da bet esporte： The new ICC president has defended the crammed international calender, stating that players had agreed to the same
da pinnacle： Cricinfo staff09-Jun-2007
“If the players feel that the fixtures are too tight, their representatives can talk to us” © International Cricket Council
Ray Mali, the acting president of the ICC, has rejected the charge of too much cricket, saying that the players were involved in the formulation of the international calendar.”Players are part of the formulation of cricket fixtures. Their representatives have already agreed to the fixtures,” said Mali, who was recently appointed as the successor to the late Percy Sonn.Mali indicated that the ICC had not received any complaints frominternational players. “If the players feel that the fixtures are tootight, their representatives can talk to us. We have not received anyofficial complaint so far.”The South African administrator also dismissed the idea that the shorterformats of the game had led to a decline in the quality of Test cricket, and in fact suggested that the influence of ODIs have enhanced Test cricket. “Now you see teams scoring 360-370 in a day. The shorter version of the game has done a lot for Test cricket.”Talking about cricket in Zimbabwe, Mali said there was no dearth oftalent. “It rests with the ICC to assist them and expose them to qualitycricket,” he said. “They themselves opted out of playing Test cricket… they will get back to us in November with a decision.”Mali also stressed that any form of corruption in the game would not betolerated. Defining his role, he said his job was to provide “visionaryleadership”. “There must be consultative leadership, which at the sametime must be decisive for the game to be able to move forward.”Mali informed that the executive board of the ICC will meet on June 29.
