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ScottWozniak

Listed below are comments made by ScottWozniak between Friday, 27th June 2008 and Monday, 3rd November 2008.

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Twenty20 train leaves England behind 8:55pm on 03 Nov 2008 Interesting article. Personally I think the ECB should stick two fingers up to the ICC and the BCCI and tell them to get stuffed, withdraw their membership from the ICC and do their own thing in this country. England don't need the ICC or the BCCI, who are turning the International game of Cricket into a money go round circus farce. The ICC seem to think they have the power to alter game results against the Laws of Cricket as well as allowing a country like Zimbabwe to remain a full member who simply do NOT meet the ICC's own criteria for full membership. The BCCI seem to think they can place their own 'special advisers' within the ICC and have little interest in International Cricket over and above what profits they can generate from it, as well as thinking they have the power to say globally who can and cannot play in the ICL and other world leagues. For gods sake get the hell out of this madhouse and leave them to it.
Zimbabwe crisis rumbles on 7:21pm on 04 Jul 2008 I have to say how dissapointed I am with this blog entry which
reads as a 'Sun readers' guide to the ineptitude of ICC decision
making.

I'd like to suggest that Mr Bose actually takes a few minutes to
read through the ICC's 'Full Member Requirements' pdf as shown on
their website under "Rules and Regulations". You'll see in there
that zimbabwe don't even come close on about 75% of those Full
membership requirements and they certainly don't qualify under the
requirement to have '...and accurate and efficient accounting
system", going on their utter refusal to allow the Auditors report
on their accounts to be released for general consumption.

So why wasn't their full membership of the ICC argued on Cricketing
grounds alone? According to the Full member requirements, they also
have to be playing Test Cricket, something they haven't done since
2005.

It's patently obvious to everyone that if Zimbabwe applied for full
membership today, they wouldn't qualify, so what kind of message is
this sending out to the existing Associate Countries, many of which
have a far better claim to full membership that Zimbawe currently
do?

We all know the two reasons why Zimbabwe don't want to be demoted
to Associate status, one the 11 million US dollars of hard foriegn
currency they recieve for doing absolutely nothing and two the vote
support they can give to the BCCI. Are they two strong cricketing
reasons for Zimbabwe to remain a full member?

Perhaps Mr Bose might like to have a look at the ICC Mission
Statement, also easily found on their website. There's plenty of
relevant examples there but this one caught my eye -

"We care for cricket. Everything we do and every decision we make
is motivated by a desire to serve the game better."

This rather pronpts the question, how can retaining Zimbabwe as a
full member of the ICC 'serve the game better' when they don't play
Test Cricket, they won't be playing in the T20 World
Championships,when they do play ODI cricket they invariably get
thrashed and most importantly of all, no Full member country wants
to play them either at home or away, despite Peter Chingoka's
insistence that he's looking forward to more tours with his Asian
friends. Haven't India cancelled tours with Zimbabwe in the past
because 'it's not financially profitable to do so'?

You make out the ECB have pulled off this great political
masterstroke, all they've achieved is a retention of the World T20
championships, that plenty of people in this country would have
been happy to have seen handed back to the ICC, with a thanks but
no thanks. Instead they've prostituted their own morality for the
sake of financial gain, in that sense the ECB are now no better
than the BBCI.

What I do agree with you on is that the ICC are no longer a fit and
proper organisation for administering and governing the world game.
The sooner the ECB resign from the ICC and form their own governing
body, the sooner everyone can get back to enjoying cricket again,
because as a Sky subscriber, I shan't be renewing my sports
package, I have no intention of putting any money at all into the
ECB's pockets, which in turn gets paid to the ICC which in turn
gets paid to Peter Chingoka and his Zanu-PF party.
Zimbabwe's fate lies with India and Mali 7:58pm on 27 Jun 2008 Peter Chingoka can say what he likes regarding the political situation
in Zimbabwe, there are very sound cricketing grounds for them being
demoted to associate status.

We all know his motivation for wanting to stay a full member - the money
the ZCU receives from the ICC is considerable and likely that much of it
finds its way into his personal pocket as well as the ruling political
party the Zanu-PF and none if any into grass roots Zimbabwe cricket.

How is Zimbabwe cricket ever going to improve to the required level of
full membership while little or no financial investment is made in the
cricketing infrastructure in that country?

The BCCI are hypocrits for wanting Zimbabwe to remain a full member when
they themselves have cancelled tours to that country on the basis that
it simply isn't 'financially viable'. The BCCI themselves don't want to
play Zimbabwe, so why do they want them to remain a full member unless
it's simply to rely on their vote support?

I also read recently that the BCCI might decide to 'horse-trade' with
the ECB, their support on Zimbawe for a guarantee that no ICL players
will feature in the Champions League from the two T20 sides that
qualify.

Is this the way that future decisions should be made for the good of
International Cricket? You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours?

People are tired of the situation with Zimbabwe and the BCCI's constant
meddling and interference in the governing of International Cricket.

If Zimbabwe are not demoted to Associate status at the next ICC meeting,
the ECB should withdraw and resign from the ICC until such a time that
the situation with Zimbawe is resolved to their satisfaction.

I see no point in England remaining a member of the ICC whilst the
decision making and voting system remains undemoncratic and dominated by
one country.
ICC looks to build consensus on Zimbabwe 6:23pm on 27 Jun 2008 If Zimbabwe are not downgraded to associate status next week, the ECB should withdraw and resign from the ICC until such a time as the situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the ECB and British government, at which point they can rejoin.

It seems pointless to remain a voting member of an organisation where the democratic process of one member one vote has broken down and all members bar a couple look to the BCCI for guidance.

This is not a democratic process - it's a dictatorship by one country, much the same as it happens as the political system in Zimbabwe.

As far as I'm concerned, that's the only viable solution.

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