Following a fundamental review carried out by the ICC development committee – the body which administers cricket away from the Test playing nations – both the Jersey Cricket Board and the GCB have confirmed the reduction in financial support. As it happens, after qualifying for the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Scotland and Ireland last summer Jersey will receive a bonus sum which helps compensate but the Sarnians will suffer an overall drop in contribution.
An article on the ESPNCricinfo website claimed most associate nations are facing exactly the same real-term reductions, as the ICC diverts additional resources to the two leading associates, Ireland and Afghanistan. Although contacted by the JEP, the ICC refused to verify – or deny – that assertion.
JCB chief executive Chris Minty: “We need to make ourselves heard because at the moment it feels not fair, and not right.”
However, both Chris Minty (pictured) of the JCB and the GCB’s Mark Latter did confirm the reduction in base funding for their respective nations.
The criteria used in the allocation of funding are reviewed on an annual basis but the ICC was unwilling to specify the current rationale.
Historically weighted towards a nation’s One Day International ranking, the calculation was altered after the development committee agreed changes to the ICC distribution model in November.
Now, the JEP understands, far more emphasis is placed purely on the number of new players a country can demonstrate that it has attracted to the game.
However, for two tiny islands situated in the English Channel, this new measure appears to be particularly inequitable.
‘One of the difficulties for a small country is numbers … we can’t suddenly produce 15,000 cricketers, for example,’ said JCB chief executive Chris Minty.
‘A nation like Nigeria, however, could suddenly have an extra 140,000 cricketers. One of the potential answers, which we have suggested, would be to calculate that in terms of a percentage of the nation’s population but the ICC are yet to agree with us.
‘Another problem is that the value of $100,000 USD in Jersey is very different to the value of $100,000 USD in Tanzania or Malaysia … it’s worth a lot more there but it’s not so easy to get around that one.’
He added: ‘We need to make ourselves heard because at the moment it feels not fair, and not right. We need to keep speaking to our representatives at the ICC, which we are in the process of doing.
‘It can be very hard to get our point across because we don’t sit down face-to-face with the individuals making the decisions but we must continue to be heard.’
Specifically discussing the implications of a reduction in funding, Minty continued: ‘Since we’ve been involved, the ICC have always spoken about developing cricket so it’s a worry to see funding being reduced.
‘It seems crazy to us because if you reduce funding, then you reduce staffing, and you reduce development, which means we are not able to develop cricket.
‘For small associate countries like us or Guernsey, a 15 or 20 per cent reduction could translate to people losing their jobs.’
The ICC are expected to discuss associate funding levels at a meeting next month, after which Jersey and Guernsey will hope that their concerns will be addressed.
