Sharad Pawar completes his two-year term as ICC president on Thursday. A look back at some of the major events and decisions during his tenure
ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2012July 1, 2010
Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI president, takes over as ICC president from England’s David Morgan. Pawar will lead the ICC for two years after having served as Morgan’s deputy for a similar period. Australian Prime Minister John Howard is nominated to be Pawar’s deputy but he was controversially rejected by the ICC board.August 9, 2010
The ICC approves the nomination of Alan Isaac, who was chairman of New Zealand Cricket, for the post of vice-president, after it had rejected Howard.August-September 2010
The ICC is forced to confront the scourge of corruption once again. The newspaper reports that a 35-year-old man, Mazhar Majeed, was caught claiming to have paid £150,000 to arrange a spot-fix at Lord’s involving Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. The paper also alleges that the team captain, Salman Butt, is involved. The ICC subsequently suspends Butt, Amir and Asif, the first time cricket’s governing body has suspended cricketers under its anti-corruption code. Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, says the governing body has enough evidence to charge the players.September 17, 2010
The Crown Prosecution Service considers whether there was a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers in the spot-fixing case after police turn over an initial file of evidence.October 13, 2010
The ICC approves the creation of a league-style Test Championship and redraws the lines of one-day cricket as part of an extensive restructuring of the international game, which also includes a reduced 50-over World Cup and an enlarged World Twenty20 event.November 9, 2010
The ICC asks its Full Members to sign a declaration showing support for the organisation’s new anti-corruption methods in a continuing bid to keep the game clean.November 21, 2010
The ICC asks its members to adopt, by April 2011, a domestic anti-corruption code in line with the international code.January 6, 2011
The ICC hearing of the spot-fixing case against Amir, Asif and Butt begins in Qatar.January 27, 2011
The ICC rules out Eden Gardens as the venue for the 2011 World Cup game between India and England on February 27. The ICC’s inspection team feels the stadium would not be ready in time. Despite an appeal by the Cricket Association of Bengal, the match is eventually moved to Bangalore.February 5, 2011
The ICC bans Butt, Asif and Amir for ten, seven and five years respectively after a tribunal found them guilty of spot-fixing in the Lord’s Test against England last year.Sharad Pawar and Haroon Lorgat with the World Cup•AFPApril 4, 2011
The ICC decides the next two World Cups will be ten-team events. The 2015 World Cup will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and the 2019 World Cup will be played in England.April 19, 2011
The Associate countries decide to contest the ICC’s move to block their access to the 2015 World Cup after receiving advice from prominent sports lawyers. ICC president Sharad Pawar also requests that the tournament’s composition be reassessed in response to widespread criticism of the decision to limit participation to the ten Test-playing nations.May 11, 2011
The ICC’s Cricket Committee unanimously recommends the use of the Decision Review System (DRS) in all Tests and also says it should be used in one-day internationals and Twenty20. It also encourages cricket boards to use the pink ball in day-night first-class cricket to test its durability for the five-day game under lights.May 20, 2011
A court in London rules the spot-fixing trial will be held from October 4. The decision is made during a hearing into corruption charges against Pakistani players Butt, Asif and Amir, and the agent Mazhar Majeed, who were all named in the spot-fixing case.June 27, 2011
The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) unanimously agrees to make a modified version of the DRS mandatory in all Tests and one-day internationals. The mandatory terms and conditions that have been recommended to the executive board for approval consist of infrared cameras and audio-tracking devices but exclude ball-tracking technology, which was part of the ICC’s original list of compulsory technologies.June 28, 2011
The ICC reverses its decision on excluding Associates from the 2015 World Cup, which will now comprise 14 teams, including four Associates. The decision is made following strong criticism of the move to restrict the 2015 tournament to the Full Members.June 30, 2011
The ICC gives its member boards two years to become democratised and free from government and political interference in a bid to improve governance within the game. At its annual conference in Hong Kong, the ICC unanimously supports the proposal to amend its constitution for member boards to have free elections.August 4, 2011
Lord Harry Woolf, the former Chief Justice of England and Wales, is named chairman of the independent governance review of the ICC. Woolf will be assisted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international professional services firm.October 11, 2011
The ICC announces that the top two teams in the Intercontinental One-Day Cup will go through to the 2015 World Cup. The six remaining teams will join four others from the World Cricket League in a qualifying tournament.October 13, 2011
With the England-India series serving as the catalyst, the ICC’s executive board goes back on the mandatory application of the DRS in Tests and ODIs, and makes it subject to bilateral agreements between the participating countries.November 3, 2011
A London court hands out jail terms in the spot-fixing case. Butt is sentenced to two years and six months, Asif to one-year and Amir to six months.November 14, 2011
The Test Championship will not be held before 2017, according to Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief-executive. The tournament was initially scheduled for 2013, but it will not be conducted before 2017 due to the ICC’s commitments to its broadcaster and sponsors.February 2, 2012
The ICC’s independent governance review, headed by Lord Woolf, calls for sweeping changes in the administration of cricket and the functioning of its governing body. It starts with a restructuring of the ICC’s executive board to make it more independent and less dominated by the bigger countries and also recommends a re-examination of the rights and benefits of the Full Member nations. It calls for measures to increase transparency in dealings by the ICC and its members. Ten days later, the BCCI’s working committee rejects the key recommendations of the report.April 16, 2012
The ICC’s Executive Board amends its constitution to alter the role of its president and create a new post of a non-voting chairman. The amendment aims to convert the presidency to a rotational one-year term from 2014, at which time the post of vice-president will cease to exist. The chairman, who will now head the Executive Board, will serve a maximum of three two-year terms.June 13, 2012
The ICC will not consider creating an official window for the IPL in its Future Tours Programme, according to Lorgat. The issue of clashing schedules has been apparent since the IPL began in 2008 and refuses to disappear.June 26, 2012
The universal application of the Decision Review System (DRS), which was recommended by the ICC’s cricket committee and by its Chief Executives Committee, meets an expected and swift end at the ICC’s Executive Board meeting in Kuala Lumpur. It is believed the issue was discussed at the meeting but was not put to a vote. The development comes a day after India publicly and unambiguously repeated its opposition to DRS, when most other countries are believed to support it.
