Dubai: It is now a well-known fact that any country that does not adhere to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) commands should be prepared to lose millions of dollars in revenue.
This is the scenario facing the Cricket South Africa (CSA) board for appointing Haroon Lorgat as their chief executive against the wishes of the BCCI, which, using its financial power, has made it very clear that it is the ‘Big Brother’ of world cricket.
Many call the members of the body the ‘bullies’ of world cricket as they make sure that all board officials are people who will not voice their opinion strongly against them.
Lorgat, who became the ICC chief executive in 2008, committed the ‘mistake’ of pushing for the Decision Review System (DRS) against the wishes of the BCCI. He also got the Lord Woolf Commission to do an independent review of the affairs of the ICC, which was also not to the liking of the BCCI. The report recommended the restructuring of the ICC’s executive board to make it more independent and less dominated by bigger countries, apparently with reference to India.
After Lorgat stepped down from the ICC and decided to take charge of the South African cricket board, the BCCI warned their board that they would face the repercussions if he was appointed. In fact, they hinted that the proposed Indian tour, which included two Twenty20 Internationals, seven one-dayers, two two-day warm-up matches and three Tests, might even be cancelled.
The last time India toured South Africa in 2010/11, the CSA’s revenue jumped to $7.2 million (Dh26.4 million) while in the year without India’s tour their board made just $2.5 million.
When CSA appointed Lorgat as their chief executive, Patrick Compton, a South African journalist and the son of England batsman Dennis Compton, tweeted: “Well done, CSA, for appointing Lorgat and defying the bullying BCCI. Next job is to smash them this summer.”
It now seems that the India tour, even if is approved, will be a curtailed one with limited matches.
When N. Srinivasan, the president of the BCCI, was asked about the fate of the tour after the working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday, he said: “I’ve not said that the South Africa series will be scrapped. It’s definitely on. We have just proposed a West Indies series in November. Neither was there any discussion on the South African series, nor did any member raise the issue.”
The tours to New Zealand and England, which are scheduled to be held after the South Africa tour, were approved.
Many are now wondering whether the non-approval of the South Africa tour is the final ultimatum to the CSA to remove Lorgat from the post.
