Businessman and lawmaker Jonathan Marland has announced he will challenge under-fire Giles Clarke to become chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Clarke, who has been chairman for two years, has been criticized for the turmoil surrounding the England team which led to coach Peter Moores being fired, star batsman Kevin Pietersen quitting as captain and a heavy defeat in the much-criticized, winner-take-all $20 million Stanford Twenty20 series in Antigua in November.
The 52-year-old Marland, who said the image of English cricket had been badly damaged during Clarke's time in charge, believes he has plenty of support to oust him in an election, which should take place within the next two weeks.
"There are deep schisms within the game which need to be healed, and I believe I can be a unifying candidate," Marland said. "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 judgment and management failures.
"An uncontested election would imply endorsement of these errors and failures, and that would be wrong."
Leicestershire is one of four of the 18 championship counties reported to have offered support to Marland. The 18, plus the MCC, will be balloted and 10 votes are required to win the election outright. The successful candidate then goes forward for ratification by the 41 ECB members.
"I am delighted and honored that a significant number of counties, both those with test-match grounds and those without, have decided to support my candidacy," Marland said. "I believe it is vital for English cricket in its current situation to have a contest for the chairmanship of the ECB."
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