While some will have their eyes on the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup that Bermuda is not involved in, www.islandstats.com brings to your attention something that will either benefit or hinder Bermuda’s ability to compete in the coming years.
The ICC is considering increasing funding for Associate and Affiliate nations as part of the ongoing review into its governance and structure, writes Tim Wigmore who is a freelance journalist and author of Second XI: Cricket in its Outposts.
The news will go some way to appeasing Associate representatives aggrieved by the effects of the ICC's 2014 financial and administrative restructuring, informally referred to as the Big Three takeover.
Funding for the 95 Associate and Affiliate nations from 2015-23 has currently been agreed at $299 million, only a slight increase in real terms from the $252 million awarded to Associate and Affiliate nations in the preceding media and commercial rights package from 2007-15. Had the ICC rights for 2015-23 been distributed according to the previous revenue model (2007-2015), Ehsan Mani, the former ICC President, estimates that the Associate nations could have received over $550 million.
Under the new model, Associate representatives believe that the majority of the ICC's 95 non-Test members face a real terms funding reduction. "Over 50 Associates and Affiliates [out of a total of 95] are likely to be worse off in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15," said Simone Gambino, the Italian Cricket Federation president. The claim was backed up by a number of other representatives, who expressed grave concerns about the future of the game beyond the Full Member nations.
"I worry how some countries will recover from the crushing reduction in funds. All that we have achieved is at risk," said Ken Farmiloe, the Chairman of Cricket Belgium. "As far as I can see, Ireland are the only country in Europe who are better off in 2016. Most countries seem to be worse off as, in addition to a reduction in funds, there will be no financial support from ICC Europe for projects."
When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, the ICC privately denied that such a large number of nations will be worse off, saying that the number who have suffered funding reductions in 2015-16 is no higher than in a typical year. According to the ICC's rules, funding is determined by a combination of on-field performance and the ICC's "scorecard" tally which takes into account a myriad of development factors to rank associates and determine funding. The ICC were unwilling to specify how many countries are better or worse off in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15, but said the new funding model for Associates and Affiliates was designed to prevent sides that maintain their position in the rankings from being financially worse off.
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