Cameron wants to take fight for smaller cricketing nations to ICC
During an interview on the ‘Good Morning Jojo Sports Show’, Cameron said even if his bid was not successful it would be his hope that successor to Shashank Manohar, would share his zeal for eradicating the economic disparity between big and small cricketing nations.
By big, Cameron spoke of Cricket Australia (CA), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“The system which exists within the ICC needs to be changed and I was there challenging that,” said Cameron.
According to Cameron, media rights is the arena in which the big three make a killing, to the exemption of smaller cricketing nations like the West Indies.
“Australia’s media rights for six years is 1.2 billion Australian dollars, the BCCI media rights for five years is 950 million for the international rights and 2.5 billion for IPL and the West Indies Cricket Board, if we’re lucky, will get about 50 million for the next five years,” he said.
With the much more open nature of access to information, Cameron believes ICC members like the West Indies must struggle to meet the demands of professional cricketers under the present conditions.
“What is happening to us is that our players are demanding to get paid the way Indian players, the Australian players and the English players are paid, and they’re right; they are doing the same amount of work but we are in different economies,” Cameron explained.
Cameron’s bid for ICC Chairman is timely, and he explains that timeliness in terms of having a seat at the table before there is another apportioning of media rights and the like that will disproportionately be split up.
“If we don’t do it now we are going into another eight-year cycle of ICC rights from 2023 to 2031 and I guarantee you that within three to five years, West Indies cricket and West Indies cricket players would be extinct,” he said.
“Don’t select me as chairman but make sure we select someone who’s willing to make changes within the ICC,” he said.
Manohar stepped down from the role of ICC Chairman just this month, with Singapore’s Imran Khawaja filling the post on an interim basis.
Khawaja, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, and England’s Colin Graves are the men who Cameron wishes to challenge.
Graves has, for a long time, been touted as favourite to take over the role.