with a pull over mid-wicket for another six. Two wides and a no-ball completed the picture and meant that, at that stage, Stokes’ last 10 deliveries in an England shirt against Caribbean opposition – going back to Carlos Braithwaite’s four sixes – had cost an eye-watering 47 runs.Under normal circumstances, none of this would warrant much attention. Even the best endure bad days, after all, and warm-up days like this exist to help brush off the rust. All recent evidence suggests that, come the big occasion, Stokes will be the man England rely upon.But coming, as it did, a few days after Stokes’ auction success, it demonstrated the pressure that he will be under every time he steps on to a pitch these days. He can no longer be considered a promising allrounder in the developmental stage of his career; he is a world star whose every move will be studied and followed. There will always be great expectation; there will always be scrutiny. His life has changed and it may not all be for the better.Still, with four of their top five making half-centuries and a final victory margin of 117 runs, Stokes’ tough over was a minor blip in a generally satisfactory day for England.It showed how far they had come since they last visited St Kitts. At that time, less than two years ago, they were still reeling in the aftermath of their wretched 2015 World Cup performance. During their match against a St Kitts Invitational XI, it was announced that Paul Downton, the managing director of the England teams, had been sacked and the coaching staff were informed, ominously as it transpired, there would be no further changes “while they were on tour.” Peter Moores was subsequently sacked the moment England returned.They are a much-changed white ball side now. It’s not just the personnel that is different, though the absence of the top run-scorer and wicket-taker in their ODI history (Ian Bell and James Anderson respectively) is notable, but that the mentality has changed. Remarkably, given how poorly they performed in the most recent global ODI event, several bookies make them favourites for the Champions Trophy to be played in June. It seemed unthinkable in April 2015.Chadwick Walton made 121 in the run chase•Getty Images

It’s not hard to see what their resurgence has been built upon. Their uncompromisingly aggressive batting helped them race to 239 for 2 at the 30-over mark here and, with Joe Root and Eoin Morgan well set, it appeared a world record List A score might be achievable. Only one side in history (Surrey against Gloucestershire at The Oval in 2007) have ever reached 450 in a List A game and there seemed every chance England could become the second.As it was, they scored a relatively modest 140 from the final 20 overs of the innings despite nearly 100 in the final 10. With the balls softer and the pitch slowing, timing the ball became more difficult and it took some muscular late hitting from Stokes, who was dropped three times in an innings that become more fluent as it progressed, and Liam Dawson to take them above 350.Still, with Jason Roy looking in sublime form – he did not field due to a hand bruised by a succession of tough fielding drills but is not a serious injury concern – and runs for Root and Morgan, England could be well satisfied with this work out for their batsmen.Only Sam Billings, who was brilliantly caught at point, and Jos Buttler, who played-on attempting to force the pace, missed out but both are likely to have another chance on Monday. Billings, in particular, probably needs to take every chance with Alex Hales potentially returning imminently.The bowling was less impressive. While Steven Finn, who had not taken a wicket in any form of cricket since September despite having racked up some air miles, all but ended the match as a contest with wickets from the second and fourth balls of the second over of University of West Indies Vice-Chancellor’s XI reply, there were times when Morgan seemed to lack the options required to stem the flow of runs.Not for the first time, the edge offered to the side by the extra pace of Mark Wood was sorely missed. Chris Woakes (rested) and David Willey (injured) were also missed, but it may be upon Wood’s seemingly fragile ankle that England’s Champions Trophy hopes rest.That the UWI side made over 250 was largely due to the excellence of Chadwick Walton. A good enough player to have represented West Indies in two Tests – albeit during the Floyd Reifer period of captaincy when the best players were unavailable due to a disagreement with the board – he was also part of a record Caribbean List A score only a couple of weeks ago when he made a century as Jamaica amassed 434 against Trinidad and Tobago in the Super 50 competition. He has played a few ODIs, too, and made it into a full strength Test squad as a reserve keeper.At one stage, he thrashed Dawson (who was otherwise admirably frugal) for three successive sixes, while Liam Plunkett was hit for the shot of the day: a straight driven six that thundered back over the bowler’s head.Such things will happen in limited-overs cricket. As Jermaine Levy, the latest man to concede 100 in a List A match, will tell you: modern white-ball cricket is very much a batsman’s game.

Nottinghamshire have signed the Australia fast bowler James Pattinson for the first half of the English season

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2017Nottinghamshire have signed the Australia fast bowler James Pattinson for the first half of the English season.Pattinson, 26, will be available for both four-day and 50-over cricket until the end of June and replaces fellow Australian Peter Siddle who was forced to withdraw from his deal with a back injury.Pattinson recently asked not to be considered for a call-up to the tour of India following a series of comebacks which have resulted in further lay-offs with back problems. He is currently completing the Sheffield Shield season with Victoria.”James has the ability to swing the ball, he hits good lengths and he does it all at a good speed,” Peter Moores, the Nottinghamshire coach, said. “Pace creates opportunities, so he gives us a wicket taking option in both championship and 50-over matches. We’ve seen that from him when he’s played international cricket.”That ability to open up sides on flat pitches is what we’re really looking at. That’s the kind of thing that wins you games.”Pattinson could form a formidable new-ball attack with Stuart Broad who is currently not part of England’s one-day plans and therefore not set to play international cricket again until the Test series against South Africa in July.

ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC’s settlement offer of an additional $100 million to the BCCI is still on the table

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Apr-2017The door has not yet been completely shut on the BCCI as far as the ICC’s finance model is concerned. ESPNcricinfo understands that immediately after the BCCI was outvoted at the ICC Board meeting on Wednesday, the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar informed Amitabh Choudhury, the BCCI secretary, that the settlement offer of an additional $100 million was still on the table.Under the new finance model, the BCCI stands to receive $293 million from the ICC revenue across an eight-year cycle. The BCCI had wanted $570 million – the share it would have received under the previous Big Three finance model – but Manohar had made a counter offer of an additional $100 million over the $293 million to raise the Indian board’s share to nearly $400 million.On Wednesday, the ICC board read the letter submitted by Choudhury on the mandate given to him by the BCCI and rejected his proposal.How did the BCCI lose?
Hours before before the ICC Board met, Choudhury and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri conducted discussions with heads of various boards such as the ECB, Cricket Australia, the WICB, Associates representative Imran Khawaja, and Manohar.It is understood that both BCCI representatives wanted to try and find a “middle path” on the finance model. The idea was to get as close to the $445 million figure the Committee of Administrators (CoA, appointed by Supreme Court of India to supervise the BCCI) had asked Manohar for in March.There was then a separate meeting between Choudhury and three members of the ICC working group, which had drafted the new constitution. Manohar, ECB president Giles Clarke and CA chairman David Peever once again placed the offer of an additional $100 million to Choudhury.ICC chairman Shashank Manohar (right), ECB chairman Giles Clarke (left) and CA chairman David Peever once again offered the BCCI a settlement•Getty Images

“Earlier the offer had been made by Manohar, but this was a formal offer from the ICC working group. He [Choudhury] turned it down,” an official said. “He was told that in that case the original proposal had already been approved in February and we can’t change that. Hence the ICC model went through.”With Choudhury refusing to enter a discussion on the settlement deal, the ICC working group was left with no choice but to ask for a show of hands. The BCCI was taken aback when Full Members whom it understood to be in its corner swayed to the ICC side. The BCB, Zimbabwe Cricket and the WICB have been BCCI allies for a long time, but on Wednesday they voted against it. The case of the BCB and ZC was surprising only because both had submitted strong reservations at the outset of the ICC Board meeting. ZC even called the draft constitution “discriminatory.”The official said one main reason behind these three boards changing stance was the ICC’s decision to provide them financial help. It is understood ZC could be given $19 million to clear its debt while the WICB had asked for $40 million as a grant.What now for the BCCI?
A ray of hope still exists, considering Manohar wants the BCCI to be happy. A source who has worked closely with Manohar since he arrived at the ICC last year said he has no “desire to alienate” the BCCI. He has asked the ICC to continue engaging with the BCCI.The other reason for the BCCI remaining optimistic was a significant decision the ICC Board agreed on: to move the finance model out of the constitution. The BCCI feels there is still some room for manoeuvre.The working group will meet once again during the ICC’s annual conference in June to approve the final changes to the constitution, governance structure and finance model – all of which would be finally ratified by the ICC Board. “All the boards want this resolved also,” the official said. “What happened yesterday does not mean India has diminished.”Choudhury told the ICC that he would need to head back to the BCCI, which will take a final decision at a special general body meeting (SGM).The official said India still had the bargaining power because of its importance in bilateral cricket. He pointed out that the ICC might need to increase its settlement offer and “go beyond” the proposed $100 million.”There are two ways of resolving this now. One is the SGM says okay, 390 is good. Let us go ahead. The ICC will agree immediately and resolve it. Or [the SGM] says we need more time. Then there will be another round of negotiations [with the ICC].”However, the scope of any further negotiations, the source pointed out, were remote. “He [Manohar] would still want to negotiate with the BCCI, but would he take it beyond $390 million? Questionable.”One other interested party, which could play the catalyst, is the CoA. It has been keeping a close watch on the events in Dubai this week. Any decision taken by the BCCI office bearers would need to be conveyed to the CoA, which would need to approve anything that is sent in writing to the ICC as per the court order. “The CoA can step in, but it will only step in also at $445 million,” the official said.