Clarke to Move-on

but will it be 13 years too late?

Clarke to step aside as ECB president by 2018.

Elizabeth Ammon.

The Times.

Saturday, 4 November 2017.

PTG 2296-11605.

Giles Clarke is to step down as president of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after 13 years on the board.  Clarke, 64, became chairman of the governing body in 2007 having been a non-executive director with the ECB since 2004. In 2015, he moved to the role of ECB president — a newly created position that allowed Colin Graves to take over the chairmanship but which kept Clarke on the board, with a specific remit to be the representative with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

However, to comply with Sport England’s code of governance, the ECB will be making significant changes to the structure of their board. As well as increasing the number of independent directors, the governance guidance sets out the length of terms directors may serve on the board of a governing body.

Sport England, a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has a requirement that: “A director may serve on the board for a maximum of 12 years if appointed as chair of the organisation or to a senior position on an international federation and in exceptional circumstances a chair or director may hold office for a further year”.

Having been on the board since 2004, Clarke has already served almost 13 years and it is understood the ECB has assured Sport England that “any directors who have served beyond the maximum term limits of the Code will step down by March 2018”.

In 2005, during his time as chairman of marketing, Clarke was instrumental in the controversial transfer of broadcast rights from free-to-air TV to Sky. He was also responsible for the policy of counties having to make significant financial bids to host international cricket — a move which some believe is partially to blame for the significant debt that some counties are in.

Clarke was chairman at the time of the ill-fated Allen Stanford T20 series and was key in the ICC’s decision to change the way its revenue was distributed to the ‘big three’ — India, England and Australia, a decision that has been since reversed. Last year, Clarke was reported to be interested in becoming ICC chairman but was dealt a blow when it emerged that Australia and South Africa would not vote for him.  The ECB declined to comment about Giles’s departure.