Lord MacLaurin to stand down as ECB Chairman

Lord MacLaurin Photo © CricInfo

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman, Lord MacLaurin, today announced that he would not be seeking re-election for the position that he has held since the formation of the ECB in 1997.

Lord MacLaurin said: "It has been an immense privilege and honour to serve as Chairman of the ECB and I believe we have achieved much in the past six years. However, after giving the matter a great deal of thought, I have concluded that I no longer have the necessary time to devote to this very important role. I have many other interests and my work for Vodafone is increasingly time-consuming and has to take priority. I wish my successor the best of luck and stand ready to help cricket in whatever way I can in the future."

David Morgan, Chairman of the First Class Forum and Deputy Chairman of the ECB, said: "In bringing his business acumen to bear on the leadership of the Board over a six year period, Ian has played a major role in the commercial success of the game and similarly in terms of the improvement in the performances of England in the international arena. Working closely with him has been both instructive and stimulating and his contribution will be clearly remembered and appreciated by both players and the game's administrators worldwide."

Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: "Ian has made a huge contribution to cricket and he can feel justifiably proud of the achievements of the ECB. I fully understand the reasons for his decision and there is no doubt that cricket in England and Wales is in a much stronger position than when he took office. I look forward to working with the new Chairman for the benefit of the whole game."

Persuading the Government to move home Test Match cricket from the `A' list to the `B' list of restricted sporting events. This instantly created a much more competitive TV rights market and maximised the value of these rights to the ECB for the benefit of the entire game.

Negotiating a three year television contract in 2001 with Channel 4 and Sky worth £147m over the period 2003-2005 - a 52% increase on the previous contract.

The ECB's annual income has risen from £38m to a projected £65m in 2003. Annual fee payments to the First Class Counties have increased by almost 50% since 1996. Cricket has secured more successful applications for Lottery funding than any other Sport, amounting to over £80m. Currently, the ECB and the Counties between them spend some £7m per annum on grassroots development.

Introduction of Central Contracts and a new England Team management structure to give the England team the best possible resources/opportunity to succeed.

Setting up of a National Academy (in 2001 and 2002 in Adelaide), thereafter, it will be based at the ECB's new purpose-built facility at Loughborough University. The Academy is about identifying and developing the most talented youngsters, and preparing/promoting only the best to the full England Team - such as Simon Jones.

Grassroots cricket has been reinvigorated through the ECB's various development initiatives. 2.68m youngsters/adults played some form of cricket in 2001 (an increase of 6% on the previous year) - and a record number of girls and women, 600,000.

Introduction of a two division First Class Frizzell County Championship and Norwich Union League with promotion and relegation - very popular with spectators, players and sponsors. Also, floodlit cricket with coloured kit and stumps and white balls. In 2003, ECB will be introducing a new 20-over County competition to attract a new, younger audience to the game.

In 2001, the ECB launched its National Strategy for Cricket for the development of the game at all levels, entitled A Cricketing Future for All. This gives cricket a structured framework to develop the game and to achieve our key objective of seeing England ranked number 1 in the world by 2007 - and to win the World Cup by that same date.