'Disappointing': FICA on delay in appointing ICC chairperson
Aug 22, 2020
London [UK], Aug 22 : Heath Mills, one of the directors at the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) has said that the delay in appointing chairperson of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is "unacceptable".
Mills is also the CEO of the New Zealand Players Association and he has added that the ICC Board should be looking at the future health of the game.
"It is a very disappointing situation at the moment with the lack of leadership at the international level in our sport. It is a very poor reflection on the game actually. The previous chairman stepped down a couple of months ago now, but prior to that, I'm not sure how engaged he was there for some time," ESPNCricinfo quoted Mills as saying.
"And sadly it appears that the ICC Board can't even organise itself to determine a process to elect a new chairman, let alone appoint someone. It is really disappointing especially at this particular juncture in time when we need global leadership given the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on many countries and the fact the current events cycle ends in a couple of years. Electing a chairperson for any board should be a pretty basic democratic election process and the fact that can't be achieved should have all cricket people concerned," he added.
On July 1, ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar had stepped down from the post after two, two-year tenures. The Board had then agreed that deputy chairman Imran Khwaja will be assuming the responsibilities of the chairperson until a successor is elected.
"Frankly I just think that's just unacceptable. Someone needs to stand up and explain to the cricketing stakeholders why they can't agree with a process, and why all the secrecy? The ICC Board, whether they like it or not, effectively represents all the various cricketing stakeholders around the world. They have a high office and they need to be accountable. We just hope they can get together, agree to a process, elect the leader, and stop any games occurring behind the scenes. At the moment it just sorts of feels like everyone's in a state of inertia," Mills said.
Over the past few months, there has been severe speculation as to who replaces Shashank Manohar as the ICC chairman.
Earlier, Cricket South Africa's director of cricket, Graeme Smith caused a huge stir among the cricketing fraternity as he publicly vouched for Sourav Ganguly to head the ICC.
However, it is important to note Ganguly has not said anything about wanting to head the ICC.
PCB chairman Ehsan Mani was also picked by some to head the apex cricketing body.
However, Mani told ANI that he was never in the fray for the job.
"I was never in the running, I do not aspire for the role and I only came back to serve Pakistan cricket," Mani had told ANI.
