Jamoghan Dalmiya Photo Reuters

Perhaps a split in world cricket has moved a little bit closer, even if it is difficult to see how anyone who cares for cricket will benefit from it.

Two news items in the past couple of days have given the impression that there is a massive power struggle taking place at the highest levels of the world game. One concerned the proclamation by the Asian Cricket Council at the end of its recent meeting in Sharjah. The other was the response by the International Cricket Council.

The ACC meeting took decisions on a number of matters, the most sinister of which, to outside eyes at least, concerned a banding together of all members of the ACC in a sort of mutual defence pact that was all the rage during the Cold War or when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was at the apex of its powers.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with such pacts if their sole purpose is defence. The fear is that such alliances can gravitate towards the mistaken view that the strength of unity is the grounds for attack. It looks suspiciously like that in this case.

One of the edicts from Sharjah states that if New Zealand are not satisfied with the security arrangements for the proposed tour of Pakistan in April, India will not go on their scheduled tour of New Zealand. On what grounds? It is not as if India are likely to go to Pakistan instead, despite attempts to thaw the icy relations between the two countries. There are overt political reasons for that not to happen immediately, as opposed to the covert cricket politics at work when it comes to India going to New Zealand.

There was a telling paragraph in the report on the Asian Council by Agha Akbar in his CricInfo report on 17th February:

"The resolutions indeed show that the Asian bloc has closed ranks to take on the ICC on issues where it has the perception of being unfairly dealt with and pushed around. This solemn promise to back each other on all issues of concern definitely has serious connotations, because the four-nation full-member South Asian bloc has four votes and with the support of one more, they could block all resolutions at the ICC Executive Board, where a clear majority is needed to force an issue."

It is the question of perception that causes alarm bells to ring. The Asian bloc does not have to be pushed around or dealt with unfairly. It simply has to perceive itself to have suffered in that way. And the threat that the new bloc will need just one other member to side with it before it can paralyse the game's governing body underlines the point about defensive alliances being more geared for attack.

The next paragraph begins with another chilling sentence:

"The meeting definitely was a triumph for Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been able to firmly rally the ACC and the Asian nations behind him to take on the ICC."

It is a widely-held belief that Dalmiya is hell-bent on disrupting the ICC, but for what reason? There is plenty of evidence that the ICC went to inordinate lengths to protect Dalmiya, as the then president of that organisation, when he came under very close scrutiny at the time when corruption inquiries were delving into every nook and cranny of the game.

It was said that David Richards, the chief executive of ICC at the time, should have differentiated between protecting the man at the centre of the allegations as opposed to protecting the office of president. Dalmiya survived the scrutiny to reach the end of his term, since when he appears to have set his sights on the organisation that honoured him with its presidency and went out of its way to keep scandal at arm's length.

There are other reasons why Asia should be grateful to the ICC. Despite the fact that there are five development regions around the globe, 50% of the proceeds of the ICC KnockOut tournament in Kenya in 2000 – some $6.5m – was secured for Asia. This satisfied but one of Dalmiya's many demands.

Malcolm Gray Photo Reuters

Now others are flowing. Having taken unilateral action over the actions of the ICC match referee in South Africa (Mike Denness) on the grounds that he did not like the decisions he made, Dalmiya asked for a commission of inquiry into the remit of match referees. ICC acceded to the demand. However, Dalmiya did not like the composition of the commission and so invoked the new Asian solidarity, aided and abetted by South Africa, to have the commission itself suspended at least until after the ICC Executive Board meeting. The ICC was forced, by its composition, to accede again.

"It is extremely disappointing that the work of a properly constituted commission, established after extensive consultation with the BCCI, has to be halted because of pressure from within the executive board. However, as a matter of proper corporate governance the ICC president has a duty to reflect the wishes of board members," commented the current ICC President, Malcolm Gray.

"Postponing the commission will further delay the formal review of important parts of the match referees' role. With the new five-man panel taking up its duties in April, this is a matter that required immediate resolution at the board, rather than further debate about the composition of the commission," added Gray.

The ACC issued further pronouncements from Sharjah. One was that it "recommended" to the ICC that the 2006 Under-19 World Cup should be staged in Bangladesh. Another was to put aside $3m for the ACC's next annual budget. If it has that sort of money to set up permanent secretariats and the like, it is a little bewildering as to why such a large share of the global development budget is required in one region.

And there is nothing wrong with the recommendation about the 2006 Youth World Cup providing that is where it ends. It is just that, on all known present form, recommendations have a nasty habit of becoming ultimatums.

In the recent past, ICC was bound by its constitution to bow to the demands of members. That changed with the signing of the deal that sold the rights to events like World Cups for a guaranteed $550m. While that crock of gold has been viewed by some with a mixture of greed and envy, it has given the organisation a certain financial clout. It should also help ICC to move away from the policy of appeasement. Such a policy was seen to be mistaken after it was adopted by the European powers in the late thirties.

One of the last events over which Dalmiya presided was ICC Cricket Week. To his credit, it was his idea and his drive that resulted in it taking place at all, let alone being a success. It climaxed with a match between Asia and the Rest of the World. It was a memorable occasion. A division in cricket between the Asian Cricket Council and a Rest of the World Cricket Council is not such an appealing prospect.

Perhaps a split in world cricket is inevitable. If so, nobody who cares for cricket will be the beneficiary.

© CricInfo