Lord Marland To Run In ECB Chairman Election

A challenger has come forward to run against incumbent Giles Clarke for the chairmanship of the England and Wales Cricket Board in the form of Lord Marland, the man who ran Boris Johnson’s successful campaign to become Mayor of London.

The 52-year-old needs the support of three counties to stand for election to the post and it is thought he already has the necessary backing to confirm his candidature before today’s deadline.

In announcing his candidacy, he said: ‘There are deep schisms within the game which need to be healed. I believe I can be a unifying candidate.
 
‘The image of our game has been very badly damaged during Giles Clarke’s time at the helm and the Stanford and Moores/Pietersen affairs of recent months have highlighted both errors of judgement and management failures.

‘An uncontested election would imply endorsement of these errors and failures, and that would be wrong.’

Clarke had been expected to stand unopposed despite his initial two-year tenure including the controversial £50m deal with Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford to launch a lucrative Twenty20 winner-takes-all format, and the rift between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores, which eventually led to the resignation of the captain and the sacking of the coach.
 
Former Somerset chairman Clarke succeeded David Morgan as ECB chairman in September 2007, when he beat Mike Soper in a ballot.

He now finds his position under threat but any rival candidate would need 10 votes from the 19 full members of the board – the 18 counties plus the MCC – to unseat him.

Marland, a member of the MCC, said he cared deeply about the English game and wanted to end the ‘current divisiveness’ within it.

He added: ‘I am unaligned with any county, I have no vested interests and I believe English cricket needs a fresh start in the way it is led. It needs stability.’

Marland expressed an interest when the Football Association were recruiting their first ever independent chairman, a position eventually filled by Lord Triesman. He was also treasurer for the Conservative Party between 2005 and 2007.

Former Conservative minister Kenneth Clarke and ex-Vodafone chief executive Sir Christopher Gent had also been mentioned as possible candidates although neither has confirmed that they would stand in the elections.

The election is due to take place in March.