The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.

The ICC has 105 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 35 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. It promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for international cricket,^[1] and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU). The ICC does not control bilateral fixtures between member countries (which include all Test matches), it does not govern domestic cricket in member countries, and it does not make the laws of the game, which remain under the control of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Sharad Pawar, former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the President of the Council who succeeded David Morgan the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board. The current CEO is Haroon Lorgat^[2] .

History[link]

On 15 June 1909 representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord's and founded the Imperial Cricket Conference. Membership was confined to the governing bodies of cricket within the British Empire where Test cricket was played. West Indies, New Zealand and India were elected as Full Members in 1926, doubling the number of Test-playing nations to six. That year it was also agreed to make a change in membership, with election being for; "governing bodies of cricket in countries within the Empire to which cricket teams are sent, or which send teams to England." However the United States did not meet these criteria and was not made a member.^[3] After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was given Test status in 1952, becoming the seventh Test-playing nation. In May 1961 South Africa left the Commonwealth and therefore lost membership.

In 1965, the Imperial Cricket Conference was renamed the International Cricket Conference and new rules adopted to permit the election of countries from outside the Commonwealth. This led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members. Associates were each entitled to one vote, while the Foundation and Full Members were entitled to two votes on ICC resolutions. Foundation Members retained a right of veto.

Sri Lanka was admitted as a Full Member in 1981, returning the number of Test-playing nations to seven. In 1989, new rules were adopted and International Cricket Conference changed its name to the current name, the International Cricket Council. South Africa was re-elected as a Full Member of the ICC in 1991, after the end of apartheid; this was followed in 1992 by the admission of Zimbabwe as the ninth Test-playing nation.

Location[link]

The ICC's offices in Dubai.

From its formation the ICC had Lord's Cricket Ground as its home, and from 1993 had its offices in the "Clock Tower" building at the nursery end of the ground. The independent ICC was funded initially by commercial exploitation of the rights to the World Cup of One Day International cricket. As not all Member countries had double-tax agreements with England, it was necessary to protect cricket's revenues by creating a company [ICC Development (International) Pty Ltd - known as IDI] outside the UK. This was established in Jan 1994 and was based in Monaco.

For the remainder of the nineties, the administration of IDI was a modest affair. But with the negotiation of a bundle of rights to all ICC events from 2001–2008, revenues available to International cricket and the ICC member countries rose substantially. This led to a growth in the number of commercial staff employed by IDI in Monaco. It also had the disadvantage that the Council's cricket administrators, who remained at Lord's, were separated from their commercial colleagues in Monaco. The Council decided to seek ways of bringing all of their staff together in one office whilst protecting their commercial income from tax.

The option of staying at Lord's was investigated and a request was made, through Sport England, to the British Government to allow the ICC to have all its personnel (including those working on commercial matters) in London - but be given special exemption from paying UK corporation tax on its commercial income. The British Government was unwilling to create a precedent and would not agree to this request. As a consequence the ICC examined other locations and eventually settled on the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In August 2005 the ICC moved its offices to Dubai, and subsequently closed its offices at Lord's and Monaco. The move to Dubai was made after an 11-1 vote by the ICC's Executive Board in favour.^[4]

Whilst the principal driver of the ICC's move to Dubai was the wish to bring its main employees together in one tax efficient location, a secondary reason was the wish to move offices closer to the increasingly important new centres of cricketing power in South Asia. Lord's had been a logical venue when the ICC had been administered by the MCC (a situation that lasted until 1993). But the growing power of India and Pakistan in world cricket had made the continued control of international cricket by a British private members club (the MCC) anachronistic and unsustainable. A direct consequence of the changes and reforms instituted in 1993 was eventually to be the move away from Lord's to a more neutral venue.^[5]

Rules and regulation[link]

The International Cricket Council overlooks playing conditions, bowling reviews, and other ICC regulations. Even though the ICC doesn't have copyright to the laws of cricket and only the MCC may change the laws, nowadays this would usually only be done after discussions with the game's global governing body, the ICC. The ICC also has a "Code of Conduct" to which teams and players in international matches are required to adhere. Where breaches of this code occur the ICC can apply sanctions, usually fines. In 2008 the ICC imposed 19 penalties on players.^[6]

Tournaments and income generation[link]

The ICC generates income from the tournaments it organises, primarily the Cricket World Cup, and it distributes the majority of that income to its members. Sponsorship and television rights of the World Cup brought in over US$1.6 billion between 2007 and 2015, by far the ICC’s main source of income.^[7][8] In the nine month accounting period to 31 December 2007 the ICC had operating income of USD 12.66 million, mainly from member subscriptions and sponsorship. In contrast event income was USD 285.87 million, including USD 239 million from the 2007 World Cup. There was also investment income of USD 6.695 million in the period.

The ICC has no income streams from the bilateral international cricket matches (Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals), that account for the great majority of the international playing schedule, as they are owned and run by its members. It has sought to create other new events to augment its World Cup revenues. These include the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Super Series played in Australia in 2005. However these expansion has not been as successful as the ICC hoped. The Super Series was widely seen as a failure and is not expected to be repeated, and India called for the Champions Trophy to be scrapped in 2006^[9] The Champions Trophy 2004 event was referred to in Wisden 2005 by the editor as a "turkey of a tournament" and a "fiasco"; although the 2006 edition was seen as a greater success due to a new format.^[10][11]

The ICC World Twenty20, first played in 2007, was a success. The ICC's current plan is to have an international tournament every year, with a Twenty20 World Cup played in even number years, the World Cup continuing to be held the year before the Olympic Games, and the ICC Champions Trophy in the remaining year of the cycle. This cycle will begin in 2010, thus the Twenty20 World Cup will be played for a second consecutive year in that year.

Umpires and referees[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The ICC appoints international umpires and Match referees who officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. The ICC operates 3 panels of umpires: namely the Elite Panel, the International Panel, and the Associates and Affiliates Panel.

As of January 2009, the Elite Panel includes eleven umpires. In theory, two umpires from the Elite Panel officiate at every Test match, whilst one Elite Panel umpire stands in ODI matches together with an umpire from the International Panel. In practice, members of the International Panel stand in occasional Test matches, as this is viewed as a good opportunity to see whether they can cope at the Test level, and whether they should be elevated to the Elite Panel. The Elite Panel are full-time employees of the ICC, although do still, very occasionally umpire first-class cricket in their country of residence. The average, annual, officiating schedule for Elite Umpires is 12 Test matches and 15 ODIs, a potential on-field workload of 75 days per year.

The International Panel is made up of officials nominated from each of the ten Test-playing cricket boards. The Panel Members officiate in ODI matches in their home country, and assist the Elite Panel at peak times in the cricket calendar when they can be appointed to overseas ODI and Test matches. International Panel members also undertake overseas umpiring assignments such as the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup in order to improve their knowledge and understanding of overseas conditions, and help them prepare for possible promotion onto the Elite Panel. Some of these umpires also officiates in the Cricket World Cup. Each of the Test cricket boards nominates a "third umpire" who can be called upon to review certain on-field decisions through instant television replays. All third umpires are first-class umpires in their own county, and the role is seen as a step onto the International Panel, and then the Elite Panel.

The newest panel of umpires, set up in February 2005, is the Associates and Affiliates Umpires Panel. It was designed to offer a pathway to top level umpiring for officials from the ICC's 104 Associate and Affiliate Member countries. As of January 2009, it has 10 members from countries such as Nepal and Fiji. These umpires officiate ODIs between Associate Members, ICC Intercontinental Cup matches and other Associate and Affiliate tournaments such as the ICC World Cup Qualifier.

There is also an Elite Panel of ICC Referees who act as the independent representative of the ICC at all Test and ODI matches. As of January 2009, it has 6 members, all highly experienced former international cricketers. The Referees do not have the power to report players or officials (which has to be done by the umpires), but they are responsible for conducting hearings under the ICC Code of Conduct and imposing penalties as required at matches, ranging from an official reprimand to a lifetime ban from cricket. Decisions can be appealed, but the original decision is upheld in most cases.

Members[link]

ICC member nations. Full Members, that play Test cricket, are shown in orange, Associate Members in yellow and Affiliate Members in purple.

The ICC has three classes of membership: Full Members, the ten governing bodies of teams that play official Test matches; Associate Members, the 34 governing bodies in countries where cricket is firmly established and organised but which do not qualify for Full Membership; and Affiliate Members, the 60 governing bodies in countries where the ICC recognises that cricket is played according to the Laws of Cricket.

Regional bodies[link]

These regional bodies aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket:

• African Cricket Association
• Americas Cricket Association
• Asian Cricket Council
• ICC East Asia-Pacific
• European Cricket Council

Defunct Bodies[link]

• East and Central Africa Cricket Council
• West Africa Cricket Council

Competitions and awards[link]

The ICC organises various First-Class and One-Day cricket competitions:

• First Class
  • ICC Test Championship (test league)
  • ICC Intercontinental Cup (first class for non test nations)
• One Day
  • ICC ODI Championship (one-day league)
  • ICC Cricket World Cup (50 over tournament)
  • ICC World Twenty20 (twenty20 tournament)
  • ICC Champions Trophy (miniature version of the world cup)
  • ICC World Cricket League (league for associate & affiliate members)
  • ICC World Cup Qualifier (qualifier for the world cup)

The ICC has instituted the ICC Awards to recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months. The inaugural ICC Awards ceremony was held on 7 September 2004, in London.

Anti-corruption and security[link]

The ICC has also had to deal with drugs and bribery scandals involving top cricketers. Following the corruption scandals by cricketers connected with the legal and illegal bookmaking markets, the ICC set up an Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) in 2000 under the retired Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Lord Condon. Amongst the corruption on which they have reported was that of former South African captain Hansie Cronje who had accepted substantial sums of money from an Indian bookmaker for under-performing or ensuring that certain matches had a pre-determined result. Similarly, the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were investigated, found guilty of match-fixing, and banned from playing cricket (for life and for five years, respectively). The ACSU continues to monitor and investigate any reports of corruption in cricket and protocols have been introduced which for example prohibit the use of mobile telephones in dressing rooms.

Prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed warned against any corruption and said that the ICC would be vigilant and intolerant against it.^[12]

In 2010, 3 Pakistani players, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt were found to be guilty of spot-fixing, and were banned for 5 years, 7 years and 10 years respectively.

Global Cricket Academy[link]

The ICC Global Cricket Academy (GCA) is located at Dubai Sports City in the United Arab Emirates. The GCA's facilities include two ovals, each with 10 turf pitches, outdoor turf and synthetic practice facilities, indoor practice facilities including hawk eye technology and a cricket specific gymnasium. Rod Marsh has been appointed as the Academy's Director of Coaching. The opening, originally planned for 2008, took place in 2010.

Cricket World Cup[link]

The ICC Cricket World Cup is held every 4 years and is one of the biggest cricket events in the history of the sport. It is watched by millions from all over the Cricket Nations. The most recent World Cup was held between the 19 February 2011 and the 2nd of April 2011, jointly by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.^[13]

ICC Cricket World Program[link]

The International Cricket Council telecasts a weekly program on television called ICC Cricket World. It is produced by Sportsbrand.

It is a weekly 30 minute program providing the latest cricket news, recent cricket action including all Test and One-Day International matches, as well as off-field features and interviews

Criticism[link]

Sports journalist Peter Della Penna has criticized the ICC for what he has perceived as attempts to minimize reports of security issues relating to unruly fans at matches.^[14]

See also[link]

Cricket portal

• Association of Cricket Officials
• International structure of cricket

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up international cricket council in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official website of the ICC

v t e International cricket ICC · World Cup · Champions Trophy · World Twenty20 · World Test Championship · Test Championship · ODI Championship · U-19 World Cup · Women's World Cup · Intercontinental Cup · World Cricket League · Awards Test cricket · One Day International · Twenty20 International Asia ACC – Asia Cup (ODI) · ACC Trophy (List A) · ACC Twenty20 Cup (Twenty20) Africa ACA – WCL Africa Americas ACA – Americas Championship East Asia and Pacific EAP – ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (One day) · ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (Twenty20) Europe ECC – European Championship Members Full Members, Associate Members, Affiliate Members

There was no formal structure of international cricket until the early twenty first century. It had long been traditional for countries, without any intervention from a body such as the International Cricket Council (ICC), to organize for themselves the various cricket matches. The ICC later committed the Test cricket playing nations to play each other in a programme of matches over a period of 10 years. This system was set up to encourage some of the better-established countries to play the lesser nations more frequently.

General structure[link]

Most Test matches and One-Day series take place in the form of "tours". In a tour, one nation travels to another and plays warm-up matches, first-class matches against domestic teams such as county or state teams, a series of Test matches against the host nation, and either a series of one-day matches against the host nation or a tournament involving the host nation and another touring nation. The "triangular tournament" format is often used when one tour is about to conclude and the other has just begun or may include one team only for that tournament. In the tournament, the three teams play each other either two or three times. The two teams with the most points (usually two points for a win, one point for a no-result or tie, and no points for a loss) qualify for the one-game final; the bonus point system is also sometimes used in a triangular tournament, including the Commonwealth Bank Series and the NatWest Series.

The Test series can last from two matches to six matches. Six-match series were common around 1980, and the Ashes Test series in England was a six-match series from 1981 to 1997 (but five matches in Australia). The last six-match series was held in 1997–98 between the West Indies and England. The most important series last five matches, while the less important ones last two to four matches. The length of the series is based on the home country's attitude towards One Day Internationals; traditional nations such as England and Australia usually organize five-match series, while nations where one-day cricket is very popular (such as India and Pakistan) favour three-match series. At most, a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winning team, or to the winner of the previous series in the case of a drawn series. The Ashes (for England versus Australia) is the most famous perpetual trophy. Other perpetual trophies include:

• Frank Worrell Trophy (Australia-West Indies)
• Trans Tasman Trophy (Australia-New Zealand Test series)
• Chappell–Hadlee Trophy (Australia–New Zealand ODI series)
• Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia-India)
• Wisden Trophy (England-West Indies)
• Warne-Muralidaran Trophy (Australia-Sri Lanka)
• Basil D'Oliveira Trophy (England–South Africa)

The One-day series lasts from three to seven matches. Usually, the shorter one-day series are played at the same time as longer Test series - although the one-day matches and Test matches are usually played in groups. These days, it is rare that a Test series is interrupted by One Day Internationals.

In addition to tours, nations may organize one-day matches at neutral venues. The Sahara Cup was a one-day series played annually between India and Pakistan in Toronto, until the Indian government ordered the suspension of all cricketing ties with Pakistan, which were revived in 2004. Similarly, a semiannual Triangular Tournament was organized at Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. However, the tournament has lost its luster because the overwhelming number of cricket matches has spoiled the pitch.

In contrast to the one-dayers, Tests are almost never held in neutral venues. A once-off triangular Test tournament was held in England in 1912, which saw South Africa play Australia in three tests at neutral venues, but otherwise it has only been security risks which have seen Tests played on neutral soil. Most notably, Pakistan has "hosted" Test series in England, the UAE and Sri Lanka in the 21st century. Security implications have also affected tours to Sri Lanka and tours to Zimbabwe in the past.

In addition to the one-day series and tournaments organized by the nations themselves, the ICC organizes two One Day International tournaments. The World Cup is held every four years; it involves all the Test-playing nations and a number of teams advancing from the immediately preceding ICC World Cup Qualifier. The ICC Champions Trophy, previously known as the ICC Knockout Cup, is a shorter tournament held every two years in between World Cups.

ICC Ten Year Plan[link]

This is a plan designed to make all countries play each other for Test cricket over a period of ten years, and was approved in February 2001 by the ICC member countries. Starting from 2002 and running until 2011, it ensures that each Test country will play the other nine home and away over a period of ten years, in addition to any matches the individual cricket boards organise on their own. Thus, India and Pakistan played 12 ODIs and 6 Tests against each other in their respective countries (not including neutral ground ODI tournaments such as the Asia Cup) from 2004 to April 2005, and played a further series of 3 Tests and 5 ODIs in the winter of 2006. However, because of the rigorous schedule of the Ten Year Plan, there is hardly any time left over to schedule other series, and there have been voices criticising the amount of international cricket that is played,^[1] with the risk of injury and player burnout as reasons for why this amount should be reduced. The ICC have defended their policy, citing the number of international players in English county cricket as a sign that there is not too much cricket for the players.^[2]

Test Championship[link]

The ICC instituted the Test Championship table to permit fans to compare all the Test teams. The Table is a running one, that is, whoever is on top at a certain time will formally hold the Test trophy. (The Table is not like a league standings table, where the top team at the end of a certain period of time becomes Champion.) Currently England is on the top of the table.

ODI Championship[link]

The ODI (One-Day International) championship was created for reasons similar to the Test one, and it has a similar structure. The championship does not replace the World Cup; the latter still carries much more significance to most cricket fans.

See also[link]

Cricket portal

• International cricket in 2004
• International cricket in 2004–05
• International cricket in 2005
• International cricket in 2005–06
• International cricket in 2006
• International cricket in 2006–07
• International cricket in 2007
• International cricket in 2007–08
• International cricket in 2008
• International cricket in 2008–09
• International cricket in 2009
• International cricket in 2009–10
• Association of Cricket Officials

References[link]

1. ^ "Too much cricket hurting the game: Kapil Dev" from rediff.com, 20 March 2002 (accessed 22 September 2005)
2. ^ "Mani dismisses suggestions there is too much cricket from Daily Times Pakistan, 9 July 2004 (accessed 22 September 2005)

1. HindustanTimes.com - ICC Ten Year Plan

Cricket News

v t e International cricket ICC · World Cup · Champions Trophy · World Twenty20 · World Test Championship · Test Championship · ODI Championship · U-19 World Cup · Women's World Cup · Intercontinental Cup · World Cricket League · Awards Test cricket · One Day International · Twenty20 International Asia ACC – Asia Cup (ODI) · ACC Trophy (List A) · ACC Twenty20 Cup (Twenty20) Africa ACA – WCL Africa Americas ACA – Americas Championship East Asia and Pacific EAP – ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (One day) · ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (Twenty20) Europe ECC – European Championship Members Full Members, Associate Members, Affiliate Members

External links[link]

• Cricinfo - International Cricket Calendar
• The "Silly Point" |||. International Fixtures

Haroon Lorgat (born 26 May 1960) is a South African, of Indian origin, businessman and chartered accountant. He was appointed Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council in April 2008 and assumed office on 4 July 2008, succeeding Malcolm Speed, an Australian.^[1] His office at the ICC is based in Dubai.

He was raised and schooled in Port Elizabeth, South Africa during the apartheid years and as a result was fortunate to graduate from Rhodes University with a B.Com, CTA. In 1985 he completed training with a Big 4 firm and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. After working at IBM for a year he started his own professional practice in Johannesburg and Cape Town which, through a series of strategic mergers, finally integrated with Ernst & Young in 2002.

Prior to his appointment at the ICC, Lorgat had founded in December 2006 a private equity investment firm Kapela Investment Holdings, based in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Before then he was a senior partner at Ernst & Young (2002 until January 2007).

Having excelled in first class cricket in South Africa and later as a captain, many commentators at the time believed he was talented enough to have potentially played at the highest level. However, being classified black, he was not allowed during the apartheid era to represent his country.

Since 2000, he has held a number of senior appointments in South African cricket including as Chairman of National Selectors, Board Treasurer and served on the finance and organising committees for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.

Lorgat is of Indian descent, his family originating from a small village in north western India called Manekpore / Alipore, Navsari, Rethvania in the Indian state of Gujarat.

He is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. He played first-class cricket in the Howa Bowl from 1977 until 1991, in the final years of apartheid.

He has been married to Farah Ebrahim since 10 February 1985 and they have two children, Mohamed Zaheer and Naseera.^[2]

Although he played a key role in the decision to limit the 2015 World Cup to just 10 teams, he was clear in his view that there should be qualification opportunity for all Members. The ICC Board had barred participation from Associate members and this led to criticism from not only the affected teams, but from players from the Test nations, their coaches and followers of cricket.^[3]

References[link]

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Honourable Arjuna Ranatunga MP
File:Former SL Cricket Capt Arjuna Ranatunga.jpg
Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament for Kalutara District
Incumbent
Assumed office 22nd April 2010
Personal details
Born	(1963-12-01) December 1, 1963 (age 48) Gampaha, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	Democratic National Alliance
Spouse(s)	Samadara Ranatunga
Alma mater	Ananda College
Occupation	Politician, Cricketer
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Arjuna Ranatunga (Sinhala:අර්ජුන රණතුංග; born 1 December 1963) is a Sri Lankan politician, former international cricketer and cricket administrator. He served as the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team for much of the 1990s, and the team won the 1996 Cricket World Cup under his leadership. He is the serving member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from Kalutara District.

A specialist left-handed batsman and part-time medium pace bowler, Ranatunga's career with the Sri Lankan national team began in 1983, when Sri Lanka were relative newcomers to international cricket and did not perform well against the well-established teams. He became an important player in the middle order of Sri Lanka's batting. Under Ranatunga's captaincy, Sri Lanka began to play more aggressively in both ODI and Test cricket the mid-'90s. Their growing success rate culminated with a dominating performance and triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Although some of his actions caused some controversy, Ranatunga was praised for his leadership in raising a team long regarded as underdogs to the status of world champions.

Upon retirement from playing cricket, Ranatunga became influential in the administration of cricket in Sri Lanka and entered politics, joining the People's Alliance and winning election to the Sri Lankan parliament. He served a tenure as deputy minister for tourism, and later served as the president of Sri Lanka Cricket until December, 2008.^[1] He joined the Democratic National Alliance in 2010.

Early days[link]

Ranatunga comes from Gampaha, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher. Arjuna's cricketing career started and was carefully nurtured at school. He played cricket for both the junior and senior teams and captained the Ananda College senior team for two years.

First-class and Test debuts[link]

A left-handed batsman and useful right arm medium pace bowler, he made his first-class debut in 1981 at the age of eighteen and a year later played in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match. He went on to score Sri Lanka's first half century in this game. Also, he is the only player in the history of cricket, who played a country's first test and the 100th test.

Sri Lankan captaincy[link]

Ranatunga went on to captain Sri Lanka in 1988, taking control of the national team for the next 11 years, transforming it from a weak, routinely defeated team into a competitive and successful unit. He was widely recognised as a belligerent leader and was famous for defending his players at all costs regardless of what they did.^{[citation needed]}

Controversies[link]

Fitness[link]

Ranatunga's weight was also notable for being grossly excessive, and gave rise to an incident during a game played in humid conditions when he called for a runner, claiming that he had "sprained something"; opposition (Australian) wicket-keeper Ian Healy responded that he could not get a runner for being "an overweight, unfit, fat cunt", a comment picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast on television. Ranatunga was known for controversially calling a runner during long innings due to his level of fitness, which allowed him to get a lot more runs for his shots, as he was a very slow runner; apart from boundaries, he usually walked singles or jogged slowly for two or three runs even if the ball almost went to the boundary. After the second final of the One Day triangular series in Australia in the 1995/6 season, when the incident with Healy occurred, Ranatunga instructed his players not to shake the Australian players' hands. During this match, Sanath Jayasuriya and Australian paceman Glenn McGrath were also involved in physical jostling; Jayasuriya accused McGrath of racially abusing him, a claim that the bowler denied.^[2]

Defence of Muralitharan[link]

Ranatunga is also remembered for his stand in a One Day International against England. Australian Umpire Ross Emerson called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. (Muralitharan was subsequently cleared by bio-mechanical experts hired by the ICC.^[3]) Ranatunga exchanged heated words with umpire Emerson and led his team to a point just inside the boundary line, halting play and giving the impression that he was about to forfeit the match, until the Sri Lankan management conferred with him and play resumed. English captain, Alec Stewart, was openly critical of Ranatunga's behaviour. In a comment caught on the stump microphone he was heard to say to Ranatunga "Your conduct today has been appalling for a country's captain". The match was bad-tempered, with instances of shoulder-bumping.^[4]

Wrangles with Warne[link]

He is noted also for his repeated intense criticism of the Australian team, especially his long-standing rivalry with Shane Warne. While this saw him a maligned figure among the Australian public, who ridiculed his brinkmanship, his ability to lead the long-standing minnows of world cricket to a World Cup win, over Australia in the final, is arguably one of the greatest displays of captaincy in the history of cricket. Australia was renowned for intimidating its opponents, and Ranatunga's ability to take on and rattle the team of renowned sledgers inspired his players to stand up to them in an era in which few other sides could.^[5][6]

During the 1996 World Cup, Ranatunga claimed that Warne was over-rated, and during the final, Warne misexecuted a flipper, which turned into a full toss. Ranatunga pulled it over the boundary for the six and then stuck his tongue out at Warne. During the 1999 World Cup, Warne wrote a column calling Ranatunga a "disgrace". The Sri Lankan shot back by referring to his country's cultural heritage and then mocking Australia over convict settlement.

In 2005, Warne mocked Ranatunga's rotund figure, which had become more ample since his retirement, suggesting that he had swallowed a sheep.

There has always been between Warne and Ranatunga a grudging mutual admiration. When the former visited Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami to aid Muralitharan in his "great work"^[7] there, he developed an amiable rapport with his long-time foe: "We even wagged," he confirmed later.^[7] Not long after, however, Ranatunga was lambasting him in a scathing newspaper attack.

"You can't be mates with everyone," Warne wrote in his 2008 book Shane Warne's Century, serialised by The Times in September, "and if there was any way I could knock him down to number 101^[8] for the purposes of this book, I'd be delighted to do so. But having taken on the task, I want to do it seriously, and the fact is that Ranatunga helped to put Sri Lanka on the cricket map. And you know what? Deep down, I'll quietly admit that I rated him as a cricketer."^[7]

1996 World Cup[link]

The Sri Lankan national team were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka defeated tournament favourites Australia to win it under the captaincy of Ranatunga. This victory, for which Ranatunga was a pivotal part both as batsman and captain, started a new era of Sri Lankan competitiveness on the global stage; they had previously never passed the group stage of a world cup.

Arjuna Ranatunga, Darren Lehmann of Australia and M.S.Dhoni of India are the only batsmen to score the winning run in the world cup (as only three teams have successfully chased a target).^[9]

Final cricketing days[link]

Ranatunga lost the national team captaincy in 1999 after Sri Lanka's poor showing at the World Cup in England, although he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for that year. He retired from playing cricket in 2001.

After cricket[link]

He entered into politics by joining the PA led by Chandrika Kumaratunga. Later, he was the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka. Early 2012 Arjuna was appointed as Head of Sri Lanka Cricket and held the position till late April, 2012. But due his lack of support towards IPL became a reason for Minister of Sports in Sri Lanka to sack Ranatunga from his position. ^[10]

Career highlights[link]

Tests[link]

Test debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982
Last Test: vs South Africa, Colombo, 2000–2001

• Ranatunga's highest Test batting score of 135 not out was made against Pakistan, Colombo, 1985–1986
• His best Test bowling effort of 2 for 17 came against New Zealand, Kandy, 1983–1984
• Ranatunga's captaincy record was as follows: 56 matches, 12 wins, 19 losses, 25 draws.

One-day Internationals[link]

ODI Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982
Last ODI: vs Kenya, Southampton, 1999 World Cup

• His highest ODI batting score of 131 not out was made against India, Colombo, 1997
• Ranatunga's best bowling figures of 4 for 14 came against India at Kanpur in 1986-1987
• His captaincy record was as follows: 193 matches, 89 wins, 95 losses, 1 tie, 8 no result
• Until New Zealand's Stephen Fleming overtook him in October 2006 at the ICC Champions Trophy, Ranatunga held the record for captaining the most ODI matches.

Career centuries[link]

Test centuries[link]

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Arjuna Ranatunga

• the column , * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test Centuries of Arjuna Ranatunga
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	111	10	India	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	1985
[2]	135*	18	Pakistan	Colombo, Sri Lanka	P. Saravanamuttu Stadium	1986
[3]	127	34	Australia	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	1992
[4]	131	43	South Africa	Moratuwa, Sri Lanka	Tyronne Fernando Stadium	1993

[edit] One Day International centuries

ODI Centuries of Arjuna Ranatunga
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	101*	153	Pakistan	Durban, South Africa	Kingsmead	1994
[2]	102*	166	Pakistan	Gujranwala, Pakistan	Municipal Stadium	1995
[3]	131*	215	India	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium	1997
[4]	102	240	New Zealand	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	1998

[edit] See also

• List of political families in Sri Lanka
• Ananda-Nalanda

[edit] References

• Warne, Shane. "Shane Warne's Century: Ranatunga looked like he had swallowed a sheep." The Times, 27 September 2008.

[edit] Notes

External links[link]

• Cricinfo profile on Arjuna Ranatunga
• HowSTAT! statistical profile on Arjuna Ranatunga
• 1st Asian International Sportsman ever to address the Oxford Union

v t e Sri Lanka squad – 1983 Cricket World Cup 1 Mendis (c) 2 De Alwis (wk) 3 De Mel 4 DS De Silva 5 GN De Silva 6 Dias 7 Fernando 8 John 9 Kuruppu (wk) 10 Madugalle 11 Ranatunga 12 RJ Ratnayake 13 Samarasekera 14 Wettimuny

v t e Sri Lanka squad – 1987 Cricket World Cup 1 Mendis (c) 2 Anurasiri 3 De Mel 4 De Silva 5 Dias 6 Garusinha 7 Jeganathan 8 John 9 Kuruppu (wk) 10 Madugalle 11 Mahanama 12 Ranatunga 13 RJ Ratnayake 14 JR Ratnayeke

v t e Sri Lanka squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup 1 De Silva (c) 2 Anurasiri 3 Gurusinha 4 Hathurusingha 5 Jayasuriya 6 Kalpage 7 Mahanama 8 Ramanayake 9 Ranatunga 10 Ratnayake 11 Samarasekera 12 Tillakaratne (wk) 13 Wickramasinghe 14 Wijegunawardene

v t e Sri Lanka squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup (1st Title) 1 Ranatunga (c) 2 Atapattu 3 Chandana 4 De Silva 5 Dharmasena 6 Gurusinha 7 Kaluwitharana (wk) 8 Jayasuriya 9 Mahanama 10 Muralitharan 11 Pushpakumara 12 Tillakaratne 13 Vaas 14 Wickramasinghe Coach: Whatmore

v t e Sri Lanka squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Ranatunga (c) 2 Muralitharan 3 Atapattu 4 Jayawardene 5 Mahanama 6 Tillakaratne 7 Kaluwitharana (wk) 8 Vaas 9 De Silva 10 Wickramasinghe 11 Kalpage 12 Chandana 13 Upashantha 14 Hathurusingha 15 Jayasuriya Coach: Dias

Pride of Performance Award Recipient
Aleem Dar was recipient of the Pride of Performance Award 2011[1]
Presented by	Asif Ali Zardari
Date	14-08-2010
Country	Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Aleem Sarwar Dar (Urdu:علیم سرور ڈار) (born June 6, 1968 in jhang, Punjab) is a retired Pakistani first-class cricketer and a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won three consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards 2009, 2010 and 2011, after being nominated twice in 2005 and 2006. Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel are the only umpires to have received the award since its inception. He has played for Allied Bank, Gujranwala Cricket Association, Lahore, and Pakistan Railways as a right-handed batsman and a leg-break bowler. Since his retirement as a player, he has gained prominence as one of the leading umpires in international cricket. He was educated at Islamia College, Civil Lines, Lahore.

Umpiring career[link]

Dar is best known as an international cricket umpire. He made his international umpiring debut in an ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Gujranwala on February 16, 2000. In 2002 he became a member of ICC's International Panel of umpires. He impressed the ICC with his accurate decision making, and was chosen to umpire at the ICC Cricket World Cup in early 2003, where he was one of the better-performing umpires. His high standard was again rewarded when he was appointed to stand in his first Test match in October 2003; the match between Bangladesh and England at Dhaka. Over the next six months he was appointed to stand in several more Test matches, and as a neutral umpire in ODI matches away from Pakistan.

In April 2004, he became the first Pakistani to be part of the ICC Elite Umpire Panel.^[2] Since then he has been regarded as one of the top umpires, being nominated for the ICC Umpire of the year Award in 2005 and 2006, although he was beaten on both occasions by the Australian Simon Taufel, who is also very highly regarded. On 17 October 2007 Dar umpired in his 100th ODI (between India and Australia at Mumbai), making him the tenth umpire in the history of cricket to reach that landmark. He reached the landmark in a record time, taking just seven years, and became the first Pakistani to officiate in a century of One Day Internationals.

Dar has stood in numerous high profile matches, including several India-Pakistan ODI matches and five Ashes Test matches. He was also one of the on-field umpires for the final of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, standing alongside Rudi Koertzen. However, the highlight of his career so far, has been his appointment to stand in the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup between Australia and Sri Lanka, where he officiated with Steve Bucknor. Dar was also selected to stand in the final of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 between Australia and England. He has, however, never stood in a Test match in Pakistan, because his appointment in the international panel came after the introduction of neutral umpires for Test matches.

In January 2005, Dar and his colleague Steve Bucknor, received death threats during a Test match between England and South Africa at Centurion.^[3] He was also involved in a controversy during the 2007 Cricket World Cup final where he, along with fellow officials Bucknor, Koertzen, Bowden and Crowe were unaware of the playing conditions regarding the result of a match under the Duckworth-Lewis system, and made Australia bowl three unnecessary overs in near darkness. Consequently the ICC decided to suspend him, along with the other four officials, from duty for the next ICC event, which was the 2007 World Twenty20 Championship.

Dar proved his accuracy yet again in 2011 Cricket World Cup when All the 15 Umpire Decision Review System appeals against him were struck down.

Accolades[link]

After being nominated twice in 2005 and 2006, Dar finally won the Umpire of the Year award in October 2009, at the annual ICC awards ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[4] By claiming the award, Dar ended Simon Taufel's run of five successive awards. It was the first time that any umpire other than Taufel had picked up the accolade in the six years that the ceremony has taken place. In October 2010, he won the award for a second straight year.^[5] In September 2011, he was named best umpire for the third consecutive year.^[6] On August 14, 2010, the Government of Pakistan honoured him with the President's Award for Pride of Performance.^[7]

Awards[link]

Umpiring statistics[link]

As of 26 May 2012:

	First	Latest	Total
Tests	Bangladesh v  England at Dhaka, Oct 2003	England v  West Indies at Nottingham, May 2012	74
ODIs	Pakistan v  Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Feb 2000	New Zealand v  South Africa at Napier, Feb 2012	149
T20Is	Australia v  Pakistan Dubai, May 2009	Australia v  Pakistan at Edgbaston, Jul 2010	18

References[link]

1. ^ Aleem Dar gets Pride of Performance award
2. ^ "Mallender and Aleem Dar to join the elite". Cricinfo. Feb 6, 2004. http://content.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/136525.html. Retrieved 18 March 2010. 
3. ^ "Umpires received death threats, reveals Bucknor". Cricinfo. Jan 30, 2005. http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/145643.html. Retrieved 18 March 2010. 
4. ^ "Aleem Dar wins ICC Umpire-of-the-Year Award". The Nation. Oct 3, 2009. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Sports/03-Oct-2009/Aleem-Dar-wins-ICC-UmpireoftheYear-Award. Retrieved 18 March 2010. 
5. ^ Aleem Dar named Umpire of the Year Cricinfo. Retrieved 06 October 2010.
6. ^ Dar named best umpire for the third consecutive year Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
7. ^ "ICC Umpire Aleem Dar launches aid campaign for flood victims". Geo.tv. August 15, 2010. http://www.geo.tv/8-15-2010/69991.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-09. 

External links[link]

• Player profile: Aleem Dar from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Aleem Dar from CricketArchive