Here's a look at the candidates for ICC chairman and election process
FollowICC would be electing a new chairperson this year. Shashank Manohar previously headed it before stepping down almost six months ago. Although a new chairman was to be elected soon, the ongoing pandemic, along with candidate uncertainty, has led to the delay.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is without a chairperson. However, the global governing body looks all set to elect a new one, as the process of election has been discussed during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday.
The position was previously managed by Shashank Manohar, who represented the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). However, he decided not to continue following the conclusion of his term six months back.
Since then, there has been no clarity on the process of election of the new chairperson. Also, the ongoing pandemic, along with uncertainty on the number of candidates and persons to contest, led to delay.
Nonetheless, ICC has said that there would be three rounds of voting for the election of the new chairperson. A total of 16 votes would be cast by the ICC Board of Directors, which happen to be the head of 12 full members, three associate directors and independent woman director ever, Indra Nooyi.
Currently, Khawaja is the interim chairperson and cannot cast a vote. While Manu Sawhney does not have any vote, Greg Barclay of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) can cast his. A total of 11 votes is needed to be determined by the winner. Meanwhile, here we take a look at the nominees:
Imran Khwaja: He is a new name in the ICC. Although he is a lawyer by profession, he happened to be the former president of Singapore Cricket Association (SCA), besides being its deputy chairman in 2017. The members would be happy to see an associate member in the running, as he could make things better for the associate nations.
Greg Barclay: The former director of NZC is well accustomed to the administration. Incidentally, he was a former supporter of the Big-3 model. Nonetheless, he seems to have changed his stance, as he had said that the decision to support the Big-3 back then was kept in mind owing to the financial benefits the sport needed. Meanwhile, he reportedly has the backing of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Ehsan Mani: The current chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been in the role before. He was elected for the position in 1996. He was then elected the vice-president, before becoming the president in 2003. Being the current PCB chairman, he has done a fine job in ensuring the return of international cricket in Pakistan, as he looks like one of the top guys and favourites to win.
Colin Graves: He happened to be the former executive chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, before being elected as the chairman of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2015. Although he has done a fine job so far, keeping ECB clean, he might not be in the favourite as the members are against the Big-3 model.
Chris Nenzani: The former president of Cricket South Africa (CSA), he is one of the surprise candidates in the running. However, with CSA currently in an internal and political turmoil, it looks highly unlikely that he would be elected this term.
Dave Cameron: He happens to be the former president of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), now Cricket Windies (CWI). While he is out of CWI administration since last year, his candidature for ICC Chairman looks dicey, as CWI, too, looks to be unstable and is going through a transition. Most importantly, CWI doesn't have any broadcasters, which is a significant loss for them.
Sourav Ganguly: He is currently the acting president of the BCCI since last year. Although his tenure as the same is unsure, it seems like he is could be eying for the ICC role. With Ganguly being deemed as unlike any other BCCI candidate, he would happily have the backing of the ICC members.
