Tim Lamb 'ready to quit'

The England & Wales Cricket Board is about to lose its chief executive, if a report in today's Daily Mail is to be believed. The ECB, however, remained tight-lipped, dismissing the comments as "pure speculation".

According to Charles Sale's "Sports Agenda" column, Tim Lamb has had enough, after seven years at the helm of the ECB, and is set to resign after continued grumbling about his handling of England's proposed tour of Zimbabwe. The knives began to be sharpened last year, when the ECB's handling of England's World Cup match in Zimbabwe - which eventually was not played, leading indirectly to England's elimination - came in for much criticism.

Sale wrote: "The furore surrounding this winter's tour of Zimbabwe has again showed Lamb in the worst possible light, especially in the way the ECB have prevaricated on the Zimbabwe issue for months, demonstrating weak leadership as if nothing had been learned from the World Cup fiasco."

The column suggested that Lamb, 51, had decided to step down yesterday, but delayed the announcement so as not to detract from England's fine win over New Zealand at Lord's.

There was more bad news for the ECB, as Mark Sibley, their commercial director, has also handed in his blazer after only a year at Lord's. He is returning to his former employers Octagon CSI, a sports-marketing company, amid suggestions that he was fed up with the ECB's "oppressive" bureaucracy and the continuing uncertainty over the Zimbabwe issue.