BCCI lodges complaint against Lloyd

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will internally discuss the demand of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to remove former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd from the chairmanship of its cricket committee.

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat has assured the BCCI that he will discuss the issue with ICC president David Morgan, according to information received here.

The BCCI has expressed dissatisfaction at the comments of Clive Lloyd during a media conference on Wednesday that the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) should merge.

“I am hoping that the IPL and ICL will co-exist. There’s nothing like having a discussion to break the ice,” he had reportedly said.

The BCCI then shot off a missive to the ICC, demanding Lloyd be ejected from his post for interfering in BCCI’s internal matters. As the head of an ICC sub-committee, he should not have aired his views on the contentious issue, BCCI said.

An ICC spokesman confirmed on Friday that the BCCI has lodged a complaint.

“The CEO has received an email from the BCCI,” he said.

The BCCI reminded the ICC that former India captain Sunil Gavaskar had to quit in May due to a conflict of interests after the ICC asked him to decide if he wants to remain the chairman of the cricket committee or honour his media commitments.

The issue came in the wake of the January 2-6 Sydney Test when Gavaskar criticised ICC match referee Mike Procter in his syndicated newspaper column for banning Harbhajan Singh for the Indian off spinner’s alleged racial abuse directed at Australia’s Andrew Symonds.

The Indian board banned ICL players from official tournaments and launched its own multi-million dollar Twenty tournament last year.

It held talks with ICL last month after the league officials petitioned the ICC but announced the talks failed.