Big Three lose control over ICC finance committee with Mani in charge

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani has been appointed as Chairperson of the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA), which effectively ends Big Three, Australian, English and Indian cricket boards, control over budgeting and distribution of money to member countries.  

The appointment was made by ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar during last week’s ICC Annual Conference.

The F&CA is one of the ICC’s most important committees, which assists the organisation in discharging its responsibilities in relation to all financial and commercial matters relating to and concerning it.

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During his tenure, Mani will be looking after future ICC events, post 2023 World Cup, along with the media rights deals for that span of time.

For Mani, who is a Chartered Accountant by profession, it is a return to the prestigious role after nearly 17 years. He was the ICC’s first-ever F&CA Chairman in 1996 and served until 2002, and was instrumental in commercialising international cricket in 2000 by leading the ICC to sign its first-ever commercial deal worth approximately $550m.

Mani will chair the committee that will also include Indra Nooyi (independent director), Amitabh Choudhary (BCCI), Chris Nenzani (CSA), Imran Khawaja (ICC Vice-Chairman), Earl Eddings (CA) and Colin Graves (ECB). Manohar and Manu Sawhney (ICC CEO) will be the ex-officio members.

While Mani will chair the ICC F&CA for the second time, Dr Nasim Ashraf is the only other PCB Chairman to head an ICC committee, when he led the HR and Remuneration Committee in 2008.

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PCB Chairman Mani said: “I am grateful to the ICC Chairman for the confidence he has reposed in me and look forward to working with Manu Sawhney and his team.”

Mani — who became the PCB’s permanent representative at the ICC in 1989, ICC Vice-President in 2002 and ICC President from 2003-2006 — has also been included in the ICC Audit Committee, which will be chaired by India’s Yuvraj Narayan.