Singapore, Feb 8 (IANS): The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board Saturday approved a comprehensive resolution relating to the governance, competition and financial models of the ICC at a meeting here.
A set of proposals was initially developed by the respective Chairs of BCCI, CA and ECB -- N.Srinivasan, Wally Edwards and Giles Clarke -- before being presented to a meeting of the Full Members Jan 9.
These proposals were then discussed, negotiated and modified at two subsequent ICC Board meetings. A resolution was put to a vote Saturday and supported by the required majority of the ICC Board, including eight Full Members.
Two of the Full Members -- Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) -- abstained in the vote as they felt they needed more time to discuss the amended resolution with their respective Boards.
ICC President Alan Isaac said: "The Board has made some significant decisions which provide us with long term certainty in relation to the future governance, competition and financial models of the ICC.
"There were eight Full Members who were in a position to support the resolution today and the two who abstained have pledged to further discuss the issues with an aim to reaching unanimous approval over the coming weeks."
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: "We now have clear direction from the Board and it is our job to implement the approved resolution."
A cricket fund will be introduced to help ensure all Test playing teams are able to sustain a home programme of Test cricket through to 2023. The fund will be available to all the Test playing members except the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
There was also confirmation that all Full Members will enter into a series of contractually binding bilateral agreements as a matter of urgency so that they can confirm a comprehensive schedule of matches in a Future Tours Programme that will now be extended to 2023.
Associate Members now have a clear pathway to playing Test cricket. The winner of the next ICC Intercontinental Cup will be entitled to take part in a play-off against the bottom-ranked Full Member and, if successful, obtain Test status.
It was also decided Full Members will gain greater financial recognition based on the contribution they have made to the game, particularly in terms of finance, their ICC history and their on-field performances in the three formats.
The structure of the model will ensure that none of the Full Members will be worse off than they are at present and -- if forecasts of revenue generation prove to be correct -- all will be significantly better off.