LONDON: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday appointed Geoff Allardice the governing body’s permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after he served in the role for eight months on an interim basis.
Allardice had taken over the role from Manu Sawhney in March, when the latter was suspended based on the findings of a cultural review. He expressed his satisfaction upon his permanent appointment, extending his gratitude to ICC Chairman Greg Barclay.
“It’s a great privilege to be appointed as the CEO of the ICC and I would like to thank Greg and the ICC Board for the opportunity to lead the sport as we enter an exciting new phase of growth,” Allardice was quoted as saying.
Allardice further said his continued focus will be on “doing the right thing for our sport” and “working closely with Members to deliver long-term success and sustainability”.
He extended his thanks to the ICC staff for their commitment and support over the last eight months and said he was looking forward to continuing to serve cricket with such a talented team.
Meanwhile, Barclay stated Allardice had demonstrated the skills and nous needed for stability in the position. “Allardice has shown tremendous leadership during an extremely challenging period culminating in the successful delivery of the T20 World Cup 2021,” he said.
“Geoff has unrivalled knowledge of the global cricket landscape and its stakeholders and has consistently demonstrated he is the right person to work in partnership with our Members to shape the sport for the next decade as we embark on delivering a new strategy and our next commercial rights cycle,” Barclay added.
Allardice, a former first-class cricketer from Australia who has a degree in chemical engineering, earlier served as ICC general manager for eight years. He did not play international cricket but was a prolific, dogged batter for Melbourne University in club cricket and played 18 matches for Victoria in the early 1990s.
