DUBAI // The International Cricket Council (ICC) have said that Pakistan will still host the next Champions Trophy, and denied they are in a power struggle with India over the matter. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reportedly rejected the ICC's plan to hold the Champions Trophy next October after the ruling body had called off the planned staging of the tournament this month.
India are due to play a "very important" one-day series against Australia at that time instead. The ICC's president David Morgan said it is not in the organisation's remit to overrule any existing arrangements held by their member nations, but insisted staging the tournament held priority. "Power is not what we are talking about. We have clearly established within the International Cricket Council that ICC events are prime, and Future Tour Programme events come next," he said.
"There are some FTP events in place, and the ICC are not going to set out to cause chaos with those events. "What he [ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat] will be doing is engaging with the boards to see what adjustments can be made without any undue loss to the board's concern. "From the point of view of our relationship with our broadcast partners and sponsors, we have a commitment to stage the ICC Champions Trophy in 2009.
"The aimed for time period is Sept-Oct. I don't want to get into who has the power to do what. "We had a very good meeting with the board, with people understanding the issues and buying in to the initiative we have talked about. "There are eight participating teams and they are all committed to playing in the postponed event. "The chief executive will be consulting with the boards that have difficulties. There is no indication that any country would not participate in an ICC event that it is selected to participate in."
Lorgat believes there are signs that the adverse security situation in Pakistan, which caused the postponement of the Trophy, is easing. "Pakistan retains the hosting rights, and we will continue to review the safety and security situation," he said. "There has been progress on the political front in Pakistan. There is a long time between now and October next year, and there are bilateral series scheduled [in Pakistan] before then.
"We take our cue from the security experts we engage, and I would rather defer to them to decide whether the environment is suitable to hold an event like the Champions Trophy. "There has been a smooth transition to a new president [Asif Ali Zardari]. I think that is a positive step and we will have to watch and see how the environment unfolds." While the ICC continue to struggle through their problems, the organisers of the new Twenty20 Champions League have announced a massive TV rights deal.
ESPN Star Sports will pay nearly US$1billion (Dh3.6bn) for the commercial and marketing rights for the Twenty20 Champions League Organisers said yesterday the broadcaster had bid $900m for a 10-year deal, plus $75m for marketing making it the "highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis". @Email:pradley@thenational.ae