MacLaurin the reformer stands down as ECB chairman

The Surrey chairman, Mike Soper, is considering withdrawing from the running to become the new chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board following Lord's MacLaurin's announcement yesterday that he will not be seeking re-election.

MacLaurin, who is also chairman of Vodafone and NatWest, took over in 1997 and in his three terms of office has engineered several controversial reforms. He was responsible for forcing through a two-division County Championship and introduced central contracts for England players.

Having been directly challenged by Soper, who is an advocate of more gradual reforms, he was assumed to be the likely successor for the vacancy. But Soper's challenge may be halted by the possible candidature of David Morgan, the deputy chairman of the ECB, who has widespread support among the counties from his role as chairman of the First-Class Forum, an administrative body comprising the 18 first-class counties and the MCC.

"If I had to vote for anybody apart from myself it would be for David Morgan," admitted Soper. "If he does put his head into the ring, and I'm 95 per cent sure he will, then I will need to reconsider my position. He's very straight and I rate him very highly, but at the same time several county chairman have told me that as I've gone this far I should carry on. I've got some thinking to do."

Morgan, chairman of Glamorgan for five years until 1998 and deputy for five years prior to that, is MacLaurin's nomination as his successor and is known to also favour gradual change rather than the more drastic reforms of recent years. He is the favourite to succeed MacLaurin, but may be challenged by the former England captain and MCC president Tony Lewis, who will be deciding about his candidature over the next couple of weeks. Lewis, a firm advocate on extending the central contracts scheme, will find some favour among the counties simply because he has the biggest profile among the possible candidates.

Nominations for the vacancy do not even open until next Tuesday – 6 August – and do not close until 27 August and, if there is more than one candidate, the vote will go to a ballot among all members of the FCF, with the result being announced on 13 September.