Tom Harrison 'right man for ECB job', says acting chief Brian Havill
Wednesday 8 October 2014 08:45, UK
Incoming England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Harrison is the right man to lead cricket’s national governing body, according to acting chief Brian Havill.
Harrison is currently head of cricket at international sports marketing agency IMG and will begin his new role early next year.
It will be Harrison’s second stint with the ECB having previously occupied the role of head of marketing for almost four years, ending in 2006.
“I know Tom and worked with him quite some time ago. He’s joining us in mid-January and we’re looking forward to working together,” Havill told Sky Sports.
“He knows cricket and is currently working at IMG as head of their cricket department so he’s very well respected.
“He was very well respected when he left us. We gave him a glowing reference and his employers have given us a glowing reference, so it’s always good when somebody comes back.
“His experience with IMG is significant and I expect he’ll hit the ground running. He understands the game having been a professional player for Derbyshire and Northamptonshire so he knows a lot of people in cricket.
“He also knows a lot of people in world cricket through his IMG connections so it’s really positive news and I think the future is good.”
Havill was speaking at the inaugural Asian Cricket Awards at Lord’s on Tuesday night.
There were 12 awards presented on the night with categories ranging from grassroots awards to the Professional Player of the Year award, won by England batsman Moeen Ali.
Havill was delighted the ECB backed the awards and believes cricket’s national governing body will continue to support the initiative long into the future.
“I thought it was wonderful and really inspirational to see people who right from grassroots up to Moeen are so engaged in cricket,” he said.
“I’m really pleased we got involved in this. It was a conscious decision and a fairly easy one. We could very easily have said we were too busy or didn’t have the budget for it but it’s something I expect we will be associated with for many years to come.”
