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ICC headaches

AFP, London
The four major crises blighting the build-up to next month's World Cup are set to be discussed at a special meeting of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) executive board on Friday.
The governing body confirmed the teleconference meeting in a statement issued from its Lord's headquarters on Thursday.
As revealed by AFP on Tuesday, the meeting will discuss the following issues: The Indian players' decision to sign altered World Cup contracts, the failure of the Sri Lankan board to return signed player terms before the January 14 deadline and the safety and security situation in World Cup sub-hosts Zimbabwe and Kenya.
ICC's 15-man executive board will, according to Thursday's statement, be "asked to confirm the decision of the World Cup Contracts Committee (WCCC)" regarding the altered Indian contracts.
A source close to the talks between the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told AFP on Tuesday that the WCCC had called for a truce between the parties for the duration of the February 8-March 23 tournament.
Last week the ICC confirmed it
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had received "signed but amended contracts" from the Indian players by its January 14 deadline.
The BCCI and the players strongly oppose two of the 22 clauses in the players' contracts.
These clauses are designed to ban commercial rivals of the official tournament sponsors using their pre-existing deals with individual players to gain publicity, before, during and after the World Cup.
Many Indian stars, including Sachin Tendulkar and Virender
Sehwag, enjoy lucrative deals with non-official sponsors, which they may have to forego if the original World Cup contracts are enforced.
At a teleconference meeting on Sunday the WCCC tried to take the players out of the dispute by allowing them to play in the World Cup but warning that India's World Cup cut of eight to nine million dollars would not be released by the ICC until the
dispute was resolved.
And, in the event that the BCCI failed to pay any compensation claims brought by official sponsors as consequence of its players actions, it could face expulsion from the ICC.
Thursday's statement also said that ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed and World Cup director Ali Bacher would report on their recent visit to Zimbabwe.
Six World Cup matches are due to be staged in the famine-ravaged country and England and Australia have come under intense political pressure to pull out of their matches in Zimbabwe in protest at the human rights abuses of President Robert Mugabe.
However, Friday's meeting may not reach a definitive decision on Zimbabwe's status.
The ICC statement said that, following Speed and Bacher's report, "there will be the opportunity for any country to reopen the discus-
sion on this matter".
The findings of the recent ICC inspection team to Kenya, due to stage two World Cup matches, where security concerns have been raised in the wake of October terror attacks, will also be discussed.
On Thursday, Sri Lanka's squad finally ended a pay dispute with their national board which had threatened their participation in the World Cup.
Although this meant ther players contracts were lodged well beyond the January 14 deadline, the ICC may decide not to come down too hard on the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL).
Unlike its Indian counterpart, the BCCSL has not objected to the World Cup contracts but simply found itself caught up in a row with its own players about how Sri Lanka's World Cup cut of 6.4 million dollars should be split.