Atherton says New Zealand will get raw deal in new ICC revamp plan

Wellington, Jan 31 (ANI): Former England opening batsman Mike Atherton has taken a swipe at the International Cricket Council over proposals on how it should distribute the sport's revenues at the expense of smaller playing nations such as New Zealand. Writing in The Times newspaper, Atherton said the New Zealanders were boxing well above their weight and putting the "big three"-England, India and Australia to shame. He said when one thinks about the inherent advantages enjoyed by India and England; it is remarkable that New Zealand can be competitive at all. Atherton said in the working paper, offered up to the ICC by a working party of the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee, the indication was that on and off-the-field considerations over the past 20 years would be uppermost in deciding how revenues are redistributed, Fairfax NZ News reports. New Zealand's representative on the International Cricket Council, Martin Snedden, has already dismissed fears that his country will miss out under a proposed revamp of the game, and added that the deal was pretty good for the NZC. He said under the new system New Zealand will be assured of regular matches against top opponents - India, England and Australia . Snedded said NZC was set to receive revenues of 70-100 million dollar from the ICC between 2015 and 2023 under the planned reforms, compared to the 52 million dollar it had received in the past eight years. (ANI)