A role model

Dave Richardson adores Thierry Henry. The former South African wicketkeeper feels that the French striker has had an exceptional run with Arsenal but unfortunately hasn’t replicated his club form while turning out for Les Blues.

Dave Richardson adores Thierry Henry. The former South African wicketkeeper feels that the French striker has had an exceptional run with Arsenal but unfortunately hasn’t replicated his club form while turning out for Les Blues. Richardson hopes Henry can get into groove and Germany 2006 would be the right place to do that. Not surprisingly, he has a take on Wayne Rooney too. The South African believes the Manchester United striker will play a crucial role for England if he shakes off his foot injury.

Richardson’s personal passion apart, his professional commitments with the International Cricket Council as General Manger of Cricket (Operations) will also need him to keep a close watch on Germany 2006. As the entire globe focuses its attention on the World Cup, the ICC too is expected to make its representation at Germany by sending few of its officials to learn the finer aspects of hosting a mega event, in the true sense.

There has been a deliberate attempt, of late, from the ICC to streamline its operations with a view to diversifying into more areas and create an identity that reflects a professional outlook. And the cricket’s apex body has decided that learning a few valuable lessons from FIFA would be the right step in expediting the process.

In fact, reports suggest that the ICC is making an effort to model its entire functioning on their football counterparts and has roped in quite a few people who were FIFA employees in order to reap benefits from their expertise.

Talking to The Indian Express, Richardson said: “ICC is definitely looking at being a more professional unit and trying to model ourselves on the lines of FIFA, particularly on aspects like administration, general structure, etc. But that does not mean that we are blindly following FIFA plan. You have to acknowledge that FIFA has been around for many years now and they are definitely one of the most professional bodies in the world,” he said.

The former South African wicketkeeper also clarified that “ICC has many people on board who have worked previously with other sports associations. Not just football, but also games like tennis and golf.”