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ICC on the way to losing credibility

By Elmo Rodrigopulle The International Cricket Council will soon lose their credibility, if the manner in which their logistics man Chris Tetley allowed to bungle his way through the Champions Trophy.

Logistics is an important part in any tournament. It can go to raise the image of the organisers or pull it down.

Most of the visiting officials, players and others we spoke to did not have a kind word for Tetley. On the contrary they were hitting him for six in cricketing parlance.

He seems to shy or does not seem to have been educated on relations with the media. When spoken to he is brusque and prefers to tell journalists that it is better to speak to the other officials of the ICC.

How the ICC is going to better their image having an unfriendly and brusque official like this is interesting to watch. But one thing is certain and that is that the ICC would have lost some of its credibility after this tournament.

Officials asked more questions yesterday about the mysterious Rs 500 tickets that turned up in envelopes sent to them. Some of the tickets sent to officials were stamped "Complimentary" while others were marked Rs500. Mystery, because no tickets of that denomination were made available to the public. Why, they ask were these tickets printed and then not sold? Is it another Tetley goof up, they asked.

The two Malcolms, Gray and Speed top men in the ICC will do well to pull up Tetley and ask him to be more courteous to the media, be more flexible in his approach and do a job that will be creditable to the ICC.

The ICC is better known for its toothless tiger image. That is because other than for meeting to decide when to meet again, they hardly do anything for the betterment of the game, the player or the official.

And from recent happenings where the Indians were concerned regarding the protection of their commercial rights the ICC seems to have bent backwards to please the Indians. At one time the mini World Cup seemed headed to being a non-event. That was because the ICC had blundered and was not strong enough to see that their rules were adhered to.

Finally the ICC had to eat humble pie and surrender to the Indians by amending the new contracts to 17 days after the champions Trophy. Originally it was for 30 days. It was not only a victory for the Indian cricketers but for all other cricketers too.

Ian Chappell, the former Australian fire brand of a skipper took the ICC to the cleaners. Writing in 'Hindustan Times' on the problem with the Indian players that at one time looked to derail the tourney Chappell wrote: The conflict is yet another example of how administrative stuff-ups always lead to trouble for the players. At the very least questions should be asked and some heads should roll. It's either a case of 'ineptitude or arrogance'.

Chappell slammed ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed for having asked players to choose between cash or country when the commercial rights row broke out a month ago. Chappell countered: It is appropriate to point out that Mr. Speed has earned a substantial income and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in recent times courtesy of the skill and entertainment value of the players. 'ICC's lucrative sponsorship deals were made possible on the basis of considerable skills of international cricketers and not, as the ICC would have us believe, its brilliant negotiations', Chappell wrote in the 'Hindustan Times'.

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