For four years, Greg Barclay was named chairman of the International Cricket Council, the game’s governing body.
Few if any had heard of Barclay until now that he is vacating the top post and handing over the reins of the hot seat to India’s Jay Shah, the former secretary of the Indian board, who was elected uncontested.
Barclay created quite the stir on his final day when he told The Telegraph in England that the sport “is sleepwalking to the cliff edge.”
The reason for his fear included a dwindling broadcast rights market and the game’s congested calendar. Barclay was unable to control a bloated calendar since the game has exploded internationally.
There are Test matches, One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and the ever-popular Twenty20 leagues being played in one part of the world or the other.
With the rise of so many matches, there is a conflict between domestic and international games as franchise leagues have started clashing with bilateral series.
“We’ve lost perspective,” Barclay admitted. “It’s not great for the game at all. It’s a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it’s almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one’s going to give up their content.”
But having said that, Barclay must be held responsible for granting official recognition to so many leagues. Right now, money is pouring in like a fast-flowing river and the question is does the ICC really care or worry or simply run with the flow?
He also warned of an impending financial readjustment that the game might be forced to make in the shape of its next media and commercial rights deal. The current deal that ICC signed as quoted in The Telegraph as worth more than $3 billion US. The bulk of that comes from the Indian market, as one would expect.
It’s unfortunate that Barclay hid behind the rock knowing all along that the game is headed for disaster since there don’t appear to be any regulations in place for providing standard monitoring and safeguards against corruption.
But take your hat off to him for admitting he had lost touch about what was going in around the world.
“In fact, I didn’t realise that Sri Lanka was in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen’s seven wickets this morning,” he said. “So, we have lost perspective.’’
In effect it’s the tail wagging the dog.
Going ahead, cricket will soon have to start ducking bouncers. The Test version of the game is on the rocks, but only exists because it is steeped in tradition. The ODIs outside of the World Cup have lost their lustre as fewer countries or fans care for it.
The saving grace has been the big, bang and bash Twenty20 that has taken the scene by storm with huge attendances and the cream of cricketers.
Take the Indian Premier League for example: It dishes out millions of dollars to ink the very best while competitions in Australia, the West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, England, the United States, Bangladesh and Global T20 Canada to a lesser extent draw in massive crowds.
“It is changing and trying to get an understanding of what that change looks like, what it means for the game, seems to be a bit of a battle, because the problem is that everybody’s used to only ever seeing broadcast revenues rise,” Barclay added. “At some point, it is going to correct.
“It’s a market. Is it going to be a sharp, severe correction? Or is it going to be a long, slow one? Or maybe there’s going to be an alternative broadcaster that comes to the market?”
That, of course, would deal a knockout punch to smaller Test nations, such as Zimbabwe and Ireland.
Barclay also shook the Caribbean establishment like a massive tidal wave when he mentioned the West Indies should be divided into island teams and be dropped as a full ICC member. Of course, he got a mouthful from Sir Clive Lloyd, one of the Caribbean’s greatest batsmen and skipper.
While he has rattled the establishment in his interview, one must remember he was spineless when it came to India’s decision not to play its Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan next month.
Why the special treatment for India? Well, it fills the ICC’s coffers, but the governing body has no integrity when it comes to India.
The decision to remain silent means India will play all of its matches — also including the semis and final — at a neutral venue in the United Arab Emirates.
It’s a huge blow for Pakistan as a host and again proves the ICC bends over backwards when it comes to India.
With Jay Shah now in charge of the governing body will anything change? We can only hope so for the second-most watched sport in the world behind soccer.
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