Associates had some talking points at the ICC AGM (Photo by Jan Kruger-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

ICC via Getty Images

There were a lot of suits and ties at the International Cricket Council’s annual conference in Singapore. Unless a logo was plastered on the blazer – the West Indies attire is predictably magnificent – it’s hard to know exactly who is who unless of course it’s Jay Shah, cricket’s most famous administrator.

Everyone looks seemingly important although in reality most of these administrators from the Associates operate mostly in the background

While a handful of power countries receive the bulk of the spotlight, most of cricket’s membership is derived from the Associates who are granted less funding, power and fixturing compared to the 12 Full Member nations in cricket’s archaic tiered system of governance.

The mighty Indian governing body currently receives a big chunk of the ICC’s revenue distribution model, 38.5 per cent, dwarfing the share of the 96 – now 98 – Associates who get about 11 per cent.

The annual conference is a chance for these administrators to rub shoulders with the power players although it seemed some of the interactions were limited to mere selfies, with Shah being particularly sought after.

“These meetings have a lot of hype, but you end up just talking seriously to the people you already talk to, essentially your neighbors who you already play against,” a smaller Associate chief told me in Singapore.

“It’s nice to talk to other countries from different regions, but you know nothing will really come from it.”

But there were several major talking points from an Associates point of view, with the Olympic qualifying process being the talk of the corridors. As I first reported, the men’s competition will mostly comprise regional rankings and likely a single global qualifier comprising the top eight ranked teams that did not make the initial cut.

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Associate teams are unlikely to feature in the qualifier with the Netherlands being the highest ranked currently at 13 – not high enough to make the cut. The U.S. will likely be the only Associate at the six-team men’s and women’s T20 competitions as the host nation.

Associates have been disappointed that such a low number of teams will compete in the Olympics, effectively ending any chance of one of their countries making it. But there is a realization that the Los Angeles Games is something of a trial run.

There is hope that by Brisbane 2032 – with cricket almost certain to return given its popularity in Australia – there will be far more teams, perhaps 12 per gender. Regional qualifiers, featuring Full Members and Associates, are hoped by Associate chiefs to determine spots by then.

The Olympic sheen is crucial for smaller countries, who hope it will fuel invaluable government and corporate support. Some Associates have already received more funding since cricket’s Olympic inclusion, but others are in limbo with the qualification process still not bedded down.

Meanwhile, there were calls in Singapore for a review into the ICC’s scoreboard funding model after concerns with transparency, which made global headlines last year following the French women’s cricket team saga.

The scorecard determines how much funding each Associate country receives from the ICC, with a number of measures and assessments to fulfil.

In an address at the Associate meeting in Singapore, German Cricket vice-president Vignaesh Sankaran highlighted several areas that a review should look at.

Of frustration to European nations, particularly, is that the current model does not account for economic disparities of regions – such as Europe compared to Africa or Asia.

“Implementation of pro-rated purchasing power parity or weighted data models is essential to ensure equitable and contextually appropriate funding allocations,” he said.

Sankaran also believed there was a funding lag and constraints on high performance investment.

“Scorecard funding operates with a two-year lag, like 2025 allocations are based on 2023 data, whereas high performance grants are allocated based on current and prior year performances, creating disparate timelines,” he said.

“Associates are constrained in making strategic high-performance investments. A realignment with Olympic cycles or a review of funding periods are advisable to enhance sustainability.”

There have also been calls to scrap the mandatory requirement for members to cast three votes in Associate elections, which “forces them to spread support across multiple candidates, diluting genuine preferences and complicating strategic voting”.

Governance issues have long been a thorny topic, with a proposal put forward a few years back going nowhere, it is learned.

An overhaul of the 17-person board – replaced by a leaner board comprising more independents – has long been discussed but there does not seem much appetite for change or for those in charge to loosen their grips on power.

There remains a spare seat on the board. Indra Nooyi, the former high-profile chief of PepsiCo, was the first-ever independent woman director when she joined in 2018. She finished up on the board last year after three terms, but has still not been replaced.

In what was seen as a positive development, the ICC membership expanded with Zambia returning as an Associate after it was suspended in 2019 and ultimately expelled due to “continued non-compliance”.

A couple of their top bosses nervously paced around the surroundings of the AGM as there appeared some late doubt over whether Zambia’s membership would go ahead. But it did, much to the relief of their chiefs, while Timor-Leste received membership for the first time.

As I reported recently, no new Full Members are likely in the near future although the U.S. could be in line to join the coveted top tier down the track if they can finally sort out their seemingly never-ending internal woes.