Lloyd appointed chairman of ICC cricket committee

Dravid speaks at ICC conference Rahul Dravid will appear before ICC members here on Friday in a role that not many have seen him perform - as a speaker. Dravid has been invited by the ICC to address its member's forum that follows the annual conference, an ICC spokesperson said. Besides Dravid, the ICC has also invited Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president and IPL chairman, and James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, to speak on various aspects of the game - the spirit of cricket, the future of the game and maybe the IPL - during the two-hour interaction.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, will take over from Sunil Gavaskar as the chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee. The other person in the running was Pakistan's Majid Khan.

Gavaskar stepped down from the post after the ICC asked him to choose between his committee duties and his role as a media columnist and commentator. Lloyd has been an ICC match referee for many years now, first appointed in 1992, and resuming his responsibilities in 2003, after a brief stint as the West Indies team manager.

Majid said perhaps Lloyd was a better choice for the ICC post. "Clive Lloyd was a great cricketer and captain during his time", he told cricketnext.com. "I wish Lloyd good luck."

Majid is believed to have lost out because of his criticism of the Pakistan board on the sacking of Saleem Altaf, a senior PCB official who has been temporarily reinstated following a court order.