LONDON: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman Ian Watmore has resigned from his role after coming under fire for the decision to cancel England’s scheduled tour of Pakistan.
According to several media reports, the 63-year-old chairman is leaving by mutual consent after discussions with the board of directors this week.
Watmore replaced Colin Graves as chairman in September 2020, meaning he is leaving his post after serving just over a year of a five-year term. He has been under increasing pressure since making the decision to cancel England’s tour to Pakistan.
ECB withdraws from Pakistan tour
In September, the England Cricket Board announced that it was withdrawing both its men’s and women’s teams from their tour of Pakistan scheduled for next month.
The decision comes three days after New Zealand abandoned their tour of Pakistan citing a “security threat”, minutes before the first ODI match was scheduled to start at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
In a statement, the ECB emphasised that players’ and staff’s mental and physical well-being remained its highest priority “and this is even more critical given the times we are currently living in”.
“We know there are increasing concerns about travelling to the region,” it said while referring to Pakistan, adding that going ahead with the tour “will add further pressure to a playing group who have already coped with a long period of operating in restricted Covid environments”.
