By Chloe Saltau
The global crackdown on throwing is evidence of the restructured International Cricket Council's ability to get things done, according to Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards.
The next and arguably bigger test is to find a solution to the West Indies crisis that threatens to destroy a once-great team and impact on next year's World Cup.
Edwards was speaking after CA presented a picture of an Australian game in excellent health at its annual general meeting at the MCG, but cricket in other parts of the world faces immense challenges, especially in the West Indies after Dwayne Bravo's team abandoned a tour of India because of a bitter pay dispute between the players, their board and their union. The Board of Control for Cricket in India's response, to suspend bilateral tours to the West Indies, could be catastrophic for the game in the Caribbean.
Edwards and CA chief executive James Sutherland were shocked at the walk-out and will fly to Dubai next week for ICC meetings where the West Indies mess will dominate the agenda. In the new world order, with India, England and Australia taking a lead role in running the game, the onus is on ICC members to get their houses in order.
"Dead right, the pressure is on," said Edwards of the need for the West Indies to sort out their issues on and off the field. Turning up for a tour of South Africa before Christmas would be a good start. "I don't believe they [the West Indies] will be lost. I can't imagine that. I think there is a genuine desire at the ICC next week to get things back on track."
Edwards, an architect of the ICC reforms, believes the throwing crackdown would not have happened without the "big three" takeover of world cricket.
He said the restructure enabled a proper debate on the thorny topic of illegal actions, which had previously been dismissed for political reasons by a dysfunctional administration.
"In the past you would talk about these things but you could never resolve anything at ICC because there were factions all around the table. It was very difficult to have good quality debates and then make decisions. But we have now got a fully functioning board and it's well led Mr Srinivasan [the ICC chairman]. He is not only running the board he is running the administration, and I think we are in a good place now to move world cricket forward.
The "old chestnuts" of player behaviour and slow over rates will also be tackled with a new, unified approach, but don't hold your breath waiting for a similar consenus on the Decision Review System.
With India touring Australia for four Tests this summer, Edwards is yet to broach India's refusal to use the controversial DRS even though he thinks it will eventually be in place for all series. "It's always on the agenda. There's a lot of work going on at ICC in terms of how it's operated and quality checks in terms of how accurate it is. I have positive feelings that over time it will become universal."
The impetus for empowering umpires to report suspect bowlers and strengthening the testing regime came from the ICC Cricket Committee, which is chaired by former India captain and champion leg-spinner Anil Kumble, with Australian board member Mark Taylor and coach Darren Lehmann (who incidentally was fined two summers ago for speaking out about a bowler's action in the BBL) also on the committee.
A passionate speech by Kumble at a meeting of ICC chief executives earlier this year was seen as a major turning point on the issue, which in the past was so politicised that umpires hesitated to report players they suspected of breaking the rules.
"Illegal actions was getting everybody down, I know it was getting the players down and it was getting some administrators down," he added. "I think it has been a very good process we have been through and everybody is impressed with the fact things are happening," Edwards said.
"We want [cricket] played well, we want it umpired well. Some things have been annoying people for a long time and we want to address it. We might fail but we will give it a go. We can't go down this path and then pull back and leave umpires holding the baby."
CA announced record revenue of almost $300 million at its AGM, and projected it would climb to $1.22 billion over the next four-year cycle.