AC Muthiah to chair ICC Nominations Committee

AC Muthiah, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been appointed chairman of the six-member ICC Nomination Committee which will choose the next president of the ICC in 2007.

The committee includes Bob Merriman, Mueen Afzal, John Blair, Stephen Camacho and Imran Khwaja. The deadline for filing the nominations for Percy Sonn's successor as president has been fixed for January 1, 2007.

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, confirmed Muttiah's appointment and added that he was the unanimous choice for the post, once Blair proposed Muthiah's name at the committee's first meeting on August 31.

"Muthiah has a stature," Shah told reporters, "and is known to all permanent and other members of the ICC since he had been maintaining good rapport with them during his presidentship of BCCI."

Commenting on his appointment, Muttiah - who served two terms as the BCCI president between 1999 and 2001 - maintained that it was an honour.

"I deem it a great honour done to Indian cricket as I have been known to administrators of the game in the world as president of the BCCI," he said. "The other committee members and myself will surely adhere to the code of ethics in selecting the right candidate for the post of ICC president."