India’s Manohar re-elected as ICC chief

NEW DELHI — India’s Shashank Manohar has been re-elected chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for another two years, the sport’s world governing body said Tuesday.

Manohar, who became the ICC’s first independent chairman in 2016, was elected unopposed for a second term after a tenure marked by broad reforms.

He was the sole nominee for the position.

As chairman he spearheaded efforts to restructure the ICC to curb the dominance of cricket’s three wealthiest nations, Australia, India and England.

The 60-year-old former head of the Indian board successfully revised the ICC’s governance and pushed for the appointment of its first independent female director.

“Over the next two years we can look forward to launching a global strategy for the sport in partnership with our members so we can grow the game and ensure more of the world can enjoy cricket,” Manohar said in an ICC statement.

“The sport is in good health but we are the guardians of the game and we must continue to work hard to maintain that.”

Manohar resigned from the post last year but was persuaded by the ICC board to retake the helm.

India aims for women’s IPL in three years

India aims to launch a women’s version of its hugely popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament in the next three years, a senior official said Tuesday.

As part of the build-up, top international women players will take part in a Twenty20 game at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium next week.

“We are planning to get a women’s IPL in place in two to three years,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) administrator Vinod Rai said.

No firm details of the new league have yet been revealed, but pressure for a women’s IPL has been building since India reached the final of the women’s World Cup in England last year.

England’s Danni Wyatt, Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry and New Zealand captain Suzie Bates are some of the names confirmed for the May 22 exhibition game.

Top Indians including national skipper Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Harmanpreet Kaur will compete in an Indian team under IPL rules in the exhibition.

“The match to be played between a BCCI XI and IPL XI will take place ahead of the first (men’s IPL) playoff at the Wankhede Stadium,” Rai said.

Also signed up are wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney from Australia, and Kiwi batter Sophie Devine, who holds the record for the fastest half-century in women’s T20Is.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said: “Even as the IPL continues to roll like a well-oiled machine, over the last couple of weeks efforts were made to put in place a similar structure for women cricketers.

“We were in talks with several boards and I am pleased with the outcome.”

ECB targeting younger fans with new 100-ball competition

The English and Wales cricket Board’s (ECB) proposal for a new 100-ball competition was created to attract younger people to the sport, according to the organization’s chairman Colin Graves.

Last month, the ECB unanimously backed a proposal to add an eight-team tournament to its domestic schedule from 2020. The shorter matches will see each side face 15 six-ball overs, culminating in a final 10 deliveries.

Graves believes that ECB’s recent experimentation of new formats is due to traditional cricket not enticing younger audiences.

“It’s a challenge but every county chairman — and I mean every county chairman — has told me that they are behind the new tournament. They can see why we are doing it,” Graves told the Times.

“What we do know is the kind of audience that we are not getting. We’re after kids and the next generation, the families. We are not getting them to watch our existing products so we know there is a gap in the marketplace and we know that, when we get that product right, it will attract a new audience... “

Despite the new array of formats that the ECB is testing, Graves emphasized that existing fans of traditional forms would not be taken for granted, pointing out that the governing body’s investment in county and international cricket. — Agencies