Cricket: New ruling body 'in a year'

THE administration of the game in the British Isles is set to come under the umbrella of a single new governing body, if the recommendations of a special MCC working party are accepted.

The Test and County Cricket Board and the National Cricket Association would be merged to form the new organisation.

The report of the MCC working party, chaired by its former president, Lord Griffiths, says the new body, which it recommends should be called the British Cricket Board of Control, would enable the amateur and professional wings of the game to work together more effectively.

The TCCB, which would cease to exist under the proposals, has backed the recommendation, clearing the way for the new British board to be in operation within a year. The TCCB chairman, Frank Chamberlain, said: 'We are in full agreement with MCC on this matter.

'I have had meetings during the last year with Alan Smith, the TCCB chief executive, and the NCA chairman, Don Robson, and its chief executive, Keith Andrew, and we are well on the way to a united cricket board.'

The report also recommends that the Cricket Council, once the game's supreme authority under the MCC's auspices, would be disbanded - but the role of the MCC itself would remain largely unaltered.