The CEC election will be part of the AGM in Singapore (Photo by Steve Bardens-ICC/ICC via Getty … More
Eight candidates will contest the upcoming Chief Executives’ Committee election, with three coveted Associate Member spots up for grabs amid changing dynamics among cricket’s powerbrokers.
The deadline for nominations was on June 17, with the election to take place on July 17 to kick-start the International Cricket Council’s Annual General Meeting in Singapore.
Incumbent Sumod Damodar (Botswana) will recontest, but Rashpal Bajwa (Canada) and Denmark’s Umair Butt have decided not to.
Former Hong Kong chief Tim Cutler (Vanuatu) and ex USA cricket governing body administrator Sankar Renganathan (Sierre Leone), are the high-profile candidates running.
Tim Cutler will run for the CEC (Photo by Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
Gurumurthy Palani (France), Stella Siale (Somoa), Gurdeep Klair (Canada), Anuraag Bhatnagar (Hong Kong), Sarah Gomersall (Jersey) have also put their hands up.
The CEC is supposed to promote and develop cricket worldwide, while governing and regulating the sport at the international level.
Being on it is highly coveted for Associate chiefs, who get to mix with the top bosses from the Full Members and the CEC is often seen as a stepping stone to get onto the ICC board – where the real power lies in global cricket.
The grips of power is tightening for mighty India after the ascension of all-powerful Jay Shah as ICC chair – with much eyebrows raised over apparent glorification of him since he stepped into the role- and with Indian Sanjog Gupta, the head of live sports at JioStar, set to take over as chief executive, as I first flagged in January.
There are continual fears of the health of smaller cricket nations, particularly Associates who are granted less funding, power and fixturing compared to the 12 Full Member nations in cricket’s archaic tiered system of governance.
The Indian governing body currently receives most of the ICC’s revenue distribution model, 38.5 per cent or about $600 million annually, dwarfing the share of the 96 Associates who get about two per cent.
Jay Shah has been a prominent ICC chair (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
There will be a reshaping of the CEC with several well-known administrators and prominent figures behind the scenes eying spots.
Damodar is a veteran of three terms on the CEC and he returned late last year after Mubashshir Usmani, a rising administrator at the helm of the Emirates Cricket Board, was elected to the ICC board.
The outspoken Damodar, a former chair of the African Cricket Association, has been behind ambitious proposals such as reviving the Afro-Asia Cup and pushing more marquee events for Associate nations.
He also wants to see the much-discussed high performance programme finally established in a revival after it ran for over 15 years before being scrapped late last decade.
The programme for top Associates included player development pathways and specialized administrative structures to help professionalize those deemed close to Full Member level.
The new high performance programme, in a point of difference, would involve some of the smaller Full Members, such as Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, along with top Associates.
“There are many things that are currently on the cards and of agreed upon but not put into place, like the high performance programme,” Damodar told me.
“There are also lots of on-field issues that need to be sorted like better pathways for umpires at the Associate level and smoothing procedures for those cited for suspect bowling actions.”
Renganathan looms as a wildcard and he has been well know as an outspoken critic of embattled USA Cricket, which has had issues complying with its ICC Associate membership.
But he has kept busy helping develop cricket in Sierre Leone, a small West African nation ravaged by civil war from 1991-2002. Renganathan unsuccessfully ran in last year’s ICC board Associate Member Directors election.
Sankar Renganathan is running for the CEC.
“I want to make sure we have the right people sitting in the room, so that the 96 countries are properly voiced,” he said. “It’s important to be transparent and try to spread funds to all members and try to develop cricket because great things can happen like what we’re seeing in Sierre Leone.”
Voters from 40 Associate Members and five regional representatives (Americas, Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific and Africa) will select one candidate each.
Under ICC rules, candidates have to be a representative of an Associate Member or a current/past ICC director.
Newly elected members will have two-year terms and will also be part of the Associate Member Committee helping govern and regulate the Associate level.
