Sourav Ganguly as ICC chief? Cricket South Africa clarifies its stand

After Graeme Smith backed Sourav Ganguly as the ICC chairman, CSA chief said he doesn't want to anticipate any candidates who may be nominated for the position.

File Photo of Sourav Ganguly

After its Cricket Director, Graeme Smith batted for the appointment of Sourav Ganguly as the chief of the International Cricket Council, Cricket South Africa clarified its position, saying that it does not want to anticipate any candidates who may be nominated for the ICC election.

In a statement, CSA president and chairman of the Board, Chris Nenzani said: “We must respect both the ICC protocol and our own protocol in deciding which candidate to back.”

“There have been no candidates nominated as yet and once such nominations have been made the Board of CSA will take its decision in terms of its own protocol and give the chairman the mandate to exercise his vote as an ICC Board Director accordingly.”

READ: Sourav Ganguly is the best choice to lead ICC: Graeme Smith

Earlier in the day, Smith -- a former captain -- had stated that Ganguly was the right candidate to lead the ICC in such trying times and his views were backed by acting chief executive Jacques Faul, who stated that “the CSA does not have any problem in supporting an Indian candidate”.

Cricket South Africa's director of cricket, Graeme Smith has backed Sourav Ganguly to lead ICC.

 

But as the cricketing fraternity started discussing about Ganguly’s future as the ICC chief, the CSA distanced itself from Smith’s views. “We have the highest regard for the opinions of our Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, who is a well-respected figure in world cricket and has already made an immense contribution in fulfilling his mandate to make our cricket teams world leaders again,” Nenzani said.

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“At the moment we don’t want to anticipate any candidates who may be nominated for this important position to lead the game we all love,” Nenzani added.

Shashank Manohar is the current chairman and is about to complete his second two-year term in this office. The members are likely to discuss the issue in the all-important ICC Board meeting on May 28.