Allan Jacob (ABU DHABI)
The International Cricket Council (ICC), the UAE-headquartered governing body of world cricket, will have a new chairman who will take office on December 1.
The current Chairman of the Council, Greg Barclay, has indicated his reluctance to continue as head of the council after his second term ends on November 30.
The ICC chairman can run for a total of three terms of two years each, but Barclay, an attorney from Auckland in New Zealand, has decided to call it quits prematurely at the conclusion of his second term.
"ICC Chair Greg Barclay confirmed to the Board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the post when his current tenure ends in November. Barclay was appointed as the Independent ICC Chair in November 2020 before being re-elected in 2022," the ICC stated in a statement.
It is still unclear who will replace Barclay, but reports in Indian media suggest that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah is the frontrunner and the lone candidate in the fray. Shah is also the son of India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah.
Under the rules for choosing a new chairman, ICC directors are to submit nominations by August 27. Elections will be held if more than two candidates are in the contest.
The election has 16 votes, and a simple majority of 51%, or 9 votes, will determine the winner.
Indian media reports, however, suggest that Shah has the numbers on his side, including that of the Australian and English cricket boards, which could swing it his way. If elections were to be held at the ICC’s HQ in Dubai later this month.
As BCCI Secretary, Shah also currently serves on the ICC board as a director. He is also the influential head of its Finance and Commercial Affairs sub-committee.