Contentious Revenue Sharing Model Hovers Over Cricket’s All-Important Chief Executives’ Committee Election

The International Cricket Council’s contentious proposed revenue sharing model is set to hover over next month’s all-important Chief Executives’ Committee election with three coveted Associate Member positions up for grabs.

According to sources, there is a strong field of nine candidates to contest the election on July 10 during the ICC’s Annual General Meeting in Durban.

Incumbents Sumod Damodar (Botswana), Mubashshir Usmani (UAE) and Rashpal Bajwa will recontest. Those looking to win a spot on the CEC are Bashir Ansasiira (Uganda), Umair Butt (Denmark), Richard Done (Cricket PNG), Johan Muller (Namibia), Ravi Seghal (Thailand) and Abhiram Yadav (Indonesia).

The CEC is supposed to promote and develop cricket worldwide, while governing and regulating the sport at the international level.

Being on it is highly coveted for Associate chiefs, who get to mix with the top bosses from the Full Members and the CEC is often seen as a stepping stone to get onto the ICC board – where the real power lies in global cricket.

The trio of incumbents face a fight to retain their spots against several well-known administrators and prominent figures behind the scenes.

Damodar is a veteran on the CEC and has been particularly vocal over the proposed revenue distribution model for the ICC’s $3 billion media rights deal for 2024-27, labelling the share set for cash-stricken smaller countries as “ridiculous”.

Associate Members – 96 nations deemed under the 12 top tiered Full Members who are granted more funding and power – according to a report in ESPNcricinfo are set to receive 11.19 per cent, which is about the same percentage as in the current model.

India, the richest cricket nation armed with a $6 billion media rights deal for the Indian Premier League, is set to receive $230 million a year or 38.5 per cent. All members will receive far more remuneration given the ICC’s media rights deal is significantly higher than the current $2 billion for the 2015-23 cycle

The proposal, however, has caused angst among the Associates and it is seen as an opportunity for administrators to fly the flag for the smaller nations with it being the main election issue. Several of those contesting the election have cordial relations with Indian cricket boss Jay Shah, who was an architect of the proposed media rights deal.

But the proposal appears likely to be passed by the board during the Durban meetings, according to sources.

Usmani, the Emirates Cricket boss, has been a rising administrator although he unsuccessfully contested last year’s ICC board elections. He is part of a working group tasked with addressing the explosion of T20 leagues with the UAE’s ILT20 in the crosshairs.

Among those expected to seriously challenge the status quo include Done, a former ICC high performance manager and who had more recently been in operations for USA Cricket.

Seghal contemplated running for the ICC board last year, but has gained plenty of plaudits for helping fuel the remarkable rise of women’s cricket in Thailand.

Ansasiira was briefly on the CEC in 2021, while Muller is currently on an ICC working group looking into a proposed resurrection of the high performance program for smaller Test nations and top Associates.

Yadav and Butt are considered the outsiders.

Like recent elections, the contest will be held through a ‘weighted’ secret ballot voting system, which involves voters from 40 Associate Members and five regional representatives (Americas, Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific and Africa) each selecting three candidates in order of preference.

Under ICC rules, candidates have to be a representative of an Associate Member or a current/past ICC director.

Newly-elected CEC members receive two-year terms.