Sonn accepts third year as ICC president

The ICC Board concluded its two-day meeting in Cape Town, South Africa on Friday.

The following topics were discussed, debated and decided upon during the meeting:

Sonn accepts third year as ICC president

ICC president Percy Sonn accepted an invitation from the ICC Board to extend his term in office until June 2009.

The standard term for an ICC president is two years and that would have seen Sonn completing his time in office next year, having taken over at the 2006 annual conference. However, the Board has discretion to invite the incumbent to remain in office for a third year. Sonn accepted that invitation and in doing so mirrored the actions of three predecessors -- Jagmohan Dalmiya, Malcolm Gray and Ehsan Mani, who also served a third year as ICC president.

Commenting on the situation, Sonn said: "I am delighted to accept the Board's invitation to remain as president for a third year. I have had a busy but immensely enjoyable first year in the role that has seen many plusses for our great game.

"Chief among those have been the adoption of our new strategic plan and the WADA Code, a successful ICC Champions Trophy in India and our new broadcasting agreement with ESPN STAR Sports which will play a major role in promoting cricket and safeguarding its future by offering all of our Members financial certainty.

"Now, on the verge of a historic first-ever ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and with the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Championships to come in September, I look forward to continuing as president for another two years as we seek to ensure our strong sport continues to grow stronger."

Nominations Committee reports to Board on candidates to succeed Sonn as ICC president

The Board received a report from the Nominations Committee following the latter's meeting to consider the merits of the two prospective candidates for the role, David Morgan, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sharad Pawar.

The Nominations Committee was deadlocked on the merits of the two candidates and in those circumstances it elected not to make a recommendation to the Board concerning Sonn's successor.

On that basis, the Board decided to refer the matter back to the Governance Review Committee* for further discussion on the appropriate way to proceed in the selection process.

ICC president Percy Sonn said: "The fact the Nominations Committee was unable to put forward a single candidate for consideration by the annual conference is unfortunate.

"However, the positive aspect of the situation is that it illustrates that both Pawar and Morgan had strong support to take over as ICC president and that is a fortunate position for any organization to find itself."

The Nominations Committee comprised Dr A.C.Muthiah (chairman) (representing India and Sri Lanka), Bob Merriman (Australia and New Zealand), Mueen Afzal (Bangladesh and Pakistan), Stephen Camacho (West Indies and England), John Blair (South Africa and Zimbabwe) and Imran Khwaja (Associates and Affiliates).

The role of the ICC match referee

The Board adopted the recommendation of the ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) which, at its January meeting, suggested an amendment to the ICC Playing Condition that relates to Law 21.3 ("Umpires awarding a match").

The recommendation, which will take immediate effect, means that it will henceforth be the responsibility of the match referee to make the final decision on the termination of a match in the circumstances envisaged under that section of the Laws.

Commenting on the decision, ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said: "The Board's decision reflects the fact that the match referee is the chief executive of the match, the person who has overall responsibility for the way the game is played and officiated.

"This decision does not, however, detract from the on-field role of the umpires and they would, of course, still remain an integral part of the process of awarding a match in those circumstances."

CEC had been asked to look into the role of the ICC match referee following discussions at last November's ICC Board meeting in Mumbai, where the events of the Test match at The Oval in August 2006 were discussed.  On that occasion the two umpires awarded the match to England when Pakistan was deemed to have refused to play.

Appointments to a revised ICC Cricket Committee

The Board approved a series of appointments to the ICC Cricket Committee, having previously accepted a recommendation of the CEC concerning it taking on a revised structure.

The new structure sees the Cricket Committee no longer made up simply of nominations from each of the Full Members (Boards and players) and leading Associates.

Instead it will now include two past players; two nominees of Full Member team captains representing current players; one current Full Member coach; and one representative each from Member Boards, umpires, match referees, the Marylebone Cricket Club, statisticians, the media and Associate Members.

The names of the members of the newly-constituted Cricket Committee will be announced in due course; it is set to meet for the first time in its new form later this year.

Commercial update

The Board was told that two commercial partners have already been identified for the eight year period from mid-2007 to 2015.  Details of agreements will be announced in due course.

The ICC has already concluded a broadcasting agreement for the same period with ESPN STAR Sports.  The first ICC event covered by any new agreements will be the ICC Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa in September.

The ICC Board, which meets three times a year, is made up of the following Directors:

Percy Sonn (Chairman) – ICC President

Malcolm Speed – ICC Chief Executive Officer

Full Members

Creagh O'Connor – Australia

Mahbubul Anam – Bangladesh

David Morgan – England

Sharad Pawar (Mr I.S.Bindra replaced Mr Pawar as an alternate during part of the meeting) – India

Martin Snedden (alternate for Sir John Anderson KBE) – New Zealand

Salim Altaf (alternate for Dr Nasim Ashraf) – Pakistan

K Mathivanan (alternate for Jayantha Dharmadasa) – Sri Lanka

Ray Mali – South Africa

Ken Gordon – West Indies

Peter Chingoka – Zimbabwe

Associate Members

Samir Inamdar – Kenya

Stanley Perlman – Israel

HRH Tunku Imran – Malaysia

*The Governance Review Committee is made up of Creagh O'Connor (Chairman), HRH Tunku Imran and Peter Chingoka.