After Imtiaz Patel turned down the offer to take over as International Cricket Council's next chief executive officer, South Africa's former selection committee convenor Haroon Lorgat leads the race for the job, according to reports.

Also read: Patel turns down post

The ICC [Images] on Tuesday said in a statement that Patel, despite being selected for the job, has decided to stay with his current employer SuperSport International, of which he is the CEO.

According to Cricinfo, Lorgat, a South African chartered accountant of Indian-origin, has subsequently emerged as a strong candidate for the post and has already received a communication for a meeting with the ICC officials this week. 

"It's very premature to even talk about this subject," Lorgat was quoted as saying.

"But obviously if the job is indeed offered to me, I would consider that a great honour," he said.

Surprisingly, the other candidate in the fray is Dave Richardson, ICC General Manager (Cricket), also a South African.

ICC CEO Malcolm Speed [Images] will step down from the post after this year's ICC Annual Conference in June-July.