Cricket need not be under the yoke of India: Outgoing ICC chief Greg Barclay

The outgoing chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Greg Barclay, gave a serious reality check for the sport as he stepped down in end-November after two terms. The overwhelming clout of India and the overkill of the sport thanks to a ‘congested calendar’ are the two biggest worries, according to the New Zealand businessman and administrator

In a wide ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph which has got the cricket community talking, Barclay has almost given a backhanded compliment to Jay Shah, who took over as ICC supremo from 1 December. ‘’I think he (Shah) has got a great opportunity to use what he’s got in his background to help India take the game to another level, but without making it sort of under the yoke of India as well,’’ Barclay says in an obvious reference to the financial clout of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India).

"We’re really lucky to have India, they’re a massive contributor to the game across all the measures, but one country having that amount of power and influence does distort a whole lot of other outcomes, which is not necessarily helpful in terms of that global growth,’’ he said.

‘’There are a number of things that India could do to help unite and grow the game, including commercially helping to pool off-shore rights, using their teams to give opportunity to smaller full members and emerging countries, using their clout to open new territories and markets, collaborating closely with the ICC to help benefit members as examples,’’ he said. 

Barclay’s observation finds a larger context with the ongoing impasse over the ICC Champions Trophy, which has reached such a stage that the world governing body has now left the ball in the courts of India and Pakistan boards to sort it among themselves. Barclay, who had negotiated a demanding phase in the ICC thanks to the pandemic, could have raised his concern at board meetings during his tenure rather than in a tell-all interview.

The other pressing issue for Barclay’s successor Shah will be that of congested fixtures — raising doubts if the law of diminishing returns have have already set in the sport, what with marketing of the broadcasting rights not being quite the golden egg laying goose anymore.  

 ‘’I reckon, gee, I’m at the apex of the game and I can’t tell you who’s playing around the world. In fact, I didn’t realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen’s seven wickets this morning,’’ Barclay said. ‘’So we’ve lost perspective. It’s not great for the game at all. It’s a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it's almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one's going to give up their content,’’ he said. 

Barclay also warns that the recent £6.7 billion merger between Disney and Reliance in India drastically cuts competition in the broadcasting rights in Asia that bankroll the game. ‘’We’re so stuck on our model that it’s 10 years out of date. Test cricket is a case in point. I love Test cricket. It’s really the only form of cricket that I am watching, but if you think about it, you’ve got 120 countries playing cricket, men and women, and only seven or eight really are playing Test cricket."

Any cut in the ICC’s £2.4 billion rights deal for its world events, which it signed as the last deal for 2024-27, will have a seismic impact on the smaller nations. ‘’That is one thing that worries me, is that the game is sleep-walking to the edge of the cliff. It is changing, and trying to get an understanding of what the change looks like, what it means for the game, seems to be a bit of a battle, because the problem is everybody’s used to only ever seeing the broadcast revenues rise,’’ Barclay noted.

"At some point, it is going to correct. It’s a market,’’ Barclay pondered. Once that happens, it’s not going to be good news for the game!