South Africa's Imtiaz Patel was on Monday appointed the next Chief Executive Officer of the International Cricket Council, which named India's I S Bindra as Principal Advisor, a new post at the game's world governing body.
Patel, a South African of Indian origin, pipped Bindra in the race to succeed Malcolm Speed, whose term comes to an end in June this year.
The ICC Executive Board approved the recommendation of a four-person sub-committee tasked with finding a replacement for Speed, who has been at the helm since 2001.
ICC president Ray Mali and president-elect David Morgan announced the decision after the first day of the Executive Board's meeting in Dubai and said Patel was the unanimous choice for the post by the 13-member panel.
"We are delighted that Imtiaz is the Board's choice for the post of next ICC Chief Executive. I have no doubt that if he accepts the position he will do a great job," Mali said.
Morgan told reporters age was never an issue for the post of ICC CEO, as reported in some section of media.
"Since we required a CEO with special skills, if Bindra had been the choice, age would not have been a problem. We would have changed the rules, if need be," he said.
"This has been a rigorous selection process and I am satisfied that we have exhausted every avenue to find the best person for the job. We are now in the process of negotiating the details with Patel before he can be officially appointed."
Speed will step down at the ICC's annual conference at the end of June and Patel will be invited to take over at the same meeting for an initial period of three years.
The 43-year-old Patel is currently chief executive of SuperSport International in his native South Africa and has previously held directorships of the United Cricket Board of South Africa as well as other sports organisations including SuperSport United soccer club in Pretoria and Sharks Rugby in Kwazulu Natal.
Patel is originally from the town of Schweizer Reneke in the North-West Province of South Africa. He studied education and was a teacher for four years in Soweto where he was also involved in developing cricket.
Morgan said, "We are negotiating the details of Patel's engagement as our Chief Executive. In anticipation of an early completion to that negotiation, I do look forward to working closely with him during my presidency.
"These are exciting and busy times for world cricket and I know that Patel will bring his wide range of skills and broad knowledge of the game to the table in a way that will benefit cricket as a whole.
"It was encouraging to see that the Board endorsed the sub-committee's recommendation. Patel is an outstanding candidate. Through his work at SuperSport he has been leading a television channel that has been at the forefront of cricket broadcasting for some considerable time," he added.
The sub-committee, which consisted of Mali, Morgan, Sharad Pawar and Creagh O'Connor, with Nasim Ashraf present as a non-voting observer, heard a presentation from Egon Zehnder International and then met to decide upon its favoured candidate. The sub-committee made its recommendation to the Board on Monday and the candidature of Mr Patel was approved.
The two-day meeting will conclude on Tuesday with decisions on other issues such as Champion Trophy venue.
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