Lamb all set to resign

Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the England & Wales Cricket Board, is expected to tender his resignation at a press conference on Thursday morning, according to a report on the BBC website. Lamb, who has held the post since 1997, has been in discussion with lawyers to finalise the terms of his departure.

It is only the timing of his departure that is coming as a surprise. On Wednesday morning, the British newspapers were united in their belief that Lamb would step down as soon as the end of September, despite the ECB's continued insistence that such talk is "pure speculation". There is no formal process for nominating Lamb's successor, although the current operations director, John Carr, is a likely candidate.

Writing in The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins didn't mince words: "Tim Lamb is to leave his six-figure-salary job as chief executive of the England & Wales Cricket Board before the end of the year. A statement originally intended to say that he had resigned and would leave at the end of September was delayed last night while lawyers discussed the terms of his departure. His successor will be appointed by the 18-man ECB management board ... The Zimbabwe issue and a row over the future programme of domestic cricket have sparked Lamb's exit from a role that he has performed with immense industry for seven-and-a-half years."

CMJ continued: "At 51 and with children in private education, his departure, despite his disillusionment with the sport's internal politics, is not entirely voluntary. In effect, he has been pushed from the job he has held since the board's inception in January 1997."

Elsewhere, there is widespread agreement that the main reason for Lamb's departure is the ongoing saga surrounding the Zimbabwe tour. But behind the scenes, Lamb - and also David Morgan, the ECB's chairman - have lost the support of many of the county chairmen, and without that his position became increasingly untenable.

Lamb's departure also raises question-marks about Morgan's own future. Plans for a review of the county system were not so much thrown as hurled out by the First Class Forum (FCF) earlier this month, and while talk of a no-confidence vote turned out to be wide of the mark, the positions of Lamb and Morgan were greatly weakened. It is widely expected that Surrey's Mike Soper, the chairman of the FCF and an outspoken critic of many of the ECB's recent initiatives, will oppose Morgan when he comes up for re-election later this year.

Yesterday's announcement that Mark Sibley, the ECB's commercial director, has also resigned after less than a year in the job was another blow. Sibley is the man who would have spearheaded the board's crucial discussions with broadcasting companies over the TV rights from 2006 onwards. It has been suggested that he was fed up with the ECB's "oppressive" bureaucracy and the continuing uncertainty over the Zimbabwe issue.