Tim May, who was ousted from an Int'l Cricket Council committee following allegations of pressure from India, said it is time someone ''stood up to the cancer of stand-over tactics'' that defines the governing body, according Chloe Saltau of THE AGE.
May, the cricket world's most prominent player advocate, "was replaced on the ICC cricket committee by Laxman Sivaramakrishnan," who is employed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India as a commentator.
The Federation of Int'l Cricketers' Associations, of which May is CEO, "has called on the ICC to investigate allegations that five countries' boards exerted direct pressure on their captains to switch their votes from May to Sivaramakrishnan when choosing their preferred player representatives."
May said that "he would not comment on the specifics of his non-election because he has a vested interest but he pointed to the ICC's chronic failure to enforce its own standards of governance." May said in an email, ''The only thing that I can say and reinforce is that this issue isn't about whether Siva or I got elected or not but it's about, was the process compromised? Did Boards interfere and make threats to captains to change their votes?" (THE AGE, 5/8). The PTI reported "there is a perception about May being anti-BCCI but the former offie sought to clear the air." May said, "There are some aspects of BCCI that I am strong supporter of and there are other aspects that concern me and others. Unfortunately, only the negative stuff gets publicized" (PTI, 5/7).
A NON ISSUE: THE HINDU reported a top BCCI functionary "denied reports that the second vote for the players’ representative to the ICC Cricket Committee was prompted by the BCCI to swing the election in favour of L. Sivaramakrishnan." The functionary said, "I don’t want to comment on it, it’s purely an ICC matter. It is not a BCCI issue at all." Another well-informed source "contradicted FICA’s claim that the first vote was 9-1 in favour of Tim May." The source said that Sivaramakrishnan, now engaged in broadcast work for National and Int'l matches, "may have been ahead or locked in a 5-5 score" (THE HINDU, 5/8).
