Cricket: Greg Barclay of New Zealand Cricket elected as independent ICC President

Auckland-based business attorney Greg Barclay has landed one of the most important and politically charged jobs in sport.

Independent auditors EY sent an email at 3 am this morning, confirming that Barclay had obtained the required two-thirds majority, getting 11 out of 16 votes.

“I waited until 11:45 pm last night waiting for the result to come in,” Barclay told the Herald. “When I woke up at 4 a.m., there were a number of WhatsApp messages on my phone, including one from [Cricket Australia chair] Earl Eddings, so I knew something was up. “

In an arcane voting process, Barclay had to “win” 11 of the 16 available votes from the 12 full member countries of the ICC, three members representing associate member countries and independent director Indra Nooyi.

After the first round of voting, Barclay had 10 votes, a shy one needed to secure the seat over interim President Imran Khwaja. If it had remained stagnant after two rounds, it would have had one more chance to vote. After three rounds, if Barclay failed to secure votes, the role would have returned to Khwaja.

“I was sure he would get the majority, but he wasn’t necessarily sure he would get the two-thirds,” Barclay said.

Although the distribution of the votes is kept secret, it is believed that after the first round Barclay had all the votes except Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Khwaja as one of three for associate members.

the Herald understands that the elusive eleventh vote of the second round came through Afghanistan. Though speculative, it would be understandable if India’s influential former captain Sourav Ganguly reminded the fledgling full member nation that its existence at the head table owes much to India’s generosity.

Barclay, director of New Zealand Cricket since 2012, has filled the position vacated by Indian Shashank Manohar, who resigned in July. Khwaja, former chairman of Singapore Cricket, served on an interim basis.

There will be no honeymoon period for Barclay. The pandemic has devastated the coffers of the world sports complex and cricket has not been immune.

“It sounds simplistic, but optimizing cricket results in men’s and women’s games has to be the number one priority right now,” Barclay said. “We are in a difficult situation with the pandemic and playing cricket must be the most important thing.”

The ICC may be a cultural minefield, but Barclay welcomes that challenge and says he hopes to align the board in a functional way for all member countries.

“We need to work towards a new calendar [in the wake of Covid-19] and get it to be used commercially, “he says.” We need to review ICC’s strategy to get to 2030 in good shape. “

Barclay is also an experienced company director who serves on the boards of various companies in New Zealand and Australia.

He was a director of the 2015 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and a former board member and president of the Northern Districts Cricket Association.

Barclay follows in the footsteps of Sir Alan Isaac, who served as the former chairman from 2012 to 2014, back in the days when the position was shared among full membership boards.

In the ICC statement, Barclay said: “I look forward to working in partnership with our members to strengthen the game in our core markets, as well as grow it beyond ensuring that more people around the world can enjoy cricket. I take on my role as I am the custodian of the game very seriously and I am committed to working on behalf of the 104 ICC members to create a sustainable future for our sport.

“I would like to thank Imran Khwaja for his leadership as ICC interim president during a difficult period for the game and I look forward to continuing a close working relationship with him.”

Barclay’s term is two years. A president can serve a maximum of three terms.