Percy Sonn takes over as ICC chief tomorrow

Dubai, July 6 (UNI) South African Percy Sonn takes over as International Cricket Council (ICC) president tomorrow from present incumbent Ehsan Mani as the ICC Annual Conference concludes in London.

A series of meetings has been going on this week beginning with Chief Executives Committee (CEC) deliberating for two days from July 2 on a range of matters relating to playing conditions and recommendations on the business of cricket.

The ICC Executive Board, which is the approving authority for decisions taken by CEC, in the meanwhile, has rejected the proposed introduction on trial of cricketers making three appeals per innings to the TV umpire if they felt a decision made by the on-field umpire's decision was incorrect.

The trial, which was recommended for introduction during the Champions Trophy in India by a slender 6-5 margin decision of the ICC Cricket Committee earlier this year, was rejected on the ground that it may have adverse impact on the authority of the umpire and the Spirit of Cricket.

The CEC meeting has also approved the expansion of the list of ''mandatory release'' matches for county, province and state players from Associate Member national teams, besides approving a series of recommendations concerning the issue of bad light in international cricket.

Meanwhile, the Associate Members' Meeting has voted Tunku Imran (Malaysia), Stanley Perlman (Israel) and Samir Inamdar (Kenya) as their representatives on the ICC Executive Board for the next two years while Ricardo Lord (Argentina), John Cribbin (Hong Kong) and Laurie Pieters (Namibia) have been nominated to the CEC for the next one year.

The hectic schedule of meetings will end tomorrow at the Lord's with the ICC Annual Conference at which Percy Sonn is scheduled to take over from Ehsan Mani as ICC President.

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