ICC reach agreement on
match referees

The ICC Executive Board on Saturday announced that Michael Beloff QC is to succeed Lord Hugh Griffiths as chairman of its Code of Conduct Commission.

Michael Beloff is an extremely distinguished legal figure who has practised as a Queen's Counsel since 1981. Of direct relevance to his work with the ICC is his membership of the Court of Arbitration for Sport; a post that has seen him involved with arbitration panels for the last two Olympic Games in Atlanta and Sydney and the 1999 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

"Hugh Griffiths has made an enormous contribution to the ICC's fight against corruption over recent years and cricket is very grateful for the expertise and guidance he has given. His successor, Michael Beloff, is another figure with a hugely distinguished legal background and we are delighted he has agreed to take on this important role with the ICC," said president Malcolm Gray.

South African resolution

The Executive Board meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, also resolved issues arising from last November's Port Elizabeth Test match between South Africa and India. The matter will be addressed in two distinct ways.

First, by acceptance of proposals contained in a detailed paper prepared by ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, to revise the role of Match Referees. In future, the onus will be on umpires to lay disciplinary charges, which will then be referred to referees to hold a hearing. There will be a right of appeal against referees' decisions for more serious disciplinary offences. Protocols will also be put in place to prevent the system being used to gain unfair advantage.

In addition, referees have been given the authority to explain their decisions to the media, something they are currently denied under existing regulations.

The second stage of the solution will call on a newly-agreed Disputes Resolution Committee to review the detailed procedures followed by ICC Match Referee Mike Denness in disciplining six Indian players during last November's Port Elizabeth Test match. A committee, chaired by Michael Beloff QC and comprising ICC directors Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe, Bob Merriman of Australia and Wes Hall of the West Indies, will meet to complete this task in the near future.

The ruling, made by ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, that stripped the third Test of the South Africa v India series at Centurion Park of its official Test status, was not disputed by any member of the Executive Board.

Similarly, his judgement that South Africa was winner of the Test series by one Test to nil will remain.

"This matter has been a major issue for the ICC and its members over the past five months. It is a significant achievement that a solution has been reached by all directors, that is both business-like and practical," commented ICC president Malcolm Gray.

New disciplinary code approved

A new system of Code of Conduct disciplinary penalties was agreed upon by the Executive Board, with the aim of achieving greater consistency in the application of cricket discipline. There will now be four levels of Code breaches, with recommended minimum and maximum penalties.

For example, a first time Level 1 breach for dissent could be penalised by a minimum of a reprimand, with a maximum of a 50 per cent match fee fine. At the other end of the disciplinary scale, Level 4 Code breaches, which would include threats and violence, would incur a minimum of a five-Test or 10 ODI ban. In the most extreme cases, a life ban could be applied.

For Level 3 and 4 offences, the option of suspended sentences will be removed.

As a final stage of approval, the new proposals will be discussed at the forthcoming ICC Cricket Committee-Playing meeting, chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, on the March 17 and 18. They will then be included on the agenda of the ICC Umpires and Referees Workshop, which meets for four days near Cape Town from March 21 to 24.

"This new disciplinary code will be an important tool for the recently convened panels of ICC umpires and referees to work with," said Malcolm Speed. "There has been concern with declining standards of on-field behaviour and there has been inconsistency in the way it has been dealt with in the past. This new system establishes very clear penalties for misbehaviour, so there can be no misinterpretation by either the players or officials concerned," he added.

The new disciplinary code is scheduled for introduction from the beginning of April this year.

Corruption-Free World Cup

Confirmation that international cricket has been free of corruption for the past 12 months was provided by Lord Condon, director of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, as part of his presentation to the Executive Board.

Lord Condon also looked forward to next year's World Cup in South Africa, saying: "I am very confident that the measures being put in place in South Africa and around the cricket world will ensure that the World Cup will be a tournament played entirely on merit. There will be a sensible but stringent security regime in place, which will act as a major deterrent to would-be corruptors. At the same time it will be as unobtrusive as possible as far as players and spectators are concerned."

The five Security Managers, about to be appointed by the ICC, will also add significantly to the world game's anti-corruption infrastructure. Their role will include attendance at all future international series, with each being responsible for two international teams. This allocation will see Managers paired with West Indies and England, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe and Australia and New Zealand. Appointments are to be confirmed in the next fortnight.