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From the Press Box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The fact that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has not resolved the issue of player contracts in its entirety has left the door open for another head on confrontation between the ruling body for the game and some of the leading stars ahead of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

"I think there's still work to be done in relation to the World Cup and in particular the players on this issue," said ICC chief Malcolm Gray chairing a media conference in Colombo, a day before the ICC Champions trophy.

His second in command Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive said: "Our focus is to get through this event. When we are through we will sit down and speak to those who still have concerns about the player terms and seek to work it through with them". Although the ICC top brass denied that they had not given India any special treatment compared to the other participating countries in the Champions trophy, there was little doubt that they would have lost a considerable amount of money had India pulled out or sent only its second string team, which at one time during the dispute looked a distinct possibility.

A last-minute compromise deal with India ensured the Champions trophy had the best players appearing in the tournament something which the ICC had committed themselves to their commercial arm Global Cricket Corporation) for the princely sum of US$550million, which also includes the 2003 World Cup. So no doubt there were concerns in the ICC rank and file when some of the Indian stars threatened not to sign the players agreement for the Champion trophy.

How financially stable the GCC is, is a matter of conjecture. Reports reaching us indicate that it won't be long before they lose their remaining shares to business magnate Rupert Murdoch who already owns half of it. It has been said that the ICC's lucrative sponsorship deals were made possible on the basis of the considerable skills of the international cricketers themselves and not as the ICC has everyone believe, by its own brilliant negotiations.

Notwithstanding the problems encountered in dealing with player contracts, they were soon embroiled in another issue a few days after resolving the Indian issue. On this occasion it was over the distribution of complimentary tickets and car passes to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka interim committee members and the Sri Lankan players. The manner in which it had been dispensed of with came for a lot of criticism with fingers pointed at one man who is in charge of the logistics.

The ICC officials said that it is wrong to place the blame on one person when the decisions were taken by a group of ICC officials in consultation with the BCCSL.

But whatever the decisions that were taken, it has dented the image of the ICC to some extent and given the outside world that all is not right with the running of the Champions trophy and there are certainly grey areas that need to be looked into and rectified. ICC chief Gray paying a courtesy call to the media box at the R. Premadasa Stadium on the opening day of the competition, when questioned how the complimentary tickets were distributed pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket and read out the following figures: 342 complimentary tickets to the BCCSL of which 120 were to the VIP enclosure, and, separate 75 complimentary tickets to be distributed among the Sri Lankan players.

Gray said these complimentaries were for the opening match of the tournament between Sri Lanka and Pakistan and it may vary for other games. The ICC has a reputation for shying away from major problems in the past, which has earned it the title of being a 'toothless tiger' globally. Try as much as they would like to discard that stigma, the problems still persist.

How they sort out the player sponsorship contract will be one such issue, which the cricketing world will be eagerly waiting after the conclusion of the ICC Champions trophy.

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