BCCI hits back at Speed

BCCI hits back at Speed
Accuses him of interfering in Indian cricket affairs

The Indian cricket board today hit back at International Cricket Council CEO Malcolm Speed, accusing him of interfering in its affairs and deriding Indian cricket. It also said that Speed had "hijacked" the press conference of ICC President Percy Sonn and exceeded his brief in Mohali yesterday where he launched a broadside against the Indian cricket establishment.

In a strongly worded statement, BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty also challenged Speed by asking whether he would have the guts to say that the England and Wales Cricket Board was not running its affairs well because the England team had never won the World Cup, cricket's piece de resistance.

"What Speed did by talking about the status of Indian cricket and the performance is nothing but gross interference in the affairs of the Indian board. "In any case, we wonder how much does he actually know about the stakeholders in Indian cricket to take such swipes from time to time? Speed has chosen the wrong time and wrong place to debunk Indian cricket and its stakeholders," Shetty said.

"The press conference in Mohali on Wednesday was ostensibly called for Percy Sonn, President of the International Cricket Council, to interact with the Indian media, but it was hijacked by the irrepressible ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed. "Speed, for the umpteenth time, harangued the Indian board. This time he went a step further, deriding the entire Indian cricket itself," Shetty charged.

Significantly, the war of words between the two parties has been renewed just prior to the two-day ICC Executive Board meeting here scheduled from tomorrow, in which the Members Participation Agreement (MPA), which the BCCI has refused to sign in its present form, will come up for discussion. The BCCI rejoinder came a day after Speed had criticised the Indian board, saying that sports organisations were not judged by the amount of money they possessed but on the basis of the performance of the team that they represent.

"The criteria for judging organisations is how their team has performed, how well they look after their stakeholders and how many good cricketers they produce. I am not trying to be critical of India, but the last time they have won a major title was in 1983," Speed said. Giving a pointed reply to this statement of the ICC CEO, Shetty reminded Speed that the three teams from the subcontinent had won the World Cup and that India had won the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 and were the losing finalists in the World Cup four years ago. — PTI