Kamal bullish about ICC role

The International Cricket Council's decision to reconsider the role of the vice-president -- a position current Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president AHM Mustafa Kamal was set to take up from 2012 -- dampened Bangladeshis' fond hopes of seeing one of their own lead the global sporting body from 2014. The man himself, however, seemed unperturbed.
Five days after the ICC meeting, Kamal reiterated that he was not disheartened by his nomination as ICC vice-president from 2012 being deferred nor by the decision to split the role of president with a new chairman's post from 2014.
The next ICC annual board meeting in June this year will not only discuss the amendment in line with the recommendations of Justice Lord Woolf but also consider the position and role, if any, of the ICC vice-president between 2012 and 2014.
“There is no point being disappointed with the changes. The issue of the vice-presidency role is under process. Why should I be disappointed when I can still be the ICC president in the post-2014 period?” queried a confident Kamal while talking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
As per recommendations, the president will have an ambassadorial role and will be appointed on a one-year rotational basis, while a chairman will lead the board. Kamal however said that there will be no change in the role of president.
“For the president everything will be the same as before. The recommendations just created a new system to build a bigger and better global game. Still the opportunity is there for us to lift the image of Bangladesh cricket, so we should in no way belittle it,” observed Kamal smilingly adding that he would love to become president even for a day.
If the ICC vice-presidency is a major issue to deal with at the international level, then sending a security team to Pakistan for a pre-series inspection is no less important for the BCB boss.
"I will accompany the security team because as president I must lead from the front," said Kamal. BCB is however yet to confirm the schedule for the trip although their Pakistan counterparts are pushing them hard.
"We also have to get the green signal from the ICC," he added.
However, there is an immediate issue to solve for Kamal on the domestic front as the twelve clubs of the Premier Division Cricket League demanded a share in the earnings of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20, the new venture of the BCB which will kick off from February 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
The club officials, led by Manzur Ahmed, the president of new powerhouse Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, addressed a letter to BCB president in which they have demanded a 25 per cent share of the income from the BPL as well as 25 per cent from the players' earnings. And the clubs threatened that they would not release their players if the board failed to meet their demands or discuss with them about the BPL.
"I will meet with the club representatives tomorrow to discuss everything and I hope everything will be solved in the meeting," assured Kamal.