ECB set to announce new chairman today
25/09/2007 |
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The battle between Mike Soper and Giles Clarke to become the new chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board is due to be resolved today.
Current deputy chairman Soper or Somerset chairman Clarke will succeed David Morgan, bound for the presidency of the International Cricket Council.
Soper and Clarke tied in the original ballot, sharing nine votes apiece.
They then faced a challenge from former trade union leader Lord Morris, whose bid fizzled out due to lack of support.
Nineteen organisations - the 18 first-class counties and the MCC - get a vote, but crucially in the first ballot one abstained.
The key job for Soper and Clarke will have been to get that fence-sitter to commit, while retaining their initial support.
The successful candidate will serve until spring 2009.
Since the first vote, Clarke, head of the ECB marketing committee, has sealed a substantial new five-year television deal with ESPN Star Sports to allow it to show English cricket in south Asia.
That agreement will bring extra money into the domestic game, something county chairmen will look favourably upon after the wettest of summers.
Meanwhile, 61-year-old Soper, who built his reputation during eight years at Surrey - doubling their membership - has admitted he made mistakes in the run-up to the first ballot.
"I should have been more proactive and told people about my record in business, what I did at Surrey and my views on all the big issues in cricket," he said.
Soper had been favourite to win the nomination in the first vote.
(Source: BBC.co.uk)
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