ICC executive board meeting

World cricket's most senior decision makers meet in London next week for the second ICC Executive Board meeting of the year.

Top of their agenda will be a discussion, led by ICC president Malcolm Gray and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, that will focus on the impact of recent political and terrorist events on the structure of the international game.

"In recent months international cricket has suffered a number of telling setbacks; political unrest in Zimbabwe, terrorism in Pakistan and escalating tension between India and Pakistan, which have all contributed to this current state of uncertainty," said Malcolm Gray.

"This meeting provides a timely forum to consider the problems and work towards finding realistic and effective responses," he added.

The ICC is proposing to take a more active and structured role in serious issues of this kind, which threaten both the integrity of the Future Tours Program and the financial stability of some member boards.

Other major issues for discussion at the Executive Board meeting include:
Current three-stage process for dealing with suspect bowling actions, to two stages. If accepted, the new procedure will be in place from September this year, but would not affect bowlers currently under review.

ODI Championship, ICC Test Championship and Player Rankings

The Executive Board has already approved the principle of an official ICC One-Day International championship. The June meetings will discuss detailed proposals supporting this, as well as reviewing the first 12 months of the ICC Test Championship. They will also consider the introduction of ICC Player rankings for Test and ODI cricket.

Membership Applications

Directors will review an inspection report as part of Kenya's application for Test match status. In addition, membership applications will be considered from the following countries:
Associate Member status - Cayman Islands and Nigeria
Affiliate Member status - Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, Gambia, Ghana, Panama, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Turks & Caicos.

The week of meetings at Lord's will also include Cricket Committee-Management, on Monday 24th and the morning of Tuesday 25th, (attended by the chief executives of member boards), the ICC Associate Members meeting, also on Tuesday, and the first ICC Business Forum, on Thursday 27th.