FICA refers Sivaramakrishan's committee election to ICC Ethics Officer

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) has said it has been forced to refer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan’s controversial election to the ICC’s Cricket Committee to the ICC Ethics Officer for investigation, FICA said in a statement. The decision was taken at the FICA board meeting in London last week. [caption id=“attachment_910457” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Laxman Sivaramakrishan’s election to the ICC’s Cricket Committee has been dogged by controversy. Getty[/caption] “FICA has tried all we can to get the ICC to refer this matter to the Ethics Officer themselves, however after more than six weeks of no action we are left with no choice but to refer the matter ourselves,” FICA executive chairman Paul Marsh said. “We have evidence of Captains being pressured by their Boards into changing their votes away from the incumbent player representative on the Committee Tim May, in favour of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and we will present this to the Ethics Officer. The evidence is strong and we expect it to be acted upon.” FICA had previously asked the ICC to refer the matter to its Ethics Officer, but while the sport’s governing body said it was considering the matter, it also said there was no evidence to suggest that the vote was compromised. The vote became controversial after it was alleged that some boards had put pressure on their captains to change their vote after May had reportedly received nine of the ten captains’ votes, with the BCCI believed to be pulling the levers behind the scenes. The ICC has admitted there was a re-vote, but said it was for procedural reasons. FICA has claimed there were three votes in total. “Sadly this is yet another example of the poor governance practices that exist in cricket.,” Marsh aid. “The ICC should be taking these allegations incredibly seriously but instead they are ignoring the processes under their own code and hoping the matter will go away.” FICA also said its executive body met with teams from six of the eight countries that took part in the Champions Trophy and they put together a “Statement of Unity” that was signed by the all the players from those countries. The statement is below: “We, the Players, are privileged to represent our countries at the highest level at ICC Events and in bilateral Test, ODI and T20 cricket. We are committed to upholding the traditions of the game, and to maintaining the highest standards of sportsmanship and integrity. In return, we expect to enjoy the right to collective representation through Player Associations, a right enjoyed by the players of every professional team sport worldwide. We support FICA as the voice of professional cricketers everywhere, and expect it to receive due recognition and respect by the ICC and our respective Boards as it plays its role in representing our interests. We further expect cricket’s administrators to ensure our great game is managed off the field to the same high standards of dignity and integrity as those to which we are committed.”