ICC chief Malcolm Speed loses his cool and then says sorry

St.George's (Grenada), Apr 20 (UNI) The pressure of managing the huge but bloated World Cup and the relentless criticism the tournament has faced started telling on International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Scheduled to meet reporters at his resort here, Speed appeared upset by a report in an Indian newspaper and initially against talking to a reporter from the same organisation.

However, other Indian journalists present made it clear that the ICC CEO will have to talk to all of them or none.

Quick damage control by the present media officer of the ICC, however served its purpose and the interaction went ahead as scheduled with Speed also making up with the caught-by-surprise reporters.

Speed then sat patiently through the session, answering a gamut of questions around the ongoing tournament, its length, the various issues that had cropped up in the last six weeks and more.

By the end of it all, it was back to normal, leaving the reporters present baffled at what led to that brief flare up and how soon every thing was forgiven and forgotten.

UNI