The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday agreed in principle to revise the ICC constitution, paving way for rolling back the Big Three system and ensuring more equivalence among the members of the body, said the ICC in a statement.

The decision was taken at the first ICC Board meeting of 2017 in Dubai. The ICC Board agreed to revise financial distribution, ensuring a more equitable distribution of revenues.

It also agreed to further progress on future international cricket structures and agreement around the consistent use of Decision Review System (DRS).

The council's board agreed to work collaboratively on the detail of the constitution and model, with a view to achieve a final sign off at the April board meeting and submission to the full ICC Council in June.

“Today was an important step forward for the future of the ICC and cricket around the world. The proposals from the working group to reverse the resolutions of 2014 and deliver a revised constitution and financial model were accepted by the ICC Board," said ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar following the meeting.

“I want the ICC to be reasonable and fair in our approach to all 105 Members and the revised constitution and financial model does that. There are still details to work through and concerns to be addressed, but the principle of change is agreed and not for debate."

International cricket structures

The top brass of the ICC identified a preferred model for all three formats of the sport. This framework accommodates existing agreements which will be presented to the ICC Board for full consideration in April.

According to the framework, a nine-team Test league will be run over a two-year cycle. Remaining three Test teams will be guaranteed a consistent and confirmed schedule of Test matches against all other teams.

Similarly, a 13-team ODI league will be run over a three-year period leading to the qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. It was also agreed that the regional T20 competition structures will be developed as a pathway to qualification for the ICC World T20.

The session also agreed that a scheduling summit will now be held in March before a detailed proposal is put to the ICC Board in April.

Demerit Points

The meeting also agreed that a system of 'Demerit Points' be introduced. The points will remain active for a rolling five year period.

When a venue accumulates 5 'Demerit Points', its ICC accreditation will be suspended for a period of 12 months. Should a venue reach 10 points its accreditation will be suspended for 24 months.

ICC Medical Advisory Committee

The meeting also approved the establishment of an ICC Medical Advisory Committee to consider and advise on sports medicine and sports science issues relating to international cricket. It will also provide input into ICC policies and regulations that have a related sports medicine or sports science aspect.

Amendment in ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code

The Chief Executives’ Committee authorised the management to develop an amendment to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code in order to permit the use of cell phone data extraction equipment.

This would include exploring the legal aspects of introducing the technology, exploration of the technology itself and liaising with all interested parties before reverting to the ICC Board with a full proposal for consideration later in 2017.

Other key decisions

Other key decisions include, the usage of DRS in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, all televised games at the ICC Women’s World Cup and all future ICC World Twenty20 televised games with one review per side.

The meeting approved playing conditions for both the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and Women’s World Cup. It was confirmed that both semi-finals and finals would go to a super over in case of a tie.

Furthermore, Afghanistan Cricket Board’s Ahmad Shah Abdali Regional 4-day Tournament was awarded First Class Status, and by extension, the Shpageeza T20 League was awarded List A status.

The dates for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20, 2020 in Australia were confirmed as February 21, 2020 to March 8, 2020.