“I believe good governance is one of the most important aspects of running a cricket organisation or for that matter any sporting organisation.”
I read this in a speech by Malcolm Speed, who was the CEO of the International Cricket Council in 2004; and I agreed.
He made the point that good governance creates good cricket teams.
“We should try and maintain as high a standard as we want our cricket teams to achieve when they are playing cricket,” he said. “Good governance is important; governance can be improved by hard work and careful planning.”
He went on to say that governance means to rule with authority; to conduct the affairs of an organisation; to keep under control; to influence or direct. Governance is governing control. Some key features of governance are authority, control and influence.
Another feature, which doesn’t come from the definition of governing control, is judgment, which includes wisdom.
Thus, people who want to run cricket must show good judgment and wisdom.
Reportedly, the under-17 team at present engaged in a CWI regional series in Trinidad has been left by its coach Rayad Emrit, who is contracted to the Atlanta Riders in the US Masters T10 League (August 18-27).
Didn’t he know he had a previous engagement with the under-17 lads when he agreed to participate in that tournament? Did the TTCB know? Where is the responsibility to the youth participants, to the tournament, to himself, to cricket, to his country?
There’s a distinction between governance and management.
The cricket board is responsible for strategy – for forming the “big picture” for the organisation. The manager is responsible for implementing that strategy.
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It is said that an influential and efficient chairman, working closely with a competent and effective CEO, can make a huge difference to a cricket organisation. What is important is that both the chairman and the CEO know their respective roles and work within those roles to maximise the governance, the influence, the control, the authority, the judgment and the wisdom of the organisation.
Some of the duties of the directors and in some instances the committee members are:
To act honestly. The director must read the board papers, must be aware of all the issues, must ask questions to inform himself of what’s going on. Not to gain personal advantage, not to use information improperly – to act in the best interests of the administration, to act within the powers granted to the organisation and to comply with legislation. These are the directors’ duties, and if they follow those, that is a major part of good governance.
Surround yourself with excellence. There are no set rules, but the objective should be to put the best board possible in place. Speed says: “The basic principle I would be saying to any chairman who would be setting up a board is to surround yourself with excellence.
“Some chairmen are reluctant to do that. They would rather want to be the star.
“The
