The BCB has revealed it has objected to two proposals in the new ICC constitution that was agreed on in principle by a 7-2 majority vote of Full Members during the ICC meetings in February.
The Bangladesh board was one of seven that had voted in favour of the new constitution, but its new stance has created uncertainty over whether the ICC will get the eight votes it needs to pass the changes at the board meeting in April.
Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, said the Bangladesh board did not agree with the proposal that a country’s Full Membership at the ICC could be up for review. He also objected to the proposed change in the voting system that would decentralise the power held by the Full Members boards.
Hassan, however, said the BCB had no objection to the new revenue distribution model proposed since the board felt it stood to benefit more than it did under the Big Three model.
“Three days before we came here, we have informed the ICC that we do not agree with two specific things,” Hassan said in Colombo, where he along with BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri was present to watch the opening day of Bangladesh’s 100th Test. “One of them is relegation: we said we don’t agree with a Full Member going down. Zimbabwe might be getting demoted but it might be someone else another time. We said that the Full Membership status cannot be changed at all.
“The second is voting rights … they are taking new independent directors, increasing the number of Associate members, weightage distribution is being changed. We have to understand this better, so we cannot approve this so quickly. We want to know Bangladesh’s position in this regard.
“We didn’t oppose the financial reforms but there were parts of the constitutional changes that we had opposed. When these came up in the last meeting, there were things that didn’t go with us. In the next meeting, these will come up item-wise, and we will vote on them item-wise too. A lot of those present had told me to refuse the whole thing but I said that if Bangladesh is getting more money, why should I refuse? I have to look at BCB’s interest.”
The BCB announced its position on the new constitution on the same day that ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, the driving force behind the rollback of the governance structures created by BCCI, ECB and CA in 2014, resigned from office citing personal reasons. The BCCI was at the forefront of the resistance to the new ICC constitution that was passed in principle in February because its share of revenue was heavily reduced under the new model. Sri Lanka Cricket had also voted against the new constitution, while Zimbabwe Cricket abstained from voting. The BCB’s objection to the two specific proposals could now pose another problem for the ICC in its bid to approve the new constitution in April.
