Jay Shah for ICC? No decision yet as election will be held in November

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will hold its Annual Conference in Colombo later this month, but the election for the chairman position will not be on the agenda. The new chairman will be elected in November, giving Jay Shah, widely tipped to be the youngest head of the world body, at least three months to decide if he wishes to move to Dubai. The annual conference is from July 19 to 22.

Shah has been steadfastly non-committal about whether he is interested in taking over as the chairman, a position currently held by Greg Barclay for the past four years. The New Zealander ascended to the role with support from the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Barclay is eligible for another term and may be interested too in continuing but if Shah contests, he is certain to be elected unopposed.

As first reported by Cricbuzz on February 2, the ICC has amended the tenure of the chairman, changing it from the existing three terms of two years each to two terms of three years each. If elected, Shah will serve a three-year term as ICC chairman, after which he will be eligible, as per the BCCI constitution, to become the president of the BCCI in 2028.

International media has been speculating about Shah's potential role in the ICC and the possibility of relocating the ICC headquarters from Dubai to Mumbai. Such a move is not on his agenda, but he is believed to be interested in bringing in changes within the ICC, especially after the chaotic conduct of the recent Twenty20 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies. At the annual conference, the timeline for the chairman election is expected to be formalized.

Meanwhile, at the Annual Conference, the election for the Associate Member Directors will be held on July 19. Eleven candidates are vying for the three positions on the ICC Board of Directors, each serving a term of two years. The current directors are Pankaj Khimji of Oman, Imran Khwaja of Singapore, and Neil Speight of Bermuda.

Apart from the three, eight others in fray are Sam Arthur (Costa Rica), Dr Rudie Van Vuuren (Namibia), Sankar Renganathan (Sierra Leone), Mubashshir Usmani (UAE), Gurumurthy Palani (France), Mahinda Vallipuram (Malaysia), Stephen Musaele (Rwanda) and Mahmood Gaznavi (Singapore). Among these, Usmani is a serious candidate, who is a member of the Chief Executives Committee (CEC). The ILT20 in the UAE provides a platform for the Associate players and he seems to enjoy the support of many Associates.

Another strong contender is Sankar Renganathan, an Indian with connections across all five continents. Formerly associated with the now-defunct United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), he has worked in Asia and the Americas. He currently represents Sierra Leone, an African nation, and has been proposed by Germany, a European member. "My vision is to transform the future of cricket, empowering Associate Members and enriching the global cricket ecosystem," he states on his website.

A total of 45 Associate members, including 40 voting Associates and five non-voting Associates from five different zones - Africa, Americas, East Asia Pacific, Asia and Europe -- will be electing the three directors. The ICC says, "Election will be conducted using an electronic voting system which allows for anonymous voting. In the event of the electronic system not working, the vote will be conducted as a manual vote by secret ballot. Voters will be asked to vote, in order of preference, for the three candidates they wish to vote for on the ballot."

As per the ICC manual, "if there is still a tie after, the candidates involved shall be asked to agree between themselves which of them should be appointed and in circumstances where the candidates are not able to agree, a coin toss will decide the successful candidate."