Executive Board meeting decisions

At the conclusion of the Executive Board Meeting of the International Cricket Council in Christchurch, NZ on Monday 11 January 1999, the following was resolved.

There will be an international panel of the best six referees and a 12 man umpire panel comprising two from England, one each from the other eight full member countries and two others to be chosen from the current international panel. Kenya, Bangladesh and Scotland will also nominate one umpire each and they will officiate in some of the practice matches and act as the Fourth umpire in selected World Cup games.

This will be held in Sri Lanka in January 2000 with a minimum of 16 participating countries following the model used successfully in South Africa 12 months ago.

The ICC inspection group of Bob Simpson, Andy Pycroft and Nasim ul Ghani will visit Bangladesh in early March to inspect cricket facilities throughout the country, This group will report to countries ahead of the Annual Conference in June, whether further consideration will be given to Bangladesh's application to become the 10th Test nation.

Following the successful participation of cricket in the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, it has been decided to apply to the Commonwealth Games Federation for cricket to be a sport at the Manchester Games in 2002. The preferred game form will be Super Max Cricket or something similar played as a short duration game rather than 50 over One Day matches.

Work is proceeding on a full review of an International tours schedule and until that is complete, no final decision can be taken on a Test Cricket World Championship. The Asian Cricket Council are staging a regional Test championship in February and March with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, each playing a Test match against each other country. The final will be held in Dhaka in mid March.

In view of comments made in a recent publication by Darrell Hair, a decision has been made to lay a charge against him under Clause 8 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

It is necessary for a proper hearing to be held and the matter has been referred to the Australian Cricket Board.

The ACB will hold an independent hearing at the earliest possible opportunity, once in receipt of a detailed report from the ICC.

A new 3 man Commission will be appointed by 28th February 1999 to deal with serious disciplinary matters including allegations of match-fixing and betting, and establishing a drugs policy.

The Commission's first task will be to review the findings of the current inquiries in Australia and Pakistan, and a previous inquiry in India. Should there be any need for an inquiry in another country, the Commission will require the Board of that country to hold a comprehensive investigation.

The introduction of uniform, stringent penalties for any player, umpire, team official or administrator found guilty of match-fixing, bribery or betting on cricket is another priority for the Commission