Credit: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come up with the decision to not involve the World Cricketers Association (WCA) in its objective of creating a mobile gaming platform and market it. Getting players' rights is crucial for the smooth launch of the ambitious project, and the ICC is pondering to secure them through member boards, rather than through the players' union.
In the ICC Board meeting held in Harare in April, cricket’s apex-body had no intention to contract player rights through a third party such as WCA. "A clear direction from the April (ICC Board meeting in Harare) meeting was that all players' rights for this project would be secured through the members. The ICC was not to contract player rights through a third party such as the World Cricketers Association," read ICC’s note to its members who attended its recent Annual Conference held in Singapore.
However, the issue emerges when it comes to onboarding retired players who aren’t stitched with the contract to their respective boards. Illustrious figures such as Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Kevin Pietersen, and Glenn McGrath bid adieu to the sport a long ago, and they are not bound to adhere to their board’s respective boards’ orders.
ICC hopeful of resolving all issues of gaming project ahead its next meeting
ICC has aimed to resolve all its issues ahead of the next meeting to be conducted in November. "The aim is to have a preferred partner identified for approval at the October board meetings. (The ICC) management will be in touch with members shortly to formalise the licence of rights required for the mobile game. These agreements will need to be completed by October," added the ICC note.
ICC’s ambitious gaming project has garnered the attention of global gaming giants who are looking to get the rights. It will be interesting to see when ICC will complete the entire plan to head towards its launch.
