Harper joins ICC Men’s Cricket Committee

Former India batter VVS Laxman and former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori have been added to the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee which is headed by Sourav Ganguly.

Both Laxman and Vettori were added as current player representatives while former West Indies all-rounder Roger Harper was appointed to the committee as past player representatives.

Meanwhile, the ICC has finalised Lord’s as the venue for the next two World Test Championship finals in 2023 and 2025. The decision was approved at the ICC’s AGM, which concluded on Tuesday in Birmingham.

The inaugural WTC final was held in Southampton in 2021 when New Zealand got the better of India in four days. That match was originally scheduled for Lord’s, too, but had to be moved to the Ageas Bowl because of Covid-19 restrictions in place at that time.

ICC chair Greg Barclay had indicated in a chat with BBC’s Test Match Special earlier this season that Lord’s was the preferred option mainly because the WTC final is scheduled in June – both in 2023 and 2025. “It’s June so that rules out a number of other venues and we’ve got to get certainty around where it’s hosted,” Barclay had said.

“We’re out of Covid now so subject to arrangements being made and being able to be hosted out of Lord’s I think that’s the intention.”

Nine Full Members (all other than Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan) are part of the WTC which runs over a two-year cycle with each country playing six series – three home and three away. Several teams are still in the race for a place in the 2023 final in this cycle of the WTC. (ESPNcricinfo)