Former players needed in ICC, says Pakistan's Rameez Raja

LAHORE (Reuters) - Rameez Raja has called for more former players to stand on the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the wake of the Harbhajan Singh affair.

"The manner in which the ICC governs the game is at times flawed," the former Pakistan captain and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive told Reuters on Thursday.

"This was showed up in the Harbhajan case. It is time more former players were inducted into the ICC in decision-making positions."

Harbhajan was banned for three tests by ICC match referee Mike Procter for allegedly calling Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds 'a monkey' during the second test in Sydney earlier this month.

The ban was reduced to a fine of 50 percent of his match fee by the ICC appeals commissioner, Justice John Hansen, at a hearing in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Raja said while there were some former players like Sunil Gavaskar and Dave Richardson in the ICC, they could only make recommendations and not take decisions.

"The decisions are made by the executive board of the ICC which has no former (test) players on it. There is a need to have a governing body with people who have played the sport at the top level," he said.

Rameez said he spoke on the basis of his experience of attending ICC meetings as the PCB chief executive.

He pointed out that it was due to flaws in the system that in the past few years the ICC had reversed decisions by its umpires and referees on appeal by the aggrieved party.

"What has happened is certainly not good for the game. It is time players were involved in the running of the ICC affairs."