Barclay also warned that one country with all the power in the cricketing world could distort a lot of outcomes for others as well
Outgoing ICC Chairperson Greg Barclay feels that the game is suffering because of the personal interests of the various boards. But he was hopeful that his successor, India’s Jay Shah, a former Secretary of the BCCI, would be able to save the game from the clutches of those personal interests.
“I’m at the apex of the game and I can’t tell you who’s playing around the world. I didn’t realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen’s seven wickets this morning,” Barclay told the Telegraph in an interview.
“So we’ve lost perspective. It’s not great for the game at all. It’s a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it’s almost impossible to untangle all of that because no one’s going to give up their content,” he added.
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Saying that Shah would be able to leverage India’s unique position with respect to domination of the world game, Barclay feels that it is a great opportunity to change the set patterns.
“I think he’s got a great opportunity to use what he’s got in his background to help India take the game to another level. Jay can bring India into the international fold even more.
There are a number of things that India could do to help unite and grow the game, including commercially helping to pool off-shore rights, using their teams to give opportunities to smaller full members and emerging countries, using their clout to open new territories and markets, collaborating closely with the ICC to help benefit members, as examples.”
However, the New Zealander was quick to warn that one country taking that huge chunk of the game is not very healthy for others as well. He wanted Shah to make the changes, but ‘without making it sort of under the yoke of India’.
“We’re really lucky to have India, they’re a massive contributor to the game across all the measures, but one country having that amount of power and influence does distort a whole lot of other outcomes, which is not necessarily helpful in terms of that global growth,” he said.
Shah assumed the role of ICC chairperson on December 1 and he might head his first board meeting on December 5 (Thursday), mostly focussed on hosting the ICC Champions Trophy.
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