Image Credit- MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) president Mervyn King, a former governor of the Bank of England for ten years, will succeed Mark Nicholas. It has been suggested to the club committee that Nicholas take over as chair when King steps down in October.
In 2005, King and Nicholas co-founded the nonprofit organisation Chance to Shine, which seeks to “reinvigorate” state-school cricket by working with approximately 600,000 children and young adults annually. 2015 and 2016 saw King assume the office of president of Worcestershire, which he called “one of the proudest moments of my life” upon being elected.
“It is an extraordinary honour to be asked by our current president to serve as the next president of MCC,” King, who entered the House of Lords after his appointment as a life peer in 2014, said. “I look forward to serving the club and to promote the interests of our members and of the game so many of us love.”
Nicholas said: “Together we founded Chance to Shine in 2005. Since then, more than six million children, who would most likely not have played cricket have had the chance to do so. This makes us both so very proud. I can’t wait to stand alongside him again.
“There are few better people to fulfil the role of MCC president. Mervyn’s love of cricket knows no boundary; indeed, his love of sport extends to an equally enthusiastic enjoyment of both football and tennis.
“His calm authority and considerable wisdom carried the country through the global financial crisis of 2008 and now I feel sure that he will bring the MCC membership with him through a time of great interest and opportunity at the club.”
King’s appointment coincides with a shift in the MCC’s position in English cricket. If the first-class counties approve current proposals to open the tournament to private financing, the ECB is likely to provide the club a 51% equity stake in London Spirit, the Hundred side that plays at Lord’s.