The women have taken the lead but the men are reluctant to follow. This refers to the recent decision taken by the Women's Cricket Association of India to have a three member selection committee and not five based on the zonal system.

Obviously, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is still unwilling to go in for a similar arrangement, something that has been advocated in cricket circles for some time now. The disadvantages of a national selection committee, comprising of representatives of the five zones, have been exposed and the advantages of having a three man selection committee which is not on a zonal basis have been widely debated. But the BCCI, which has traditionally been slow to change, has again rejected the latter idea and opted to continue with the zonal system selection committee.

The Constitution Committee of the BCCI at its meeting at Mumbai on Sunday, decided to retain the existing five-member selection committee, even while recommending a more liberal qualification system which would give wider scope for cricketers to become national selectors.

Ashok Kumbhat, secretary, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, told CricInfo on Tuesday that the committee had rejected the BCCI's proposal to reduce the number of senior selection committee members from five to three and had also suggested that 20 first class matches be the limit for selection, instead of 15. Pressed on whether the time was ripe for trying out a three man committee Kumbhat said, "there are merits and demerits in both cases as India is a vast country. We decided to go in for the lesser of two evils."

The committee, comprising K Subba Rao (chairman) and Shashang Manohar of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, besides Kumbhat and Kishore Rungta (convenor), had been authorised by the BCCI to study its proposals and recommend changes to be placed at the Board's special general body meeting on February 23 at Chennai.

In effect, the five zonal chairmen would again represent the senior selection committee. One of the proposals was that these members should have retired five years before becoming a selector and could not serve as a selector, 20 years after retirement, according to Kumbhat. "It would be better to have younger cricketers, who are more in touch with the game," he said.

The committee had decided on these recommendations keeping in mind the lack of Test cricketers who had played in 15 Tests, in most of the centres affiliated to the Board, he added.

Kumbhat also said a new system of membership to the Working Committee had been recommended, under which 23 of the 30-member Board would be working committee members.

According to the new system, the working committee will comprise representatives of nine Test centres, the president, five vice presidents, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and a member each from the five zones on rotation.

The recommendations are based on the new rotation formula adopted at the working committee meeting at Delhi on Jan 22 last, according to which Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Mohali and Bangalore would be the nine Test centres.

Kumbhat also said that the committee has also recommended the term of office of president for three years, getting elected at every AGM being mandatory. Likewise, the secretary and treasurer could be in office for five years.

According to existing rules, the president can seek re-election for the second year, while for the third year, it will be at the general body's discretion. The secretary and treasurer can seek re-election for four consecutive years while the fifth would be left to the general body.

© CricInfo