Pakistan to support possible Indian move against SpeedÂ*-Â*NewsÂ*-Â*NewsÂ*-Â*Indiatimes Cricket

KARACHI, May 1: BCCI will get the support of its Pakistani counterpart if BCCI decides to bring in a no-confidence motion against the top brass of the International Cricket Council (ICC), according to media reports here.

Earlier, Sri Lanka Cricket Chief Executive Duleep Mendis had said that a no-confidence motion remained an option, especially after the World Cup final fiasco.

"That is something we will have to discuss and then perhaps take it up at the chief executive's meeting," Mendis said.

It spells serious trouble for the governing body, and its chief executive Malcolm Speed at, next month's ICC executive board meeting, which now threatens to turn into an ICC vs Asian bloc battle.

Reacting to BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah's recent interview to an Australian daily in which he did not rule out bringing in a no-confidence motion against the "more and more bureaucratic" ICC top brass, "well-placed sources" told 'The News ' that the PCB would throw its weight behind BCCI in the meeting.

The relations between the game's governing body and BCCI, its richest member board, have never been easy and Shah told 'The Age ' that there would be quite a few things to be "sorted out" at the next ICC chief Executives meeting.

"The ICC has so many staff members. It is unnecessarily employing so many people and that costs the other members. The ICC should move away from the bureaucracy and become more simplified," Shah said.

Asked whether BCCI's discontent could result into a vote of no-confidence against the ICC, Shah said "Why not? It is something we will discuss with our Board. Some of it will depend on how other boards are feeling."

PCB's relations with ICC have also been soured by last year's Oval fiasco, in which Pakistan forfeited a Test match to England, and sources said the Pakistani board would like to see an Asian or African replace Macolm Speed as the ICC Chief Executive.

PCB Media Director s, however, said that the board officials have not discussed the issue yet.