Next chief worried about poor image, politicking within ICC

New Delhi, June 22 (UNI) All set to take the reigns from Ehsan Mani next month, incoming ICC President Percy Sonn said he would have to weed out political rivalries and vested interests within the govering body and change its behemoth image to the outside world.

Mr Sonn, the former president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, told June issue of the Cricinfo Magazine that ICC had a ''overblown'' set-up.

''The perception that it (the ICC) is a behemoth is not a good thing. The administration is definitely a bit overblown. Malcolm Speed knows what my views are. The problem is the lack of ability on the national level to manage ICC events. The ICC, of necessity, because it owns these events, has to ensure they take place according to its contracts with its commercial partners,'' he said.

Mr Sonn also admitted political bickerings within the body and said he would have his work cut out.

''We face divisions on the political front. There's always the great desire to have power. And there's this huge cake of money.

Each director on the ICC board represents a country. These countries have vested interests in each other's performance. We have the ICC events, which we have carved out with the Future Tours Programme.

But then the individual countries arrange tour programmes bilaterally.

''A Zimbabwe game is worth 200 rand but an Indian ODI currently sells for between US million and US million, so who would you want to play more often? The challenge is to give fairness and equity to the original objectives of the ICC, to keep the members in line and on track. This includes expanding the game, protecting the laws and the spirit of the game,'' he explained.

Next year's World Cup would be a major hightlight in his first year in the office and Mr Sonn admitted availability and cost of visitors' accommodation in the West Indies remain concerns.

''We've attempted to get the governments - remember we're sitting here with many independent governments - to try and solve this problem. It's supply and demand. They're full already. They've got so little accommodation that they can charge the world. It can diminish the value of the World Cup.'' He also made it clear that his style of functioning would be different from that of his predecessor.

''Ehsan is a very hands-on president. I'm a hands-off president.

I like to be in control too, but I don't think, of necessity, it's a president's job to do the work. That's why you have a chief executive.

''Some people perceive Ehsan to have become too operational, but it's been for the ICC's good. We are a very much better organisation now than when he took over three years ago. We're much more professional, we've got greater interests everywhere, we've got control, we work to budgets,'' he elaborated.

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