Backed strongly by India, former South Africa cricketer gets the world body’s top post.
Vijay Tagore l Mumbai
David Richardson has been named new chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Cricket Council (ICC). He succeeds Haroon Lorgat, who has been holding the post for the last four years. Richardson will take over from Lorgat after ICC’s annual conference in June. Richardson got to the position riding on India’s strong backing.
Richardson’s name was zeroed in after an exhaustive hunt. Egon Zehnder, a global executive search firm, was engaged to identify Lorgat’s successor and the process culminated in an interview by the ICC’s nominations committee last weekend in Mumbai. In the end, it turned out to be an in-house promotion as the former South Africa cricketer’s name, recommended by the ICC’s nominations committee, was endorsed by ICC’s all-powerful executive board, which held a tele-conference on Thursday.
His name will have to be endorsed by ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur on June 28, but that is only a mere formality. DNA was first to report on Richardson’s candidature and was the only paper to say that he is the favourite. The general perception was that England’s David Collier was the frontrunner.
In fact, it was on India’s insistence that his name could make it to the final four who were eventually interviewed by the nominations committee. Although Richardson had rubbed the BCCI the wrong way during the World Cup 2011 by reportedly making a statement against MS Dhoni, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not hold any grudges. But for the BCCI’s support, say ICC sources, Richardson would not have made it to the
last four which was finalised at a meeting in Dubai. He was deemed as a ‘light’ candidate in certain quarters.
The 52-year-old Johannesburg-born Richardson has been the ICC general manager (cricket) for the last 10 years. “It is a great honour to be nominated to be CEO of the ICC. I am delighted with this opportunity and thank the ICC board for their approval. It has been a privilege to serve as the general manager. I am looking forward to working closely with all the membership and stakeholders in the game,” Richardson, who played 42 Tests and 122 ODIs, said.
He becomes the second South African to get the post as Lorgat
is his compatriot. Two Australians —David Richards (1993-2001), Malcolm Speed (2001-2008)— had held the position prior to Lorgat.
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