The ICC chairman jay Shah and the ex-India captain and former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly have joined the newly-formed World Cricket Connects Advisory Board, said the MCC.
The new board takes the place of the MCC World Cricket Committee, which was established in 2006 and had its last meeting at Lord’s last year. MCC said the new Connects Board would hold virtual meetings throughout the year in the UAE ahead of World Cricket Connects and in-person meetings immediately after the annual event, besides closely working with MCC Chairman Mark Nicholas.
“As the Club evolves the World Cricket Connects concept, the aim is that it will become the leading symposium in the game, facilitating strategic issues debate within an independent forum and enabling consensus on paths towards cricket’s future success.”
“MCC has elucidated these objectives today, revealing the formation of a new World Cricket Connects Advisory Board (Connects Board). This group will promote the discussion at the World Cricket Connects by providing independent thought on all topics broached during the symposium to help achieve genuine impact for our game,” the MCC said.
The newly established Connects Board will be chaired by a former Sri Lanka captain and ex-MCC president Kumar Sangakkara. Other board members will be Mel Jones, Heather Knight, Graeme Smith, and Andrew Strauss.
The next alcove of MCC’s World Cricket Connects symposium, the first installment of which landed in July 2024, is expected to take place at Lord’s before the June 7-8 scheduled 2025 ICC World Test Championship Final, featuring South Africa playing against Australia.
“We are very happy to be bringing World Cricket Connects back to Lord’s in 2025, ahead of a monumental contest between South Africa and Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final. We look forward to hosting many key voices from the game to debate important issues impacting the global game,” said the captain.
“In our planning of the second event, this is indeed an important step in the formation of the World Cricket Connects Advisory Board. We have assembled this batting-order with an impressive list of some of the greatest cricket minds across many relevant disciplines to our sport. I am delighted to be working with this experienced group and excited about what we can collectively achieve for the global game’s benefit,” said Nicholas.
MCC said the following names have accepted invitations to join the board:
Kumar Sangakkara (Chair – Former Sri Lanka captain and former president of MCC)
Anurag Dahiya (Chief Commercial Officer at ICC)
Chris Dehring (CEO at West Indies Cricket)
Sourav Ganguly (Former India captain and former president of BCCI)
Sanjog Gupta (CEO- Sports, JioStar)
Mel Jones (Former Australia international and current broadcaster)
Heather Knight (England captain)
Trudy Lindblade (CEO at Cricket Scotland)
Heath Mills (Executive Chair at World Cricketers’ Association)
Imtiaz Patel (Former Chair of SuperSport, MultiChoice and DStv)
Jay Shah (Chair of ICC)
Graeme Smith (Former South Africa captain and League Commissioner at SA20).
Andrew Strauss (Former England captain and former Director of Cricket at ECB).
Download the CricInformer app
Take CricInformer with you. Get our app for cricket news and updates on your phone.