The England and Wales Cricket Board has today completed the streamlining of its corporate governance following elections and appointments to the new 12-strong Board.

A new corporate structure for ECB was identified as a priority some time ago and was confirmed in the Building Partnerships strategic plan, which was unveiled in April of this year. The aims, laid out in the plan, were to reduce the Board from 18 to 12 and also to reduce the number of committees to three.

David Collier, the ECB Chief Executive, said: “Effective leadership and governance was a cornerstone of the Building Partnerships strategic plan and I am delighted with the speed with which we have achieved the changes we outlined.

“It is a real tribute to all our stakeholders who recognised the opportunity for change and I am grateful for their contribution in ensuring that the streamlining of the Board has been achieved in such a short time period.”

David Morgan, the ECB Chairman, added: “We now have a modern and efficient Board which is capable of tackling the challenges that lie ahead. I, too, offer my thanks to those who made change possible.

“We have successfully reformed cricket’s corporate governance. We have reduced the Board to 12 members and we now have just three Committees – Cricket, Audit and Commercial – together with an arm’s-length Discipline Standing Committee.

“The Board is comprised of a Chairman, Deputy-Chairman and Chairman of Cricket elected by all 40 members of ECB, an independent non-executive director, three directors from the First Class Game, two directors from the Recreational Game, two ECB executives and an MCC executive. This is a modern, streamlined and experienced Board elected by the broad base of our game.

“I am sure that cricket will benefit greatly from the new ECB structure in the years ahead as we look forward to a significant reduction in bureaucracy.”

The new 12-strong ECB Board is comprised of:

David Morgan (Chairman)
Michael Soper (Deputy Chairman)
John Pickup (Chairman of Recreational Assembly)-currently Chairman of MCCA;Secretary of Cheshire CCC
Dennis Amiss (Chairman of Cricket) – currently Chief Executive Warwickshire CCC
David Collier (ECB Chief Executive)
Brian Havill (ECB Finance Director)
Roger Knight (Secretary and Chief Executive of MCC)
Sir William Morris (Independent Non-executive Director)
Bob Jackson – currently Secretary of Durham Cricket Board
David Stewart – currently Chairman of Surrey CCC
Paul Russell – currently Chairman of Glamorgan CCC
Giles Clarke – currently Chairman of Somerset CCC

The new ECB Board, which took office on August 1 2005, will meet for the first time at Lord’s Cricket Ground on August 10, 2005.

For further information please call ECB Communications Director, Colin Gibson, on 07903 844190