More ECB turmoil as Harrison walks away

TOM HARRISON resigned as England’s cricket boss yesterday after eight years in charge, leaving the ECB without a chief executive and chairman ahead of the international summer. The 50-year-old had intended to announce his departure with a new chairman in place to succeed Ian Watmore, but the ECB botched that recruitment process and the role has yet to be filled seven months later. Surrey chairman Richard Thompson is now viewed as the favourite for that role. The ECB are expected to focus on recruiting a new chair before turning their attentions to replacing Harrison, with managing director of women’s cricket Clare Connor appointed as interim chief executive. Harrison’s departure completes a period of unprecedented turmoil in English cricket, on and off the field. He became a polarising figure towards the end of his reign due to his insistence on taking his share of a £2.1million bonus despite running a redundancy programme, his championing of the Hundred at the expense of red-ball cricket and criticisms that he was slow to respond to the Yorkshire racism crisis. But Harrison was also responsible for some undoubted successes, securing a record £1.1billion TV deal with Sky Sports, forcing the counties to accept diversity and inclusion targets and driving the expansion of the women’s game. His successor will face numerous challenges, including finalising the next television deal. Chief commercial officer Tony Singh has been leading the negotiations over an extension with Sky Sports and is viewed as a credible replacement for Harrison should the ECB want an internal candidate, as is chief operating officer David Mahoney. Potential external candidates include West Indies Cricket chief executive Johnny Grave and Bristol City chief executive Richard Gould, who both have excellent relationships with Thompson having worked with him at Surrey.