Martin Williamson

Kenya's Steve Tikolo and Bermuda's Irvine Romaine get the World Cricket League underway. Both countries field home-grown players ... but not all those participating can say the same © ICC

With the exception of Bermuda, cricket is not a mainstream sport in any of the participants. And yet it survives, and in some instances thrives, despite the lack of attention and a relatively small number of enthusiasts.

The ICC, who do sterling work in supporting the game's second and third tiers, will rightly use the event to highlight that cricket is not just about the Indians and Australias of the world.

But there remains a nagging worry. The ICC boasts that the game is spreading across the world. But is that right? Is it taking root or is it surviving because more people from its hotbed - south-east Asia - are emigrating and keeping it alive for the duration of their careers?

In last year's Wisden Almanack, Matthew Engel raised this very issue. "Overwhelmingly, the game in non-traditional countries is played by expatriates, mostly South Asian. Journalists were kidded into believing that cricket was about to burst on China, on the basis of some warm comments by civil servants and a couple of coaching courses. I have seen not one shred of evidence to back this up. Are the kids playing with tapeballs on the streets of Shanghai? Are they heck!"

Take Canada. Of the squad in Nairobi at the moment, only three were born in the country, and two of those are over 35. Of the rest, five come from the Caribbean, four from India and each from Pakistan and Uganda. Whereas other Associates have a smattering of expats, Canada are utterly reliant on them.

Engel's comment attracted fierce criticism from those who either argued that England had more than their share of "imports" or that the game only spread in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Caribbean through expats playing it in the first place.

The worry in some countries is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants

The worry in some countries - and again I come back to Canada - is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants. Canada's cricket heritage is rich but there is little sign that it has been built on. This is best underlined by the selection of former West Indies international Anderson Cummins. Forty years old and without a major match to his name since 1995-96, he made his debut in Mombasa last week. What message does that send out about the strength in depth of cricket in Canada?

It's not just Canada. Look at the USA, whose 2004 Champions Trophy side was a collection of ageing expats whose performances verged on the disgraceful. And the UAE, which is almost entirely dependant on its ex-pat workforce to keep the game alive.

Cricket's expansion should not be about filling teams with expats and expecting the locals to get excited about it. The only way cricket can gain a foothold in emerging countries is by actually getting the indigenous population to embrace the game, and two excellent examples where this is happening are Nepal and Uganda.

Anderson Cummins of Barbados, West Inbies ... and now Canada © Eddie Norfolk

Cricket is in trouble in its traditional homes in Africa - Zimbabwe are hell-bent on destruction and South Africa seems to be falling out of love with the game. So efforts should be made in Uganda . And in Asia, which everyone accepts is the game's stronghold, a side like Nepal should really be given the leg up. It's about targeting rather than a scattergun approach.

In fairness to the ICC, they have a tough time and a lot of countries scrambling for a share of the spoils. It's about weeding out the weak and really looking to grow the game in areas where it has the best chance of taking root. It's an almost impossible ask. Look at the repeated failure of American Football to crack Europe ... and if football itself still battles for acceptance outside expats and schools in the USA, then the size of the ICC's task becomes clear.

Of course expats have a key role to play in expansion. But if the game is basically played by them, is it the game spreading or is it more about diehards clinging to the traditions of their homelands? In the UK there are baseball and American football sides, but they are almost all expat Americans and so few would seriously claim the games have taken hold. However, basketball and ice hockey are widely played by locals, boosted by some imported players and expats, and, crucially, the national side can stand on its own two feet. That's the difference.

IS Bindra: set to challenge the essence of the way the ICC operates © Getty Images

This weekend's meeting of the ICC executive in Mumbai is likely to be one of the most important - and possibly rancorous - in its 97-year existence. It could also change the ground rules for the way the game is governed.

In one corner is the ICC itself, in the other the Indian board. The two have been at each other's throats - in the veiled language of the diplomatic world - ever since Jagmohan Dalmiya's downfall in September 2005. Of late, however, the gloves have come off and the Indians have adopted an increasingly belligerent approach

Lalit Modi's comments in the last fortnight will not have helped either. Increasingly, it appears as if he is being used as a tactical loose canon, allowed the freedom to fire off in every direction to make the core of the BCCI itself look far more reasonable. Bindra himself has acknowledged the "excessive zeal and volatility [Modi] occasionally exhibits when the other side is refusing to see reason". Modi, however, will not be at the meeting and his comments will have little relevance.

But the reality is that the ICC is now on the back foot. The Indian board is now using the clout that their financial muscle gives it and has established enough reliable support among other members of the executive to enable it to challenge and dictate the direction that the ICC is taking.

The Indian board has chosen the ground it wants to fight on - the Members Participation Agreement (MPA), which deals with advertising during ICC events, and the global marketing rights for 2007 to 2015 which are up for grabs.

MPA
The BCCI won't sign, claiming that it infringes the rights of the member board and their players (not something that it has seemed bothered about in the past) while the ICC seethes that despite being sent the agreement months ago, the BCCI only raised its concerns in the days before the deadline for signing expired. Without the agreement the ICC could refuse to allow the Indians to participate in the World Cup - clearly that's not an option - but were they to allow them to participate without signing then no other country could be held to it. Expect a fudged compromise with both sides claiming that the other climbed down.

Global marketing rights
This is where the battle will be fought as these rights are worth more than a billion dollars. As things stand, the BCCI cannot tender for the eight-year deal to market all ICC events, but that obstacle will be removed if the ICC's own commercial arm - ICC Development International - votes to remove its own bar on member countries bidding. That is likely, which will leave the BCCI free to submit a bid. The existing holders, Global Cricket Corporation, and Zee TV are also believed to be interested. Victory here would give the Indian board massive commercial and political clout - it would give them the chance to cement their financial grip on the game as it could possibly earn massive sums, and so shape the way the game develops.

Champions Trophy
Cynics point out that the leading countries could make far more from hosting their own ODI tournament than they do from the Champions Trophy. Those same cynics might also claim that the recent paltry crowds and substandard pitches (which have still led to some good games) work in India 's interest and back their claims that the event is not worthwhile. However, if the BCCI wins the global marketing rights, then the Champions Trophy is here to stay as it is a real cash cow for whoever owns those rights. If it doesn't, then the BCCI is likely to make sure that it is unlikely to happen again - at least in its current format.

Zimbabwe
Speed and Percy Sonn visited Zimbabwe in July on a fact-finding mission and their report is due to be submitted here. It is widely expected to give the Zimbabwe board a clean bill of health and to dismiss those opposing the Peter Chingoka regime as no more than disgruntled and bitter has-beens. Issues such as the flawed proposed constitution and continuing claims of financial mismanagement will again be brushed aside. Given Sonn's close links with Chingoka, few expected anything else. Zimbabwe will be formally welcomed back into the Test fold from November 2007.

The Oval compensation
The English board are out of pocket but Pakistan won't pay, insisting that the ICC employed the umpires for the fourth Test at The Oval, and it was the umpires' fault the game was abandoned. The ICC cannot agree to this as it would open the floodgates, so this will be quietly passed to its own Disputes Committee. Expect a further impasse on the subject. The future of Darrell Hair is likely to be discussed, although there will be no formal announcement to that effect.

Drugs
The ICC has not emerged from the recent incident involving Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif with credit. It has been accused of not doing enough and of not doing it efficiently. But the onus remains largely with the boards, and interestingly India has yet to sign up to the WADA agreement. The end result will be much rhetoric and several indicatives, and the players will be bombarded with even more leaflets warning of what they can and cannot do.