The current secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jay Shah, is all set to become the new ICC chairman, as the current chairman of the ICC, Greg Barclay, has announced that he will vacate his post in November after completing his tenure.
The current chairman of the ICC confirmed this during a video conference. Barclay informed the ICC directors—among them Cricket Australia’s head, Mike Baird—that he has no plans to contest for the position a third time. He made this decision after learning that Jay Shah intended to take his place in November. Shah possesses the necessary numbers to be anointed as the head of the ICC since he has the support of the cricket boards in Australia and England.
Jay will be the fifth Indian to lead the “Ace governing body of the cricket world.” Before Jay Shah, there were only four Indians to have led the ICC previously—Jagmohan Dalmiya (1997–2000), Sharad Pawar (2010–2012), N Srinivasan (2014–2015), and Shashank Manohar (2015–2020). Shah will formally succeed Barclay in November.
An ICC spokeswoman told The Age (a Melboune-based daily tabloid newspaper) that “ICC chairman Greg Barclay confirmed to the board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the post when his current tenure finishes at the end of November. Barclay was appointed as the independent ICC chairman in November 2020, before being re-elected in 2022. Current directors are now required to put forward nominations for the next chairman by 27 August 2024, and if there is more than one candidate, an election will be held with the term of the new chair commencing on 1 December 2024.”
According to ICC rules, the chairman’s election is based on 16 votes, and the winner now needs a simple majority of nine votes (51%). Previously, to become chairman, the incumbent needed a two-thirds majority.
Currently, the majority of the 16 voting members regard Jay Shah favorably. He currently has one year left as BCCI secretary before entering a three-year cooling-off period beginning in October 2025. As per the Supreme Court-approved BCCI constitution, an office bearer may hold office for six years before having to take a three-year cooling-off period, and an individual may hold office for a total of eighteen years, nine in a state association and nine in the BCCI.
If Jay Shah becomes the new ICC Chairman, he will still have four years remaining in the BCCI with one year remaining in his secretaryship. At the age of 35, he will become the youngest ICC chairman ever.
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