Manohar agrees to stay on temporarily as ICC chairman

Shashank Manohar has agreed to defer his resignation as ICC chairman until the body's annual conference in June this year. That, cricket's leading administrators hope, will give them enough time to implement the changes to the governance and financial models of the ICC, changes behind which Manohar has been a significant presence.

The u-turn in Manohar's stance, following his surprise resignation earlier this month, came after an ICC board resolution earlier this week that requested him to stay with "overwhelming support".

"I respect the sentiments expressed by the Directors and the confidence they have reposed in me. In the light of this, and although my decision to depart due to personal reasons has not changed, I am willing to continue as Chairman till the responsibility as per the resolution is complete," Manohar said in an ICC release.

"I have a duty to work with my colleagues to enable a smooth transition and continue our work on the governance of the ICC."

Efforts to try and convince Manohar to change his mind had begun almost as soon as his resignation was made official. A number of board directors have been in touch with him since. Those contacts were supplemented by a meeting in India a few days ago between Manohar and the CA chairman David Peever and ICC Development Committee head Imran Khwaja, which is believed to have been an important one in convincing him.

On March 15, Manohar had caught much of the cricket world by surprise when he announced his decision to step down as ICC chairman, offering nothing more than "personal reasons" as an explanation. The development raised concerns over whether the new ICC constitution, for which Manohar was the driving force, would be passed at the April meetings, when specific points in the document will come up for vote.

In principle the constitution had passed at the ICC board meeting in February. Seven Full Members had voted in favour but the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket had voted against the new constitution, while Zimbabwe Cricket abstained. Since then, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has expressed reservations against some aspects of the new constitution.

The Indian board's primary objection to the new constitution is the financial model, according to which the BCCI stood to make substantially less than it did under the existing model, which was devised by the Big Three.

It was revealed that Manohar had met with the BCCI's Committee of Administrators the evening before he announced his resignation to discuss the new ICC constitution, though he said he had already made up his mind to quit before the meeting.

Significantly, the BCCI, with whom Manohar has had a complex relationship since he became an independent ICC chairman last year, endorsed the decision, along with other major directors. "It is important that the current issues are resolved to everyone's satisfaction," Vikram Limaye, a member of the BCCI's CoA, said. "We had a productive meeting with Mr Manohar recently wherein we outlined the concerns of BCCI on the financial model and governance issues and our suggestions for resolution. We are committed to working with ICC for a satisfactory resolution of these issues."

On Wednesday, the CoA had also spoken of how they intend to proceed on issues related to the ICC in the run up to the April board meeting. The tone of those messages suggested a shift from the more abrasive stance the BCCI has employed towards the ICC in recent years, to a more conciliatory one.