A proposal was presented by the BCCI president last month at an ICC Board meeting.—Photo by AFP

LAHORE The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been considering an option to move its headquarters back to London from Dubai.

Well-informed sources told Dawn that a proposal in this regard was presented by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar last month at an ICC Board meeting.
 
All the affiliated members of the ICC were agreed on the proposal and they had recommended that the president David Morgan and the chief executive Haroon Lorgat would undertake a study of what would be required to move the headquarters back to London.

However, president of Zimbabwe Cricket Board, Mr Chingoka cautioned that while he was also in support of moving the ICC headquarters back to London, it was important to ensure that meetings should be held at locations where all members could attend.

The ICC shifted its headquarters from Lord's in 2005 when Pakistan-born Ehsan Mani took over as its president. Then, the decision was taken to save the taxes in London and Dubai was preferred because of its central position.

Though it is unconfirmed if the ICC is facing losses in Dubai, what is confirmed is that ICC chief financial officer K Das had presented a paper on the 2010 ICC Central Budget proposal and presented a revised budget with a deficit of USD 230,000, which he proposed should be met from reserves, which in 2009 benefited from an extraordinary exchange gain of USD 4million.

However, the ICC Board did not agree with the proposal of Das and recommended that the 2010 budget be revised through further cost reductions (mainly travel) in order to achieve a break-even budget for 2010. The Board had further recommended to retain Member subscriptions in 2010 at the 2009 level.