CHIEF executive Haroon Lorgat has hit back at suggestions of bias over the ICC’s plan to retain the Duckworth-Lewis method of deciding interrupted matches instead of adopting an alternative system from India.
Mr V Jayadevan, who devised the alternative VJD method, has written to International Cricket Council (ICC) president Sharad Pawar to criticise last week’s decision.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, a former ICC Cricket Committee chairman, also said VJD should have been given a year’s trial.
“It is not a healthy situation when the former chairman has such a critical view of how it was handled,” Lorgat told reporters on Thursday (June 7) at the launch of a worldwide tour of the World Twenty20 trophy ahead of the next edition in Sri Lanka in September.
“With respect to Sunil Gavaskar, I was present at the meeting (of the Cricket Committee), the president of the ICC was present and the process was proper, fair and transparent.
“Let’s not forget Duckworth-Lewis is a tried and tested method and to radically change something, you need something that is radically different and makes substantial sense,” Lorgat added.
The Cricket Committee is made up of 16 members, including Lorgat and Pawar and former international captains Mark Taylor, Ravi Shastri and Kumar Sangakkara, and is chaired by former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd.
It also contains South Africa coach Gary Kirsten, ICC’s head match referee Ranjan Madugalle and leading umpire Steve Davis.
The Duckworth-Lewis method was first used in international cricket in 1997 and was adopted by the ICC as its standard method of calculating targets in rain-affected matches in 2001.
The issue of a rain rule has been thrown into sharp focus by the scheduling of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.
The event, which starts on September 18, covers a time of year traditionally marked by the start of heavy monsoons in Colombo.
In 31 years as a Test-playing country, Sri Lanka has only scheduled nine days of international cricket in October and six of those have been affected by rain.
“We have a serious level of concern over that but such is Mother Nature you can’t control that,” said Lorgat.
“You can do your utmost to schedule wisely and the front end of the tournament is in September but there’s one week in October we have got to get through.”
Lorgat steps down as chief executive at the end of June after four years in the role.
“I’m quite happy,” he said. “Not happy that I’m going but happy that I’ve achieved what I set out to do.
“From a lot of the feedback I get, the image and the reputation of the ICC and cricket globally has grown tremendously.”
