ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

February 10, 2015

John Harnden

David Richardson

James Sutherland

JAMES SUTHERLAND: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the MCG and to Melbourne, Australia. We're all very much looking forward to a fantastic World Cup over the course of the next six weeks. Particularly I'd like to welcome the ICC Chief Executive David Richardson on my right, and further to my right John Harnden, the chief executive of the local organising committee for Cricket World Cup 2015. And also to members of the media, both from here in Australia and others from all over the world as we start together and have the first matches on Saturday. As I think back, it's over a decade now since we first started planning for this World Cup. Cricket Australia and together with my counterpart from New Zealand at the time, Matthew Bell, and in some ways it seems like a long time ago, and in other ways that time has flown by. It will, for us here in Australia, be the biggest event in Australia since the 2000 Olympics, and it's a great opportunity for us to showcase Australia and New Zealand's ability to put on global events of this sort of magnitude. I think it's important for us to acknowledge the honour, I guess, that has been bestowed upon us by the ICC. Thank you, David, and to the board of the ICC for being able to put on an event like this, and we hope we won't let you down in any way. It's a complex thing putting on an event of this sort of scale across a couple of countries and 14 venues. All manner of logistics and different stakeholders, and I'd like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to John Harnden and his team for the work they've done so far in getting the event to this stage, obviously working closely with the ICC along the way. But based on what's happened so far to get us here, we have every confidence in the success of the event, and we, of course, wish everyone involved in the event every bit of success and good luck as they work through the next six weeks. For our players here in Australia, it's a unique opportunity to play a World Cup on home soil. Not many players get that opportunity, and it's something I know that our players are very conscious of. They're also very conscious of the incredible record that their predecessor Australian World Cup teams have had in this event having won four events -- four of the ten World Cups that have previously been played. Hopefully that's not putting any pressure on them, but I know they're very much looking forward to the challenges ahead over the course of the next six weeks. From I guess not only the Australian players, but the players from all competing countries are very much the stars of the show, but the true customers of the show are the fans. The fans here in Australia and New Zealand that will attend matches, perhaps up to a million people attending matches and around the globe the billions that will be following on TV and through other forms of media. We're very much conscious of their support of this event, and we hope that they will enjoy the fantastic spectacle that awaits. Here in Australia, we want this event to be a real legacy for Australian Cricket. This is a once-in-a-generation event, something we've looked forward to for a long time, and we hope we'll see Australians from diverse backgrounds come together to celebrate an accountable type atmosphere. Their joint love of cricket and appreciation of the game I'm sure we'll see fantastic crowds and great atmosphere not only from our venues but from venues around the country. We encourage Australian fans in particular to go gold and show their colors and support their team in any which way they like, and hopefully their Australian team will give them plenty of reasons to show their colors and make them to be loud and proud about it. Finally, welcome to everyone. It's going to be a sensational time for cricket. We're absolutely delighted to be a part of it, and we're delighted to welcome you all here to be a part of it as well. So I'd like to now hand it over to David Richardson, the ICC Chief Executive. Thanks, David.

DAVID RICHARDSON: Thanks, James. On behalf of the ICC, welcome to all of you as well. Good afternoon. I cannot tell you how delighted we are to finally be in Australia for the event itself. It seems to have been a long time coming, and finally the event is upon us. We, and me in particular, are exceptionally excited about what lies ahead. It certainly brings back nostalgic memories for me having been at this event in 1992 as a player. The big difference being then, we arrived not knowing at all what to expect, but for this event, hopefully, thanks to the work of John and his team, the LOC, and both Australia and New Zealand, we know what to expect hopefully for this event. The preparations have been brilliant. Everything is set to go from security, anti-corruption, and to the playing facilities, the facilities for the teams, the preparation of the qualifying teams and the other teams, but in particular the qualifying teams, has been unprecedented, and I really think that we are set for a tremendous tournament. James mentioned how big this event is, not only for the players attending or match officials attending, but the facts speak for themselves. It's probably the second biggest single sport event of its kind. It's going to be broadcast in over 200 territories to a potential audience exceeding 2.5 billion people. In seven languages, including Italian, which is a first for the Cricket World Cup. So just to give you some perspective, it's half as big as the FIFA World Cup, but ten times as big as the Rugby World Cup. So we're very proud of the fact that cricket can count itself amongst one of the biggest global sports. From a playing point of view, I think we're going into this tournament with the tournament being as open as any World Cup has ever been, and realistically six or seven teams even could probably count themselves with having a realistic chance of winning the tournament, which is the first that we've been entering into a tournament with that being the case. Some people have said that perhaps this tournament lacks heroes like Shane Warne or Lara or Tendulkar, but if you look around the teams that are competing and you see the potential match winners and the players that can change the course of a game, from Sangakkara to Mitchell Johnson, to Warne, to de Villiers, every team has got these players. Everywhere you look, there are one or two, and I really think that give them a few more years and they themselves will be Hall of Fame potentials. So I think we're going to be blessed with a very open tournament, and some tremendous and skillful teams. Lastly, I'd just like to make the point that as far as the ICC is concerned, we are here to hopefully enjoy the tournament, hopefully the players will enjoy the tournament, the briefings of the teams, the match officials have all gone exceptionally well to date, and I think everyone is looking forward to a tremendous 44-odd days. Thank you. Lastly can I hand it over to John? This is the man that's made it all happen, and I'm sure he'll be able to give you some interesting facts and figures.

JOHN HARNDEN: Thank you very much, David. Welcome, and it's great to have you and your team here in Australia and New Zealand. And to the media, welcome. We're here at the world's finest MCG. As James talked about earlier for himself and the team of Cricket Australia, it's been a decade in the making. For people like myself and those working on the organizing committee, it's been a three-year journey, and to be here today on the eve of the tournament and see the color of the logo, to see the players out there playing their warm-up matches is fantastic. To put on a tournament such as this, it's very nice for people to say some nice words about the work that we have done. The reality is, like anything, this is about a whole group of people working together as one team. It's been fantastic. I think the cricketing community across all of Australia and New Zealand, together with the ICC, clubs, State associations, venues, Cricket Australia, it really has been one team. We've also worked very hard with not only the governments around the countries, but also the local communities and some of the different nations that are playing. Because for us as organizers, while James quite rightly said as they say, go the gold and go the Australian team. For us it's about all 14 teams. And we are trying and one of our ambitions has been is to ensure that every match is a home match for every team. We've worked very, very hard with all of the different communities around Australia and New Zealand, and I'm delighted to say that we really feel that we've been very successful in working with everyone in that regard. To put that into perspective, as James and David talked about, we set ourselves a target of having a million people attend the Cricket World Cup. We publicly announced a bit over two years ago. I think some people raised some eyebrows and said those were some bold predictions, and it won't happen. But I'm delighted to be able to announce here on the eve of the tournament that we've already sold over 825,000 tickets a few days before the first ball is really being bowled. And for us, I'd like to thank the fans that are coming along to all of those matches for their support to be part of it. If you look at the first seven or eight days of the tournament, we've got some great cricket. We've got some big matches. It's not just about the Australian or New Zealand team. India versus Pakistan has been well-publicized. That sold out in three minutes at the Adelaide Oval. Here at the MCG, South Africa versus India, we are looking at having a capacity house for that. There are other matches, Afghanistan versus Bangladesh, I don't think there are any tickets available for that. So for us, it's about all of those teams, it's about all of those cultures, and this is really a celebration of cricket and of all of those cultures that are playing. You know, we've all worked very hard, and to be in a position for that first weekend where we have stadiums that are fully at capacity or very close, we're delighted. Having said that, the message to everyone is there are still great tickets available. There are a lot of games over the entire tournament, and don't miss out. If you want to be here, and you really want to be part of history, certainly come. We've put a lot of work into the ticket prices. Prices are $20 for adults, $5 for kids for matches. So this has been about accessibility. And probably finally I'd just like to thank David the team at the ICC and the board. They've been great to work with. As you can imagine, putting on a tournament like this, we've all had great ambitions and all pushed ourselves and pushed each other to get there. To James Sutherland and the team at Cricket Australia, they've been with us every step of the way. Working very, very closely with us, and James, thank you to you and your team. Welcome, everybody, and thank you very much. I'm sure we'll open it up to some questions.

Q. Dave, there have been any changes in the game since the 1992 World Cup. Can you believe it's been that many and should it have been that many?
DAVID RICHARDSON: I think we'd like to come back to Australia and New Zealand more often. The fact is that the time zone for this part of the world, relative to the rest of the cricket playing world is not ideal. But I think what makes it special is the fact that the tournaments have come about few and far between, which adds to the excitement and the level of anticipation for this event. I think looking forward there will be another major tournament coming up in Australia and New Zealand in the next eight-year cycle.

Q. John, this Saturday night at the MCG, two things, is it a sellout, and also any special preparations because it's going to be a very, very hot day? So the temperatures probably up around 36° on Saturday.
JOHN HARNDEN: We're very close to being at full capacity for Saturday. There are a few thousand tickets level, and I'd urge people if they want to get there and be there to buy now and don't leave it until the last moment. There is no question that as an organizer, whether it be the heat or the weather, we've got some hot weather here and some cool weather in New Zealand. We need to ensure that we take that into account. So there are a range of measures with water and all the like put into place to help people on Saturday if the temperatures reach the levels that are currently forecast.

Q. Dave, you mentioned in the past that the next World Cup that there will be other opportunities for associates to get in. They talked about one of their main concerns was not having enough matches to get into that top act. Can you guarantee those teams will have enough matches to squeeze in there?
DAVID RICHARDSON: It's difficult to guarantee matches for them. I think it's important that we provide the top associate members the opportunity. Certainly the indications are that the full members will support Ireland in that objective. They will not only be playing matches against the other top full members like England in particular, and teams may be visiting England, but they'll also be playing amongst themselves quite frequently. So I'm confident that we're working on them at least having 10 ODI's per season leading up to that next World Cup or qualification for that next World Cup. So I think the opportunity will be there.

Q. The opportunity to progress for other Associate nations?
DAVID RICHARDSON: Well, at the moment it's Afghanistan and Ireland in the picture. We have to look after them in particular, but as I said, similarly with Afghanistan, Australia has been talking about -- well, not necessarily to Afghanistan, but involving Afghanistan. As I said, we're pretty confident that I don't think we would have gone down this route if we weren't confident to make sure that Ireland and Afghanistan are both playing in the region of 8 to 10 ODIs per year.

Q. On the subject of bat sizes.
DAVID RICHARDSON: I think probably a little too premature to speak with absolute certainty on that. But it is one of the factors or one of the measures that need to be considered going forward. That will be done at our cricket committee for the first time after this World Cup. That meeting takes place in May. The MCC also have a number of committees that looks at laws. I'm not sure when the next laws committee is, but certainly it will be more or less in that same timeframe. This is just one of a number of measures. We don't really know. We need to consult with the manufacturers to find out were there any kind of attempts to limit the size of the depths of bats will be effective, and there are other measures that need to be taken into account. Perhaps looking at the balls themselves. The size of the field in particular, and whether it's justified in the first place. There's no doubt that I think that the ODI game is in as good of a place as it's ever been. The type of cricket is so much more attacking. Be it from not only a batting point of view, more boundaries being scored. But also the number of wickets taken per innings is higher than it's ever been. So the whole debate on whether the balance between bat and ball is still up for debate. As I say, I think there is a strong feeling developing that too many mishits could still go for six, and many of our stadiums have been built. They don't have the capacity to get any bigger, so we have to look at other measures to perhaps address that balance. But as I said, it's too early in the piece to know exactly what would happen and whether there will be any restrictions going forward. It's just one of the factors that need to be considered.

Q. Just along what you mentioned with the ODI games never been in better shape. But crowds in many countries and One Day Cricket are considerably down. Outside of World Cups which has massive crowds, what's the ICC want to do to the future of one-day cricket, and what can you do to bring the crowd in and make those games relevant?
DAVID RICHARDSON: Yeah, I think context is important. So to make the bilateral series that take place between the countries mean something is important. In that regard, we have the rankings, and going forward we have qualifications for the Champions Trophy and the World Cup which will hopefully make a bilateral series much more important than they have been before. In the past full members could almost guarantee places at those tournaments. I don't think that will necessarily be the case going forward. As far as the One Day game is concerned there is no doubt cricket has a challenge trying to juggle three formats of the same game and that provides challenges. Globally the One-Day game seems to be holding its place. Australia, I know have had a few challenges in recent years, and that might be cyclical. Who knows. Difficult to predict the future with absolute certainty. But I'm hopeful and confident that we'll be able to keep the three formats of the game going well into the future. Certainly Test Cricket has its place. The T20 format with its two-and-a-half-hour matches is very exciting and attracts a new audience. But the One-Day game to me is the perfect bridge between the two, providing a decent cricket contest. It's not the case with the 50-over game that you're all dressed up and nowhere to go. It's a full day's play, and you can see good performances with both bat and balls. So hopeful that it will continue well into the future.

Q. Coming off the very busy Australian sporting summer, a six-week tournament. How do you make sure the community stays engaged, particularly if Australia doesn't do so well? Particularly making sure it maintains throughout?
JOHN HARNDEN: Sure, I think the principle to make sure that there is home support for every one of the 14 teams, so you effectively haven't got all your eggs in one basket. Then what we've done is made certain throughout the duration of the tournament it's not all the big games on just one weekend. And if you have a close look at the schedule, you can see that every weekend there is a story unfolding with games through the week as well to ensure that happens. And lastly, with the venues and what we're doing with the 14 venues, many of the cities that are hosting the finals, here in Australia and New Zealand, effectively it's a one-week festival of cricket where we play three games in the space of a week, weekend, mid-week, weekend. Then we might go into Perth, and the city's all dressed up beforehand. All the players, the team, the circus, in effect, arrives. Everyone gets hyped up as the game moves on to the next. So we've arranged those factors. And ultimately as you get toward the end of the post, there is going to be a lot of momentum at that point about who is going to finish where, and what are those match-ups going to be in the quarterfinals and what's that mean after the semifinals. So we're very confident. The ticket sales of the matches has reflected it's not just about the one game, it's about the whole tournament. So something like a World Cup, it's like a novel or story that unfolds and it's easy at the start to say how will it unfold. But until it all happens, what we really know is what we expect to happen probably won't be what does happen.

Q. You mentioned earlier another international tournament for Australia coming, will that be in 2020?
DAVID RICHARDSON: Yes, in 2020.

Q. And James, are you excited Australia's getting more opportunities than what's happened in the past?
JAMES SUTHERLAND: Oh, as I said earlier on, it's an honour to be hosting a global event on behalf of the ICC we haven't cast our minds that far ahead yet. 2020 seems like a long way away, and with this event it's really had us preoccupied. We'll focus our attention on that after this tournament.

Q. John, with the Pakistan match, how big is this going to be in terms of cricket matches played and what the audience is going to be looking for?
JOHN HARNDEN: I think if you look since the last Cricket World Cup and what the ICC has done to expand it. They've broadcast our footprint around the globe. This could very well be the most watched game of cricket at that point in time in the history of cricket. That's very real. You have two teams. I think they are probably reasonably evenly matched. It really does bode well. You look at their supporters that are going, as we talked about, the match sold out in 20 minutes, when we put further tickets on sale back in November, they were literally gone in seconds. Then when you look at the tourism profile for that match, 75% of all of those people that are going to be in that stadium that day will be from outside of Australia. So I think that passion, those fans that are coming from all around the world, from all around Australia, from all around New Zealand, I actually think it's going to be something we've probably never experienced before in this country.

Q. Will this Cup have more widened security than others?
JOHN HARNDEN: We've obviously put a lot of work into security and worked with the people and the Australian government and local police forces as well as the security personnel from the ICC, Cricket Australia and ourselves. So we have a constant framework that's in place, and there are probably slight variations to little things that are done here and there, which aren't necessarily about the match. They might be about location, which teams are playing, how many people are expected, which is the norm for something like this. But I can assure everyone this is a very thorough and robust security framework in place, and everyone should have great confidence it's going to be a safe and secure environment.

Q. To any one of you or all of you, the ongoing issue of sledging is a concern. Dave, are you going to have a crackdown or appealing to the captains or the players? How are you handling it?
DAVID RICHARDSON: Yes, that issue has been addressed at all of the pre-event team briefings. I suppose it started a few months back already that the behaviour in some matches by some players was deemed to be unacceptable and not a good example to young fans watching the game. I think there have been something like 12, 13 code of conduct charges laid in the last few months in bilateral series. So the crackdown has already started. I think the teams are going to be told that the umpires intend to remain firm. That the penalties handed out will be perhaps a little bit more serious or higher than before, but that hopefully everyone will be treated equally and fairly. As I say, we talk about a few individuals in a few matches. The player behaviour generally, and teams like New Zealand in particular Sri Lanka, South Africa have actually on the majority been very good. So we're not expecting too much trouble. Hopefully those who tend to get a little bit excited on occasions will keep their calm.

Q. The football players are used to a different penalty system. Is there a more effective deterrent than fines?
DAVID RICHARDSON: I think it will be. I think we're talking about in most cases heat of the moment exchanges. Circumstances differ from time to time. For a first event you probably will likely -- a first offense you'll likely end up with a fine, which I think no player likes handing back most of his match fee. But certainly a repeat offense, not only in this tournament, but maybe some players are already sitting with some offenses behind their name will be punished with a suspension.

Q. I wanted to ask you in every World Cup you've tried to do something new technologically. Is there something that you're going to implement in this World Cup that fans can look forward to?
DAVID RICHARDSON: From a DRS technology point of view, nothing new that hasn't been seen before. They're going to be using real-time ‘Snicko’ to try to help with the determining faint edges. I think the focus has been in making sure the third umpires that are deployed throughout the tournament are better trained than they've ever been so that they are consistent in the application of the rules and regulations, but nothing new. Hopefully the broadcast itself from an entertainment point of view will have some innovative features. I'm probably not the best to ask about those, but hopefully you'll be pleasantry surprised by what you see on TV if you're not at the games.

Q. Will you please talk about the discipline process of cricket? Has the ICC ever thought about introducing a yellow card or red card in cricket? Number two, the implementation of DRS, is it going to be uniform even though teams like India do not usually use it?
DAVID RICHARDSON: To answer your second question first, yes, it will be uniform across the board. And perhaps the one innovation that I forgot to mention, from the quarterfinals onwards, the communication between the third umpire and the on-field umpires will be available for viewers to listen to. About the red and yellow cards, yes, that idea has been debated at a number of previous cricket committee meetings that I've attended, and probably will be debated again. I think the position at the moment is that the umpires are there to do a job, and the players will respect them for doing that, for implementing the code of conduct as it's meant to be implemented. We don't necessarily want to follow the way that football goes. A lot of these decisions are taken after a measured response of match officials reviewing the match afterwards. That cannot happen when you're brandishing a yellow or red card on the spur of the moment. So I think let's leave it with the match officials. They've been directed to take a firmer approach and more consistent approach across the board. Let's see how that goes before we consider anything other than what we have at the moment.

Q. With the recent crackdown on chucking, do you have a situation where it will be reported during tournaments, and theoretically throughout the remainder of a tournament, you would retain the player?
DAVID RICHARDSON: Yes, the direction is given to the match officials are unchanged for a bilateral series, so all bowlers will continue to be closely monitored. There may even be some bowlers who were previously suspended and they'll be coming back into the tournament now. And they will naturally by the nature of things perhaps be more closely scrutinized than other bowlers who are genuinely deemed to have good actions. If someone is reported, we have the Brisbane laboratory on standby which is an a credited ICC laboratory to carry out these Tests. From the day that the players have reported, we should have the result of those tests within seven days. If he's deemed to have illegal action, he'll be suspended, obviously, and he would be allowed a replacement.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports