England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Harrison has stepped down from the role after more than a 7-year tenure. Harrison will leave the role next month even as the ECB will begin the search for his replacement. In the meantime, Clare Connor, who is currently Managing Director of England Women’s Cricket, is set to take over as interim CEO.
Harrison has overseen record levels of investment across the game at all levels and oversaw the shift in the way England played white-ball cricket that led them to World Cup glory in 2019. He also led the ECB’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as cricket confronted unprecedented financial challenges and became the first sport to achieve the return of competitive international fixtures in July 2020.
However, Harrison had been under immense pressure as a section of the English cricket fraternity called for his sacking over the handling of the Yorkshire racism scandal.
Harrison’s departure comes at a time when England cricket is going through a sea of changes following their horror run in Test cricket. Ben Stokes was named as their new captain after Joe Root quit the top job last month, while Brendon McCullum was appointed as the head coach of the men’s Test team earlier this month after Chris Silverwood was sacked. Ashley Giles was also sacked as England men’s team’s Director of Cricket and replaced recently by Rob Key.
