Soper and Clarke nominated

Two men have been nominated for a final ballot to succeed David Morgan as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman, who leaves the position on September 30th to become ICC President. Former Surrey Chairman Michael Soper and current Somerset CEO Giles Clarke will battle it out between July 30th and August 13th, during which time 19 votes will be cast, from the 18 First-Class County Chairmen and MCC Chairman Charles Fry.

The favourite for the win is Soper, who has already run unsuccessfully twice, losing-out to Lord MacLaurin in 1997 and Morgan in 2002. He assumed the role of Deputy Chairman after finishing at Surrey, whose membership was doubled in his 8-year tenure. In 2001, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and believes he has at least four years to live, though he has been informed that “within that time a vaccine will come out”. His most notable contribution recently has been to chair the committee which organised a total revamp of the domestic one-day cricket setup, a decision attacked by Matthew Engel in Wisden 2005, who described the new competitions as “completely incomprehensible”.

Clarke, meanwhile, has also held the role of ECB Marketing Director since Des Wilson resigned in 2004, and his most notable role to date has been to take the lead in negotiating the deal which saw live cricket in the country removed from terrestrial television. Clarke was also assessed damningly by Engel, this time in Wisden 2006 in relation to this deal-brokering: “Mr. Clarke is supposed to be a clever man, but he is the gibberer, a condition which seems to have been exacerbated by swallowing some first-year media-studies undergraduate’s textbook.”

The winner of the ballot will have to be endorsed by the ECB membership, the outcome will be revealed on August 28th, and the winner will take charge between October 2007 and March 2009.