Former International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani has written a letter to the ICC co-signed by Malcolm Speed and Malcolm Gray to demand the withdrawal of a controversial proposal for the big three cricket nations to take control of the governing body.
Ali Bacher, who was managing director of the then United Cricket Board (now Cricket South Africa) from 1991 to 2001 and tournament director of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, added his powerful voice to those of Mani and Speed in arguing for a more prudent approach to be taken.
He wrote a letter to present ICC president Alan Isaac, saying that cricket risked being torn apart if the proposal went through.
Speed and Gray are the former ICC chief executive and president, respectively, of both Cricket Australia and the global governing body.
The letter is accompanied by a stinging critique of the changes recommended by Australia, England and India, which Mani said would enrich those three countries at the expense of others and give them complete control of the ICC, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The signatories of the letter demanded the position paper, which is set to be voted upon at ICC meetings this week, be withdrawn and that the governing body instead exhume the Woolf Report, which called for improved governance, independent directors and greater transparency.
Mani concluded that India, Australia and England had completely undermined the integrity and standing of the ICC.
India, which argues it should receive more money because it generates the maximum share of the game's revenue, stands to more than quadruple its takings under the proposed distribution model (based on total revenues of $2.5 billion).