In the space of a few hours overnight Ireland had a double reason for celebration when they won their final match in the Nagico Super 50 Regional Tournament in the West Indies and then word came through from the ICC meeting in Singapore that a clear path has opened up for Ireland to attain Test status.

The decisive meeting in Singapore saw majority support for radical proposals to restructure the ICC and the future shape of International cricket. By a vote of eight to nil with Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstaining, one of the decisions gives Ireland the opportunity of playing the tenth ranked Test side (currently Bangladesh) in a playoff and if successful would result in Test status. To get that opportunity Ireland would need to win the next edition of the Intercontinental Cup which is due to commence in 2015. Ireland will start favourites to win the cup as they have been successful in four of the previous six tournaments and they are the current holders having defeated Afghanistan in the final in Dubai last December.

There is no information as yet on the format for the next Intercontinental Cup and Ireland will be hoping that there are changes that would benefit them in retaining the trophy. Previously the tournament saw the top eight Associate teams competing over a two year period in four day matches but crucially they only played each other once. Therefore some teams were played at home and the others away. In the last edition Ireland played Afghanistan, Scotland, Canada and Namibia at home and they were away to Kenya, UAE and Netherlands. The top two sides after all the matches met in the final in Dubai.

There is a suggestion, as yet unconfirmed, that the next time it will be home and away and will encompass a four year period. There is also the potential to make it a six team event. The top eight teams are Ireland, Afghanistan, Scotland, UAE, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Kenya and Namibia which could mean that Ireland would have to play a lot of games in fairly alien conditions. They would certainly relish competing with all the other sides at home. It will also be crucial that all of Ireland’s county based players be given automatic release for these games which has not been the situation up to now.

There is also the likelihood of additional ICC funding to the top Associate teams although the ICC statement is somewhat vague on how that money will be distributed. However the specific details of all the decisions affecting Ireland should be clarified over the next few months but there can be little doubt that the potential gains for cricket in Ireland will be warmly welcomed.

The full text of the ICC statement is:

Singapore, 8 February 2014

ICC Board approves changes to governance, competition and financial models of ICC
The ICC Board today approved a comprehensive resolution relating to the governance, competition and financial models of the ICC at a meeting in Singapore.

The key elements of the resolution are as follows:

Protecting Test cricket

A Test Cricket Fund will be introduced to help ensure all of the Test playing teams will be able to sustain a home programme of Test cricket through to 2023. The fund will be available to the entire Test playing Members except the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

There was also confirmation that all Full Members will enter into a series of contractually binding bi-lateral agreements as a matter of urgency so that they can confirm a comprehensive schedule of matches in a Future Tours Programme that will now be extended to 2023.

Breaking the glass ceiling

Associate Members now have a clear pathway to playing Test cricket. The winner of the next ICC Intercontinental Cup will be entitled to take part in a play-off against the bottom-ranked Full Member and, if successful, obtain Test status. This complements the pathways that are already in place for any Member to be able to qualify for the major events in ODI and T20I cricket.

A certain and attractive package of ICC major events

The World Test Championship will be replaced with an ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2021.It proved impossible to come up with a format for a four-team finals event in Test cricket that fits the culture of Test cricket and preserves the integrity of the format. 

The most recent ICC Champions Trophy event proved to be very popular with supporters around the world and the future events will build on this success. It’s also an event that any ICC Member (including the top Associate Members) can aspire to qualifying for by improving their performances in ODI cricket.

With the ICC Champions Trophy alongside the ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC World Twenty20 and the formats and venues already confirmed for all of these events the ICC has a really attractive package for 2015-23 to take to the market.

A new financial model for Full Members

Full Members will gain greater financial recognition based on the contribution they have made to the game, particularly in terms of finance, their ICC history and their on-field performances in the three formats.
This decision is the outcome of a negotiation between Members that has been required to provide long-term certainty of participation of all Members in both ICC events and bilateral series against other Members. Without that certainty, the rights for ICC events, which are to be taken to market this year, would have been significantly impacted and, by extension, so would the financial support that has driven the growth of cricket around the world.
The structure of the model will ensure that none of the Full Members will be worse off than they are at present and - if forecasts of revenue generation prove to be correct – all will be significantly better off. The agreement of the model has been an important part of a wider negotiation that will now provide long-term certainty of participation in ICC events by all of the Full Member teams.

Enhanced support for the leading Associate Members

Funds that will be directly distributed to Associate and Affiliate Members (AMs) will continue to grow, building on a dramatic increase in the previous cycle (2007-15) if revenue targets are achieved. There is also a commitment to continue to support tournaments for all of the AMs and a range of centralised services.

The planning process for the next cycle can now begin in earnest and, as part of this, there will be a review – in partnership with the AMs and their representatives – of the appropriate scope of services and tournaments and the suitability of the current scorecard distribution model of the funds.

N.Srinivasan from BCCI to Chair the ICC Board from mid-2014

The ICC Board will continue to be the primary decision-making body. From the start of July this year, the ICC Chairman will be N.Srinivasan from the BCCI.

A new Executive Committee will be formed to report into the Board. The initial Chair of this Executive Committee (ExCo) will be Wally Edwards from Cricket Australia while the Chair of the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) will continue to be Giles Clarke from the ECB. These roles will be for an initial two year transitional period to 2016 only.

Once this transitional period is completed, the Chair of the ICC Board will be elected from within the ICC Board with all Full Member Directors entitled to stand for election.

BCCI, CA and ECB - will be represented on both sub-committees, along with two representatives of the other Full Members (who will be elected by the Board).

Several of these decisions still now need to be considered and adopted by the ICC’s Full Council. The relevant resolutions will now be drafted through the appropriate committees, including the Governance Committee and the Board before being submitted for approval to Full Council.

A set of proposals was initially developed by the respective Chairs of BCCI, CA and ECB – N.Srinivasan, Wally Edwards and Giles Clarke before being presented to a meeting of the Full Members on 9 January.

These proposals were then discussed, negotiated and modified at two subsequent ICC Board meetings. A resolution was put to a vote today and supported by the required majority of the ICC Board, including eight Full Members. Two of the Full Members – Pakistan Cricket Board and Sri Lanka Cricket - abstained in the vote as they felt they needed more time to discuss the amended resolution with their respective Boards.

ICC President Alan Isaac said: “The Board has made some significant decisions today which provide us with long-term certainty in relation to the future governance, competition and financial models of the ICC.
“This decision comes after extensive discussions between Members that I helped initiate and were given impetus through a position paper presented by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and ECB in early January.

“Since this time a set of resolutions have been drafted, negotiated and modified – based on a set of principles agreed by the ICC Board on 28 January – and finalized at the meeting today. There were eight Full Members who were in a position to support the resolution today and the two who abstained have pledged to further discuss the issues with an aim to reaching unanimous approval over the coming weeks.”
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “We now have clear direction from the Board and it is our job to implement the approved resolution.”

The ICC Board consists of the chairman or president from each of the 10 Full Members plus three elected Associate Member representatives. Also present at ICC Board meetings is the ICC President, who chairs proceedings, the ICC Chief Executive and the ICC Vice-President.

Alan Isaac ICC President
Mustafa Kamal ICC Vice-President
David Richardson ICC Chief Executive
Zaka Ashraf Pakistan
Peter Chingoka Zimbabwe
Giles Clarke England and Wales
Wally Edwards Australia
Nazmul Hassan Bangladesh
Imran Khwaja Associate Member Representative
Emmanuel Nanthar * West Indies
Chris Nenzani South Africa
Keith Oliver Associate Member Representative
Nishantha Ranatunga * Sri Lanka
Martin Snedden New Zealand
Neil Speight Associate Member Representative
Narayanaswami Srinivasan India
* as alternate

The ICC statement will have come as a further boost to Ireland morale as they had a decisive victory last night over the reigning champions, the Windward Islands, in their final group game in the Nagico Super 50. There had been a lot of criticism of Ireland’s performance in their first two games particularly from former West Indian Test players who were doing the TV commentary from Trinidad. They took no account of the very limited preparation time available to Ireland or of the disruption in the camp due to the illness to John Mooney. That criticism continued last night after William Porterfield won the toss and decided to bat.

Now it is true that there has been some undisciplined batting from the top order and there were a few soft dismissals again last night. But Ireland batsmen have traditionally taken a few games to adjust to slow turning wickets and until they are acclimatised are not adept at turning the strike over. William Porterfield used up 22 deliveries for his 3 runs and as yet he has not batted with the freedom of last year. Paul Stirling showed intent but got caught at slip for 11, although in fairness it was his first outing having returned from injury.

Niall O’Brien top scored with 44 off 63 balls including one of only two sixes hit in the innings before he ran past a spinning delivery from Polius and was stumped. Andrew Poynter had departed in a similar manner in the previous over and the subsequent loss of Kevin O’Brien early in the batting powerplay had Ireland looking down the barrel at 116 for 6 wickets.

However a sprightly 32 by Stuart Thompson was the main contributor to Ireland reaching a competitive total of 179 although there will be disappointment that for the third successive time Ireland failed to bat out their fifty overs.
The big difference last night was the Ireland bowling which recognising that spin was the way to go completely tied up the Windward Islands batsmen and ultimately led to them self-destructing. This came after a good opening spell from Stuart Thompson and Craig Young. Thompson accounted for the West Indies ODI opening batter Johnson Charles with his third ball. Young, although he didn’t get a wicket, looked very sharp and could have the potential to be the man to provide the sort of pace that Ireland could do with.

However it was the return to form of leading spinner George Dockrell that will have particularly cheered the Ireland camp. Coming on in the first powerplay he removed the other West Indies ODI opening batsman Andre Fletcher for just 19. Then with a partnership threatening he was brought back into the attack and removed top scorer Theophile for 27 when he was plumb LBW. A third entry into the attack saw Dockrell make another breakthrough and the spinners then wrapped up the innings. It will have helped George considerably that his spin twin Paul Stirling was back in harness last night as the Ireland spinners, with Andy McBrine again prominent, bowled 24 overs for a miserly 61 runs and six wickets. Two of those wickets fell to Andrew Poynter with his part time off spin. The pressure exerted by spin also was responsible for the two run outs in the innings as the Windwards lost their last six wickets for 29 runs as they capitulated to a 64 run defeat in just 35 overs.

So Ireland can move on to Jamaica to take on the West Indies in much better spirit and confident that they can give a good account of themselves against the T20 World Cup holders.