Tim May is back in the ICC’s Cricket Committee © Getty Images
Tim May has been reappointed to the ICC’s Cricket Committee as a past players’ representative almost three years after he lost his place on it. May, one of two current players’ representatives at that time, was replaced by L Sivaramakrishnan in the 2013 elections that became controversial over perceptions that they had been influenced by the BCCI.
His return is seen as a significant reflection of the changing attitudes at both the ICC and the BCCI following the appointment of Shashank Manohar as chairman and president respectively.
May, the former chief executive of FICA (the Federation of International Cricketers Associations), was voted off the committee in 2013 in controversial circumstances. Sivaramakrishnan, a BCCI-contracted commentator, was among those who replaced him amid allegations that pressure was applied to several of the Test captains who elect their favoured representative.
May subsequently resigned as chief executive of FICA in June 2013, citing his growing frustration with the administration of the sport.
As inaugural president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association from 1997 and FICA CEO from 2005, May gained a reputation as a leading proponent of the rights of players. Few have done more to increase their pay, security or influence.
Under the previous ICC regime, such activities were viewed as trouble making. But under Manohar, the ICC are taking steps towards embracing, if not the full Woolf Report – an independent governance review of the ICC in 2012 that recommended more independent representation on the board, more transparency within administration and less domination by the favoured few nations – at least aspects of its spirit.
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo