VVS Laxman, Daniel Vettori in committee to elect new ICC chairman

The board of the International Cricket Committee (ICC) will elect a new chairman for the cricket governing body in November. The decision was approved after a meeting in Birmingham, given that Greg Barclay would end his tenure later in the year. The election will be concluded by a simple majority and the newly-appointed member would hold the chair for a period of two years.

The board, consisting of 16 members, includes former players such as VVS Laxman and Daniel Vettori. The candidate garnering at least 51 per cent votes will be elected as the winner. Hence, a contestant must receive as many as nine votes to be elected for the role.

Speculations of Sourav Ganguly as candidate emerge

The chairman would be in charge starting from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2024. The elections for the role were earlier decided by a two-thirds majority, which has been removed this time. There have been speculations of Sourav Ganguly emerging as one of the contenders for the role of the ICC Chairman. He is currently the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI, despite the rumours, have said that “it’s too early” to draw any inference about the former India captain. This would also depend on the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding the cooling-off period of the BCCI president. A hearing about the matter is scheduled to happen on July 27, Thursday.

The others on the 16-member board are West Indies’ Roger Harper, who is a past player representative, joined by Mahela Jayawardene from Sri Lanka. Laxman and Vettori are the current player representatives. In the ICC meeting, the council also granted associate membership status to Uzbekistan, Cambodia and Cote D’Ivoire.

Cambodia and Uzbekistan became the 24th and 25th members of the Asia region, and the Cote D’Ivoire became the 21st member from Africa. The ICC now comprises a total of 108 members, of which 96 are Associates.