N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah will have to explain to the Supreme Court of India their roles in stalling the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations. The pair of former BCCI office bearers were singled out by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in a scathing appraisal of the progress – or lack of – made by the BCCI in implementing the recommendations.

The court will hear the matter on July 24, two days before the next BCCI SGM to discuss the recommendations.

At Friday’s hearing, Justice Dipak Misra observed that “if a person is disqualified to be an office bearer, he cannot be nominated by office bearers”.

Misra’s statement is significant because Srinivasan and Shah, despite being disqualified as office bearers on grounds that they are over 70 years old and having exceeded the tenure cap, had attended BCCI meetings as representatives or nominees of their respective state associations – Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra. And according to the CoA’s latest status report, Srinivasan and Shah have prevented other BCCI members from reaching a consensus on implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

Anurag Thakur in the clear
Anurag Thakur, the former BCCI president, was cleared of perjury charges for a letter he had written to the ICC asking it to intervene, saying the Lodha Committee reforms amounted to government interference in the board. A day before Friday’s hearing he filed an affidavit, apologising unconditionally.

Over the last month, a special committee was formed by the BCCI to shortlist the most significant problems the board had with those recommendations in order to put them before the court for reconsideration.

However, according to amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium, when the wider BCCI body held special general meetings to discuss and ratify the shortlisted recommendations, the meetings were “hijacked” by Srinivasan and Shah.

“Till now, most recommendations were by and large accepted,” Subramanium said, but Srinivasan and Shah kept repeating “nothing can be implemented”.

Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Srinivasan and other state associations, responded on behalf of his client, “I am a member of TNCA. Nobody can take my membership away.” The states have argued that the disqualified office bearers – such as Srinivasan and Shah – are not attending the meetings as office bearers but as representatives, and that the Lodha Committee’s eligibility criteria did not apply to representatives.

In the status report submitted to the court on July 12, the CoA said disqualified office bearers were “impediments” to the implementation of recommendations.

The BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary, in an affidavit filed in the court on Tuesday, said that five state associations – Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa – had objected to the implementation of the recommendations at the SGM on June 26. Choudhary noted the efforts of the CoA, which had met the state associations twice and “stressed” that it could work with the BCCI in “canvassing the impracticality or difficulties that may arise in implementation of some clauses” of the recommendations.

Choudhary said that in addition to the three shortlisted recommendations, the special committee wanted restrictions waived for representatives of states attending board meetings, and members who sit on different committees. “The house also felt there should not be any disqualifications in terms of age, tenure or cooling off for representatives, nominees of the associations and the BCCI and the members of the BCCI committee.”

The court did not hear the other requests in the CoA’s status report, which will be heard on July 24. The court accepted the resignations of CoA members Vikram Limaye and Ramachandra Guha, and Subramanium submitted six names as possible replacements. Sibal argued that his clients should also be allowed to suggest names; the court granted him the request and decided to hear the matter on July 24.

The lawyer for Railways argued that they had been relegated to Associate status under the one-state-one-vote policy, and despite being regular contributors to Indian cricket, they were not invited to these meetings to decide their fate. They requested a “recall” of that specific part of the order. Subramanium argued this issue had been discussed at length previously, but the court agreed to hear the matter on September 5.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. Nagraj Gollapudi is a senior assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. Article courtesy – espncricinfo.com

The Committee of Administrators has turned up the heat on the BCCI’s old guard, asking the Supreme Court to take note of the “disruptive and subversive conduct” of disqualified office bearers who were preventing the board from implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

In its fourth status report which the court will consider on July 14, the COA, which was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, named former BCCI office bearers N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah as being particularly problematic to the process.

Srinivasan and Shah had become ineligible to continue in their roles as heads of the Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra Cricket Associations, and to attend BCCI meetings, after the court approved the Lodha report on July 18, 2016. They were disqualified because they were over the prescribed 70-year age cap and had exceeded the maximum tenure for office bearers.

Yet both Srinivasan and Shah have found ways to stay involved in administration and attend important BCCI meetings, including the most recent special general meetings (SGM) of the board on May 7 and June 26. Those two SGMs had been convened for the BCCI’s members – the state associations – to approve the new constitution, as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The CoA said the SGM on June 26 was “manifestly disruptive”. In its report, the CoA told the court that it had managed to convince the majority of the state associations to adopt the recommendations but the SGM was “hijacked” by the disqualified former office bearers.

“From an audio recording of the SGM, it appears that such disqualified persons were able to effectively hijack proceedings at the SGM by prevailing upon other attendees (who may have been otherwise willing to facilitate the reform process) to either support the cause of such disqualified person or remain silent,” the COA said.

Srinivasan and Shah, and other disqualified administrators, had attended the meetings as a representative or nominee of their state association. In their defence, the TNCA and SCA said the Lodha Committee’s eligibility norms were for office bearers and not representatives. The CoA countered in its report that the “true intention” of the court’s order had been violated on a technicality.

“In this manner, such disqualified persons are effectively able to do indirectly what they have been prohibited by this Hon’ble Court from doing directly,” the CoA said. “Such disqualified persons have a vested interest in stalling implementation of the Judgement because, if the Judgment is implemented, such disqualified person will have to relinquish control over their respective State/Member Associations.”

The COA also noted that though the three existing BCCI office bearers – CK Khanna (acting president), Amitabh Choudhary (secretary), and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) – had given written consent to the Supreme Court, only Choudhary urged the members to take “concrete steps” to implement the reforms at the SGM on June 26. Chaudhry, the COA said, was a “mute spectator, lacking the courage and conviction” to support the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The BCCI’s recent decision to form a special committee to shortlist “critical points” from the Lodha recommendations that it wanted the Supreme Court to reconsider, was also criticised by the CoA. Such a committee, the COA said in its report, was formed almost a year after the order was delivered last year, clearly indicative of the resistance to the reforms. The COA requested the court to “remove the impediments to implementation” of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

Nagraj Gollapudi is a senior assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo – Article courtesry – espncricinfo.com

The biggest names in Caribbean cricket could be about to return to the West Indies team after significant progress was made in negotiations between players and the board.

Not only has a resolution been agreed to the Darren Bravo impasse, but the likes of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle are also available for selection for the ODI side after an amnesty was proposed by WIPA, the players’ union.

Dave Cameron statement
“In early November 2016, I gave an interview to SportsMax TV during which I discussed player retainer contracts and the grades of contract that had been awarded to certain players. In the course of the interview I stated that Darren Bravo had previously been on an ‘A’ contract, which I have since been advised is not correct. I apologise for the misstatement, and wish to assure Mr. Bravo that there was no insult or offense intended towards him. Darren is a senior cricketer who has been a valuable part of the WINDIES set up for a long time, and I would hope to see his game continue to progress and mature, at both regional and international level.”

That means they could be available for the limited-overs section of the tour to England that starts in a few weeks.

Gayle, who marked his international return after 15 months during the one-off Twenty20 International against India in Kingston last week, said during an event in Bengaluru on Thursday that “things have been steadily improving” and playing the 2019 World Cup, for which West Indies may have to qualify, is still a burning desire.

“The fans were happy to see me back on the field representing West Indies. Hopefully, things can get better. Hopefully I can play a few more games. I definitely want to play the 2019 World Cup,” Gayle said. “Things are beginning to open up a little more now between players and the board. It’s looking good, and we’ve to try and build from this to get the best players out on the field.”

The key to the resolution has been Cricket West Indies abandoning its contentious policy regarding player availability for regional cricket. Whereas, in recent years, CWI policy dictated that players would only be eligible for West Indies selection if they had played in the corresponding format in regional cricket, the board is now in the process of softening that hardline stance.

It is anticipated it will be formally relaxed when the new round of central contracts are introduced in October, with a new range of white-ball contracts also adding to the players’ security and flexibility.

Both Jimmy Adams, Director Of Cricket, and Johnny Grave, CWI CEO, have previously intimated their desire to change the policy, with Adams labelling it “unsustainable”.

In the meantime, though, an amnesty has been proposed to those who have not been involved in regional cricket, giving them the chance to represent West Indies again. The likes of Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy and, once his WADA ban is served, Andre Russell could be other beneficiaries.

While the amnesty has yet to be ratified by the board of CWI, ESPNcricinfo understands a conference call will take place before the end of the week where it is hoped the proposal will be accepted.

Darren Bravo statement
“On 11 November 2016, after viewing statements made about me by Mr. Dave Cameron, president of Cricket West Indies, on a television sports programme, I tweeted a response which referred to the president which was, in retrospect, inappropriate. As I have always tried to uphold the best traditions of West Indies cricket and its players, I now therefore wish to withdraw the comment made on my Twitter account and apologise to the president of CWI and to all WINDIES fans.”

Darren Bravo, who has been suspended since November 2016 when he was sent home from the tour of Zimbabwe following his Twitter condemnation of board president, Dave Cameron, is also set to return.

Both parties have released statements of apology* and Bravo’s tweet will be deleted with no admission of liability and without prejudice to the pursuit of any claim for damages. That will not only allow Bravo to take a full part in the forthcoming CPL season but render him eligible for West Indies selection once more. Having not played much red ball cricket of late, he is not thought to be a realistic candidate for the Test tour of England. He could well feature in the ODI team, though.

That method of solution had been suggested as far back as February. But Bravo instead pursued legal action against the board, claiming lost earnings. It seems that action is on-going despite the apparent thawing in relations, though it is understood no damages have been paid to date.

A similar resolution is expected imminently in the case of Nicholas Pooran. The 21-year-old wicketkeeper batsman made his West Indies debut last September in the three-match T20 series against Pakistan in the UAE after excelling with Barbados Tridents in the 2016 Caribbean Premier League, but he has not appeared in domestic cricket since last year’s CPL. Pooran was drafted first overall by Leeward Islands in the 2016 Professional Cricket League draft, but had his Leewards contract canceled for both the four-day and 50-over squads when he took up an offer to play for Khulna Titans in the 2016 Bangladesh Premier League.

Pooran subsequently appeared for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League, City Kaitak in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz and was part of the Mumbai Indians squad at this year’s IPL. He played for a WICB President’s XI that took on Afghanistan in a T20 tour match on May 30 in St Kitts and also retained his place with Barbados Tridents in the 2017 CPL for $70,000, which places him in the top 10 highest paid West Indians in the tournament. However, Pooran’s exile from four-day and 50-over domestic competitions seemed set to continue when he went unclaimed in the 2017 PCL draft that took place on July 7 in Jamaica, which would have precluded him from eligibility for West Indies selection in ODIs and Tests under the hardline selection policy.

It all amounts to encouraging news for long-suffering West Indies supporters. With the side having slipped to 9th in the ODI rankings (they are 8th in the Test rankings and 5th in T20), it is almost impossible for them to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup ahead of the ODI rankings qualification cut-off date in September.

The availability of some familiar faces is a significant step in the right direction.

George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo – Article courtesy – espncricinfo.com