International Cricket Council

The International Cricket Council or as commonly known as the ICC, is the topmost governing body for cricket sports in this world. The ICC represents more than a hundred member countries with international cricket teams to represent the country in any tournament or series. The main job of ICC is to facilitate seamless governance and administration of cricket by working and collaborating with all the member countries. Further, ICC is the only body responsible for staging all international cricket events.   

Different regulations regarding the conditions for playing, ICC Code, the decision review system, and other international cricket regulations are governed or managed by the ICC. Further, the ICC is also responsible for appointing all the match officials for carrying out all the international cricket matches sanctioned by the ICC. Most importantly, the ICC is equipped with an anti-corruption unit responsible for taking actions against activities of unlawful nature such as match-fixing or corruption of any sort.

Role of the ICC in International Cricket

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the governing body and the facilitator of international cricket matches in the entire world. There are three different types of membership in ICC:

• Full Members: This includes countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and West Indies.

• Associate Members: This membership includes 39 different countries where cricket as a sport is well established, and they are yet to be granted their full membership.

• Affiliate Members: There are 56 different countries that are included in this membership because the ICC recognises that cricket is played in these countries with complete adherence to the Laws of Cricket.

(Image will be uploaded soon)

How Are ICC Presidents And Chairmans Elected?

Before we dive into the details about ICC presidents, we must bring to light the fact that the ICC president was more of an honorary position until some reforms were pushed through the organisation’s constitution in 2014. Since then, the power of control and management was primarily handed over to the well-known 'Big Three' of the cricket world, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the England Cricket Board, and Cricket Australia. Nonetheless, the position of ICC president was annulled in 2016, which resulted in making the chairman the honorary position for the organisation.    

Until 30th June of last year, Mr. Shashank Manohar was there as the chairman of the ICC. However, he decided to step down from the designation for some reason and began the search for his successor. The successor was to be elected by the board members of ICC, but the members seemed to be torn between deciding if the election process should be based on a simple majority or two-thirds majority of the board. 

According to the constitution of ICC, any current or former director is eligible to run for the chairman, provided one has attended at least one board meeting before running. Every ICC director is allowed to nominate one candidate, and if the nominees are backed by at least or more directors, they are free to contest the elections. 

What's astonishing is that the board itself determines the election process, and this process can vary from year to year elections. For instance, Mr. Manohar was elected through a secret ballot in 2016. Two years after that, in 2018, Mr. Manohar was the only nominee, which meant that he was elected unanimously with a single vote in his favor or against him.      

Simple Majority or Two-thirds Majority - Which Is Better?

Before we answer this question, we need to understand that the board of ICC is made of 17 directors out of which twelve are full members, three directors to represent the associates and the chairman, the Chief Executive Officer or CEO of ICC, and an independent woman director as well. 

However, it is essential to note that the ICC CEO 2020 does not have the power to make a vote. This means that out of sixteen votes, the constitution of ICC now requires a two-thirds majority or at least eleven votes to pass any resolution in the board meetings or even elect a chairperson. But then again, a tiny proportion of board members are trying to bring in the simple majority concept for both the chairman's election and to pass a resolution in the board meetings.     

List of ICC Presidents

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has had twelve ICC presidents since the year 1989. Therefore, here is the list of ICC presidents:

List of ICC Chairmen

The ICC chairman list is not as long as the ICC president list because there have only been three ICC chairmen. The first being Mr. N. Srinivasan, who held the post from 2014-2015. Second on the list is Mr. Shashank Manohar, who held the post from 2015-2020, and lastly, the present chairman of ICC Mr. Greg Barclay, who was ICC Chairman 2020 as he began his service last year and continues to hold the post until now.         

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Mr. Shashank Manohar replaced his predecessor, Mr. N. Srinivasan, as the Chairman of ICC in October month of 2015. This was followed by the changes in the constitution in April of 2016, which made Mr. Manohar the first independent elected ICC Chairman until his first term ended in 2018.

Some Interesting Facts About The ICC Presidents

• ICC president names, including Lord Colin Cowdrey and Sir Clyde Walcott, are essential to remember because they have both held the post of chairman at the ICC as well.

• Mr. Mustafa Kamal was the president of ICC from 2014 to 2015, and Mr. Zaheer was the succeeding president of ICC after Mr. Mustafa. The interesting fact here that people tend to miss out on is that both these individuals served as the president of the organisation after the changes were incorporated into the constitution in 2014. What's more, is that these changes witnessed the position of ICC chairman being created.

International Cricket Council (ICC) is responsible for organising international cricket tournaments, employing the umpires, dealing with the code of conduct, monitoring the playing conditions, the bowling action review, and other rules laid out by ICC itself. 

International Cricket Council (ICC) generally derives its income by organising tournaments such as the Internation Cricket World Cup, and a significant proportion of that income is divided among the members. In addition, ICC made 1.6 Billion USD from 2007 to 2015 through television rights and sponsorships.