The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to have a new chairman as New Zealand’s Greg Barclay was voted for this role by other ICC directors. Barclay is set to succeed India’s Shashank Manohar after his two-year term ended in July this year. After Manohar’s departure, ICC had an interim chairman in Imran Khwaja.
It is a historic moment for Barclay as he becomes the second chairman to be voted by other ICC directors. Barclay has been the director of New Zealand Cricket since 2012. He is expected to step down from that role before taking the chairman duties of ICC.
Barclay has been representative of New Zealand Cricket at the ICC panel for close to eight years. He was given the role of director of World Cup 2015 when the tournament was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. After being voted by ICC directors, Barclay told ICC’s official website that he is looking forward to solidifying the core market of cricket to have a sustainable future of the sport.
The Kiwi is likely to take up the role with immediate effect. ICC will have busy next few years as two T-20 World Cups and one One day international World Cup set to take place. Moreover, the test championship will also work in tandem with these tournaments.
ICC will also have to be mindful of the financial losses that they have endured due to the pandemic. Coming up with a strong plan that provides financial security to Cricket’s governing body during the testing times of the pandemic is also likely to be on the agenda.
On November 24, ICC also made a big announcement regarding the awards for best cricketers in the last decade. Virat Kohli has strongly featured in multiple categories, while MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Rohit Sharma are also in the hunt for different awards. In the women’s cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami feature as the nominees for different categories.