ECB must rerun election after shock stalemate

The England and Wales Cricket Board's attempt to find a replacement for its chairman David Morgan, who is stepping down to take over the presidency of the International Cricket Council, has ended in failure.

In the ballot, under the aegis of the Electoral Reform Society, both candidates, Mike Soper and Giles Clarke, received nine votes, with one abstention, an unprecedented outcome in the short history of the post.

Related articles

• Angus Fraser: England can feel positive despite end of proud record
• South Africa urge Kallis to think again

The ballot is of the chairmen of the 18 first-class counties and the chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club, Charles Fry. The identity of the abstainer is unknown, although it is not thought to be the MCC, which is understood to have given its backing to Clarke.

The result prompted the pre-election favourite Soper, the present vice-chairman of the ECB to declare: "It is my fault. My biggest mistake was that I was complacent. I shouldn't have taken the county chairmen for granted. I was fairly confident that I had the backing of 10, 11 or 12 counties. This is a kick up the backside for me. I ducked certain questions to which, as a businessman, I knew the answers. The chairmen are businessmen, I underestimated them. But I will stand again."

Clarke, a rank outsider when nominations were originally submitted, has proved a formidable opponent. He founded Majestic Wine and Pet City, and is understood to have based his manifesto on a business footing. But, however much talking he has been doing to county chairmen, yesterday he was reluctant to say anything at all, confining himself to: "I intend to stand again." But he did reveal that he had been nominated for the re-election by Durham, with Essex and Gloucestershire seconding.

An ECB statement said: "Under the articles of association of the England and Wales Cricket Board, the chairmen of the first-class county clubs and the MCC chairman failed to put forward a single candidate for election by the 41 members of ECB to succeed David Morgan. Under schedule E of the articles, in the case of equality of votes the board is required to promptly organise a re-election."

The ECB announced that it would look at the situation over the next 48 hours before deciding on a new timetable, but based on this first attempt there will be two weeks for nominations to be made, another week or so is needed for the ERS to print and distribute the ballot papers and then there will be a fortnight in which the chairmen weigh up the choices as the candidates lobby them, so overall it is expected to be a further five or six weeks before the matter can be resolved.

There is, however, a growing sense of urgency since Morgan, who steps down from the post on 30 September before moving to the game's world governing body, will want to make sure he hands over the reins to a successor rather than leaving the leadership of the board in limbo.