The International Cricket Council (ICC) today threw its weight behind the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in the latter's stand-off with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), saying the BCCI was its "only recognised body" to administer the sport in India."BCCI is the only body recognised by ICC to run official cricket in India. We have not got any application from ICL (for recognition) yet, but we have already set a five-step process to decide on such issues," Malcolm Speed, CEO, ICC, said at a media conference today.Speed said the first four steps in the process of approving a tournament by a private body were: Whether it's run for the development of the game or for charitable purpose; who all were playing in it and whether the players were all contracted to their parent boards; when and where would the tournament be held and whether anti-corruption measures were put in place to run the event."In the last stage of the process, we ask the applicant whether the member board of the country has approved it. If the answer is no, we would not give it our recognition," Speed said at the news conference to announce the first list of ICC's 2007 annual awardees.He cited the example of a tournament planned last year in the USA which was shot down by ICC for not fulfilling the criteria he had mentioned.
