ICC 'incompetent' and lacks vision for the future of cricket

With the rapid growth of 20:20 revolutionising cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) lacks a vision for where this different form of cricket will take the game.

According to Neil Maxwell, Director of sports consultancy Insite and former Chief Executive of Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab "the International Cricket Council is incompetent, it is dominated by the big four cricket nations and they are looking after themselves.

Speaking at the Financial Review Business of Sport Conference held at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday, former Sheffield Shield player Maxwell highlighted India's rapid adoption of 20:20 cricket, explaining how the first year of competition had "changed the habits of the Indian public", adding that during the 2008 competition "ever popular daytime TV soap operas saw a decline in visits, shopping centre footfalls dropped by 30% and cinema visits fell."

While Maxwell sees huge potential for the 20:20 game to expand, he also expressed concerns that this growth was being driven by private owners, rather than the game's administrators, and that star players are becoming increasingly interested in 20:20 contracts instead of test and international cricket.

"You have to ask if Andrew Symonds was punished by being dropped from the Australian side for a ridiculous one day series against Pakistan when he can go and earn $1 million by playing for six weeks in the IPL?"

Maxwell also highlighted that âa player like Kumar Sangakkara earns around US $120,000 playing for Sri Lanka for 10 months of the year, and US $600,000 for six weeks in the IPL."

If this continues, Maxwell suggested that "the next generation of cricketers will be more interested in IPL dollars than in playing for their country."

Maxwell also pointed out that "the big four cricketing nations (Australia, England, India and South Africa) dominate the ICC and seem to look after their own interests first ... while second tier nations (New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies) are having to adapt and other nations may, in the future, be restricted to just playing in ICC events such as the World Cup while their star players play for new franchises in new and expanding tournaments."