The ICC's few years as a governing body have not been glorious

Wisden 2001

Alleyne: Three trophies

"It is still perceived as little more than a talking shop, not always the sum of its fractious parts and impotent to act without the agreement of its member countries, with their own vested interests.

"The ICC's initial response to Cronje's admission of guilt was to resist calls for a worldwide inquiry into match-fixing, preferring that each country should determine its own methods of inquiry and this after India and Pakistan had already held inconclusive inquiries in recent years."

Meanwhile, the ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin admitted that the ICC enquiry was not proceeding as quickly as most people would like.

But he told BBC Sport Online: "Sir Paul Condon has said that it's a marathon not a sprint. We have to get those who have transgressed out of the game and the sooner the better whether they be administrators or players. "

"I took a very strong line about it and the English players know that if they transgress and they're found to transgress, they'll never play for England again.

"There is no room in cricket for people who abuse the game," he concluded.

The Almanack's answer is for the ICC, which is run by the member countries, to be given independent status with full-time officials and the power to get things done.

"The time must be coming for the member countries to put the ICC on a proper business footing, with full-time executives empowered to take decisive, unilateral action as a centrally functioning administration," it says.

A stinging editorial has become a trademark of Wisden over the past few years - the selection of its five Cricketers of the Year has been a trademark for many years.

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